Annapolis Boat Show

It’s over. The mother of all sailboat shows finished, and we were exhausted. It reminded me of attending the global OHUG conference in Vegas. Lots of people to see, social events, vendors everywhere, seminars and networking, networking, networking.

We had the chance to see old friends and make new ones. Logistically, it was very busy. The busiest I’ve personally been since jumping on our boat. No violins expected, but it was crazy… J

The biggest change for us was actually ‘being a sailor on our boat’. We had a list of things we needed to check off before leaving US waters. Most of them small, one of them large.

Our biggest item – carpet. We followed the wake of Neil and Shaun, and got carpet fitted from the same designer. Christine at Annapolis Yacht Interiors was excellent. She measured, cut, and finished our carpet in less than a week. For us, this is biggest game changer inside. The boat just ‘feels’ like home. We love the wood floors, and like them even better with the protection of carpet, while still showing the wood borders. I’ll let you know after our stint in warmer weather how this works out, but by all accounts it will be well received and not prone to mildew.

Galley

Salon

Master Suite

Attending the long list of seminars was also important. They are free, and full of content for the sailor - everything from diesel engine maintenance, to radar 101 & sailing with families. In all, we attended 4. Sarah met another mom of three who live aboard. They had a lunch date and attending a women’s sailing seminar.

Kids Watching Movie

On our list was reconnecting with friends from St. Lucia, Antares, Xcelicor, family and meeting new ones aboard.

At one time, we had three families aboard for a social, all with kids. There was a thunder of feet on deck, playing freeze tag as the adults tapped into happy hour and sailing chat.

We were pleasantly surprised that we met a total of three families with kids aboard, and two more wanting to move aboard for their own field trip. We got the feeling that more families are looking for a sabbatical from the rat race, and turning to sailing.

Social on Field Trip

Speaking of kids, one thing we’ve noticed – kids make friends almost instantly. There is about 5 minutes of name swapping, and some shyness, and then they are best friends. Michael and Elizabeth were particularly sad when the Wing family sailed away on Equilibre (Catana 381) with their three kids. We plan on hooking up with them in the near future farther south in warmer waters.

All in all, we had a great time in Annapolis. We are currently working our way south, with plans to visit friends in Yorktown, VA and my captain who sailed up with me from Brazil to St. Lucia - Martin Tate in Southport, NC.