Two weeks following the SSCA Gam were spent kicking around in the general area of Annapolis. This was mostly planned, because the Annapolis Sailboat Show is one of the best in the country and a Mecca for anyone that is even vaguely interested in sailing. To people like us, it’s a little slice of marketing nirvana. The stay around after the show wasn’t so much planned, but I’ll likely get into the why’s of that (rhymes with “generator oil leak”) in another post.
Annapolis Sailboat Show
One of the nicest things about the boat show in Annapolis is that it is sail only. Many boat shows are ALL sorts of boats, but lets be honest – many of the things that sailors need (sails, for example) are of little interest to power boaters. And the things that power boaters are there to see (booths and booths of fishing equipment and ginormous outboards that weigh more than our entire dinghy) aren’t so compelling for sailors. And the boats…it’s no secret that many sailors just aren’t interested in loud smelly powerboats. If you have a finite amount of space for boats at a show and half of them are power boats that’s fewer boats for sailors to see, and vice-versa of course. Someone shopping for a 40 foot cabin cruiser isn’t likely to climb aboard a monohull sailboat for a look around. So all of the products and services at the show are tightly focused on the sail segment of the market. Certainly there is overlap, we all need boat loans, insurance, marine sanitation, boat canvas and a variety of other things but the focus is nice.
We came to this show with an agenda, we has some issues to sort out and some things we needed to get sorted. Our shopping list included:
- A new propeller for the dinghy. Two problems with the old one – we weren’t having good results getting on a plan, and there was only one of them. A spare dinghy prop is a must since Yamaha designed these props to require a special fitting to be pressed if you break it…not easy to do in a remote location.
- Water maker supplies; filters, o-rings, and so on to allow us to maintain and fix the water maker
- Refrigeration spares & a better pump.
- Spare dinghy running light…we broke ours the morning of the show and the supplier (AB Marine) was going to be at the show.
- Better Boat Living whosit’s and whatsits – the boat show is always has a lot of interesting things that are targeted specifically for life on board. Whether it’s ice trays with snap on plastic lids to kitchenware that nests, folds, and stores small there’s almost always something to solve a problem that is vexing us.
- Birthday presents! Kathy had always had the good fortune to have her birthday right around the Newport Boat Show when we lived in RI so I’ve always been able to double up taking in the show and shopping for a present; aren’t I a romantic? With this show splitting the difference between our birthdays what better opportunity?