10 – 14 October Annapolis boat show 2019

Setting up

transformed

The raison d'etre for coming to Annapolis was the boat show. From when we first started talking about cruising the east coast of the States it's been a must do so we pre-booked tickets for 2 days.

Watching the show being assembled from our spot on a mooring ball 200m away we were impressed with the organisation of building a show. It was impressive.

Ten mooring balls closest to the show area were closed, pilings driven and floating docks brought in. Boats arrived in order of placing. Those set to be closest to the shore came first then the next line of docks were brought in, next layer of boats, next layer of docks until the view was a sea of boat flags.

As it happens we'd met and made friends with a lovely American couple on their new Leopard 40 cat on the mooring ball next to us. They had bought their boat at the show last year and happened to have some complimentary tickets of which they generously gave us four. We went to the show on four of the five days. By the end I knew each stand and exhibitor. We'd only had time to step on board a handful of monohulls, no catamarans, and met up with many old friends.

In the Hendricks gin stand we ran into Brian and Brady Trautman of Delos. We last saw Brian and his now wife Karen five years ago in the Kinabatangan river in east Borneo, Brady longer ago in Banda, Indonesia seven years ago. We met Jamie and Behan of Totem at the book stand where she was promoting her book. Mark and Lisa of Wild Iris were at the show on Friday as were Karen and Mike Bury soon to be ex-owners of Chapter 2, first met in the Caribbean and last seen in Langkawi, Malaysia three years ago. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have met so many wonderful and interesting people on our travels. They are friendships we cherish.

Back to the boat show where David was quizzing the 'experts' on the Raymarine stand about digital, all dancing, all singing chart plotters and doppelar radars. Like the boat oven it is time to upgrade our navigation system and America is The place to do it. They have the stock and there's no shipping. After many discussions he's picked a Raymarine Axiom Pro 9 chart plotter and a Doppelar radar and the best fit for our wants and needs. After the show we'll make another visit to the local West Marine to place the order.

While we were on the West Marine stand the staff were promoting their customer Reward scheme. Pay $25 and for every $250 you spend you receive a $10 voucher and, during the show a boat hook. I mentioned how we had joined the scheme in 2008 in Fort Lauderdale when we were getting ready to start our sailing life and how we had been promised vouchers and they were never posted. The lady suggested I call customer service with the details and they should be able to track and reinstate the points. I wouldn't have believed it possible but we have had $50 of rewards added to our account dating from eleven years ago. This is Customer Service at it's best. Oh, and for some reason they wanted to give us his and hers boat hooks.

high water at the boat show

The Annapolis boat show is always the second weekend in October. This time, the 50^th anniversary, also coincided with a high water / king tide following a north wind pushing more water into the lower Chesapeake. From Friday to Sunday the late afternoon high waters flooded the car parks and a number of stands in the low lying areas of the show. On Saturday David and I had to go into town. To reach the dinghy dock on the way back I was wading in water in the streets up to mid thigh. Not so high on a tall person, but when you're vertically challenged it is high. Only the floating docks and boats remained unaffected.

So that's our visit to the Annapolis boat show 2019. When we first saw the area we thought smaller than either Southampton or Excel in UK, but we had to admit we were wrong. There was lots to see, just as many boats and exhibitors and we had had a great time. Thanks to Kurt and Renee of Shenandoah Waves for the tickets and for inviting us as their guests to the Leopard / Moorings cocktail party on Friday night. A very good time was had by all.