Annapolis Sailboat Show!

 As some readers may know sailing is my second hobby after miniature gaming.  This weekend was the US Sailboat show, which the largest sailboat show in the world.  The show features about 2 miles of floating docks andover 300 hundred sail boat models on display.  This event is my favorite "con" of the year and Sean and I went on both Friday and Saturday.

The first picture is of a 45 ft Trimaran racing boat - it's really a wind powered rocket ship.  My son spent about an hour crawling over every aspect of her.  I'm a bit of a purist and prefer mono-hulls, but my son left the show very impressed with more modern design styles.

This is a picture of a one of the new Beneteau "First 40" designs which is their entry into the racing category.  It was an impressive boat and did a nice job of combining a race design with a cruiser's cabin.  This is the first time I've actually been impressed with a Beneteau.

The "bell of the ball" for me was the J-95 from J-Boats.  This boat is a "one class design" built for racing with a passable cabin layout that can best be described as "Spartan".  She is a "go-fast" type of boat but can be handled by one person.  Ahhhh dreams.....

I was struck by how much the sailboat show is similar to a gaming con.  Where Historicon had gaming tables, substitute display boats and test sails.  The harbor was ringed with Vendor booths in large tents.  At a gaming con the vendors sell all sorts of gaming related items from terrain, to paint to dvd's.  At the sailboat show, the vendors featured a similar range of related products from sails, to nautical electronics to sailing dvd'd and everything in between.  Perhaps people are more similar than different.

There was one vendor at the sailboat show who I haven't seen at one of the HMGS cons and it would be  a definite upgrade if they were to attend - Hendrick's Gin had a booth/free bar!  It was very funny to see the various sales reps steering potential buyers into or out of the bar.  I'm sure more than one boat sale was closed via the help the Hendrick's products!  Alas since I had my 16 year old son with me, I did not partake.

All in all, sean and I had a wonderful two days of "sailing-stuff" to tide us over as winter sets in - I am definitely not a "frostbite series" winter racer.

Back to the work bench to finish up some Vikings.