Sail Boat Show Prep

The US Sail Boat Show in Annapolis is now just two weeks away!  It's scheduled to be held on 10/9 - 10/13.  The show is for sailors what a combination of Salute and Historicon would be for gamers.  It's a grand event and I recommend it highly for anyone with even a passing interest in sailing or gin.  Gin?  Well, Hendrick's Gin is a big sponsor and will have their floating bar set up.  I'm sure it is just pure coincidence that packs of hungry sail boat salesman prowl the outskirts of the bar trying to secure potential clients as they leave the "free-gin" area.

My boat, the Bucentuare, will be on display at the show at the Alerion booth (not sure where on the floating docks that will be).  I need to sail across the Bay to Annapolis this weekend and start prepping the boat (i.e cleaning it up, removing personal stuff that might go on walkabout).  After the show, I'll keep her in Annapolis for a few more weeks before dry-docking for the winter.

The sailboat show is really one of my favorite events of the year and I think it will be even more fun as I'm not in the market for a boat.  Unfortunately, there are acres and acres of tents/booths of people who sell stuff to boat owners from fancy navigation electronics to marine head cleaning solutions.  The guys at Alerion have agreed to help me select / install an electronics suite for the Bucentaure in return for me letting them borrow her for the show.

I spent the summer sailing without any electronics to get a feel for the boat and to make sure I can handle her if the electronics ever go out (marine electronics have a tendency to do that).  A lot of times people focus just on the electronics (sailing by wire) and not the boat which can have some bad results if they electronics fail or the boat gets caught in sever weather.

There's also a power boat show the following weekend (10/16-19), if you're one of "those" people.  Being a gentlemen, I really wouldn't know anything about that event but have heard that if one speaks with a New Jersey accent and/or dons a leisure suit with at least 3 linear feet of gold chain there is a discount on the admission.

I still need to find sometime to finish up a few units for the Throcktober event at Huzzah Hobbies next week.