Ryan in the Dinghy
15 October 2014 | Annapolis & Spa Creek, MD
Elizabeth
Our son Ryan spent two days with us in Annapolis, attending the show together, sitting in on two seminars and walking the docks despite the nasty weather. The show was as lively as ever, bustling with salty dogs, crusty salts, upper crusty rich folks and us, the cruising community. You can spot us a mile a way, especially when the weather is wet and nasty. We walk around like Pillsbury dough boys (and girls) with our foul weather pants and jackets, making sandpaper like noises as our pant legs scrape against each other. We are truly a sight to behold. Ed and I wore our jackets but refused to don our pants at the show--it just seemed wrong somehow. Cruisers tend to wear sandals even when it's cold (unless of course we have donned our foulies and match them with chic rubber boots), our clothes are yesterday's fashion statements (or worse) and the women's hair...well, let's just say you don't see striking, stylish cuts all that often. Many of the men have ponytails and one or more earring. You might see us walking from the show down the streets toward dinghy docks with shiny new heavy anchors in our arms (we bought a small fortress for easier handling than our large one when a 2nd anchor is needed), along with backpacks, boat show bags and our sandals. One of the venders who was marketing a product for cruisers walked up to us and said, "You look like a couple of cruisers, go visit that booth over there". We did, signed up for their product and chatted up the salesman from New Zealand. But the whole while we were talking all I could think was "Why exactly did he know we were cruisers? What gave us away?" I bet it was the sandals. I'm sure it wasn't my hair all wrapped up under a head scarf or my bagged out jeans that haven't been washed since Havre de Grace. Sometimes we see women wearing high heels along the docks and I watch them carefully to see how they do, holding my breath on their behalf. We do see faces that haven't worked in the elements or lived on a boat--they all look pretty good to me. Smooth skin, healthy skin, great hair. Lucky them. We meet people we admire who have sailed long, far and hard for many years, others who are just beginning their voyage, some who dream but have yet to make it happen or are in the process of getting ready, and those with no intention of leaving docks and marinas, day or weekend sailors who love the life without the need, desire or wherewithal to cruise. There are all types, all ages, every income bracket. We have never had a bad time at the Annapolis Boat Show and those Pillsbury Dough boys and girls only make it that much more interesting. I just wonder why they don't take their foul weather pants off, stuffing them into backpacks before coming into seminars and sitting in hot hotel conference rooms for 2 hours at a time. Isn't there some kind of etiquette to follow here? Remove foul weather pants, turn cell phones off, ask only sensible questions and never pretend to know more than the speaker...that sort of thing.
We're ready for our next adventure. Today's adventure will be squalls, then tomorrow we hope to leave with the 0900 Spa Creek Bridge opening and make our way to Solomon's, MD. From there, Tangiers, Sarah Creek, then offshore to Wrightsville, NC. Well, that's the "plan" and by now, you should be well aware that "plans" are like "schedules", meant to be changed, thrown out, and scoffed at. But we are ever hopeful.