The US Boat Show
07 October 2009 | Annapolis, MD
Cap'n Monty
For those of you that might be wondering why we're here in Annapolis, I'll fill you in on what this boat show is all about...
The US Boat Show is basically a nautical trade show. Boat manufacturers, boating equipment manufacturers, service providers, and nautical vendors all come together in these big boat shows to demonstrate their products, sell products, and interact with others from the industry. People visit the boat shows from far away places in order to check out boats, talk to manufacturers, to buy stuff and to generally be check out the nautical industry. Most shows occur in large coastal cities such as Miami, San Francisco, etc... Annapolis, MD is not a very large city, but it is a nautical Mecca. It's rich in nautical history and especially that associated with sailing. The cities nautical heritage and presence is demonstrated throughout the city, it's businesses, and it's citizens.
The boat show transforms the city almost overnight. It's a huge undertaking, but it's very well organized and comes together amazingly well. It requires a similar amount of labor and resource to a State Fair. There are hundreds of workers, boats, tents, staging, walkways, electrical distribution, lighting, etc...that makes it all work. Trucks and forklifts are buzzing about everywhere. It has been a treat to be about as it all comes together.
We had some excitement today as the winds piped up and blew as hard at 25kts down the fairway. All hands had to move quickly to secure boats, tents, and decorations that in some cases were not sufficiently secured for such winds. We added a few additional lines to our boats to secure them as they were taking the direct brunt of the wind abeam which tended to blow the bows about. The high winds made the job of erecting tents interesting to say the least.
The most rewarding thing that occurred today was being able to help George & Kathy McCreary (our boat manufacturers) setup their display and getting to know them better in the process. We enjoyed assisting them with various work and we enjoyed our conversations as well. We had dinner with them tonight and it was a fun evening. The boat show is a team effort and also involves dealers from NC and MD whom are on hand to work with prospective clients and to sell boats. Our boat brokers John Warrington and David Cavet arrived today as well to work the show. It will be interesting to see them work.
Tomorrow the show opens at 1000hrs and the masses will come. We have learned that Ron Hardy and Judy Henderson (cruisers from our home marina) are attending the show on Thursday and Friday, so we hope to see them and perhaps to have lunch with them. Also attending will be Tom Hicks, whom was our developer at Minnesott Beach and whom is from this area. We also look forward to talking with the folks from Lats & Atts magazine whom are sure to have a booth here somewhere. There is surely some others here that we'll know and might run into.
As the show kicks off tomorrow, we'll keep you all updated regarding what we see and what happens as we go.
Cap'n Monty
s/v Song of the South, moored in Annapolis, MD