The Annapolis Sailboat Show and a visit from Emily and Nicol

Working the sailboat show has proved much easier than setting it up. We work about 10 or 11 hours a day just taking tickets and putting wristbands on folks and making sure none of the hoodlums at the Marriot’s Pusser’s Bar sneak into the show. Reinhart sometimes has to help out with saving some piece of equipment from drowning or putting in temporary flooring, because, as is typical in October, Annapolis floods every 12 hours. The combination of high winds and high tides makes foul weather boots a handy investment.

Emily and Nicol made it up here on a miserable Friday afternoon, the high was just shy of 60 degrees and it rained all day. It really is unfortunate they had such bad weather since the weather has been lovely since we’ve been here. We wore our foul weather gear to work and were surprised how many folks actually showed up. It takes a lot to scare off a sailor. The folks selling jackets and bibs did a great business though. When the show day was over and we all got back to the boat, we only wanted to put on our sweats and eat Emily’s pineapple dip! Simon and Christy Lewandowski caught up with us and came over after they finished dinner and we caught up on what we’ve all been doing the past several years. It was wonderful seeing them again and I do hope we bump into them more often…we can barely understand how we haven’t been bumping into them a couple times a year since we have such common interests and existences.

We woke up to a slightly less rainy Saturday and by the time the show opened, there was very little rain…we were glad we wore our foul weather gear again all day because of the general cool and moist atmosphere. I guess standing out in the rain for hours on end isn’t so good for you, and I started to realize I was coming down with a serious cold on Saturday afternoon. I had been so excited about attending a Sunsail party after hours on Saturday night, but there was no way I was doing anything after work but heading straight to bed. Too bad, as well, because Simon’s little sister, Magda, and her husband, Doug, and Greg Husemeier were all in town as well. Nicol and that crowd headed out to dinner for a mini-reunion. Emily also met up with some old friends and they went out to dinner and stayed out to the wee wee hours of the night catching local bands at different bars. Reinhart took me to dinner at Chez Reini and tucked me into bed early. Now that I’ve got some medicine in my system, I’m feeling much better.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous and I wish Nicol and Emily could have stayed a little longer; it seems like we only saw them for a couple of hours. Hopefully, both of them will get back to visit us when we have more time and when I am better company. We bumped into Jerry Newton and his gal and he treated us to lunch. He was busy doing some serious shopping and planning at the show, so we decided to meet after the show was over so they could check out Maia. Reinhart and I ended up getting off a little later, so we really didn’t have very much time with them before they had to hoof it back to downtown to catch a shuttle bus back to the show parking lot. I expect we’ll see some more of them though, since sailing is obviously in Jerry’s future.

Tomorrow (Monday) is going to be a great day though. I had no idea that all of the sailboats leave and all of the powerboats come in on Monday after the show closes at 5 pm. It turns out it is a huge party, with folks lining the roof of Pusser’s to commend and criticize the captains and their exit strategies. Reinhart has been asked by the owner of the Caliber 40 in the show to help him move his boat out, so maybe he’ll be part of the entertainment tomorrow night, if our boss lets him off early enough.