Show’s over folks

(Blogger is having problems posting pics today, the good news is we will now be able to post videos...we'll try to capture something intersting for you)

It doesn’t seem like we’ve worked harder this year than last, but I did check out my blog posts from last year’s show and it appears I had the time and energy to write something every few days last year, and that certainly wasn’t the case this year. We had gorgeous weather this year, with a sunny and hot sailboat show and a breezy warm powerboat show; what a great change from last year’s downpours! The biggest difference from last year though was our social life; last year we had a couple of great guests taking care of us (thanks Emily and Nicol), but this year we were meeting up with friends every day. We spent time with John and Ron & Dawn who we met at Woodsback marina last year; we caught up with Arne & Bev who inspired us to cruise a couple of years ago; we had a pleasant evening with Sue and Bill who we met in the Bahamas; we had lunch on Ken & Judy who we met in Bermuda; and we stayed late at the show a few nights catching up with boat show friends we worked with last year. We were thrilled with a visit from Simon & Kristi and Greg and had a reunion of last year’s reunion.

Michael and Daniel on Splendido were in town for the show and had us over to dinner with friends a couple of nights. We can never get enough of those lovely evenings in Splendido’s cockpit with delightful folks. We were brainstorming with Michael trying to figure out if we knew anyone who could crew with him (along with Daniel, Jeremy, and Mike) down to the Caribbean in November. It took us a couple of nights to realize we were the perfect candidates with nothing to do in November and a hankering for another offshore run before we return to work in January. So, after we leave Annapolis, we’ll be leaving Maia back home in Northwest Creek, spending a few days with family, and heading back up to the Chesapeake for a departure on November 4 with the Caribbean 1500 Cup to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. If you are looking for a luxurious vacation this winter, consider chartering Splendido while she’s in the Caribbean http://www.splendido57.com/

Back to the present though, I guess it’s too early to say the show is over since Reinhart is out there in downtown working his fingers to the bone. Annapolis will be back to normal this evening though, and we will once again not be able to imagine where they manage to fit over 500 boats in that tiny area. There will be a finale party tomorrow night, which will be bittersweet since we’ll be saying goodbye to old friends this time rather than new acquaintances. It seems all of us are headed south from here; a few folks like us are sailing home to work for a while, while others will continue sailing to their heart’s content; we hope we’ll be able to meet up with all of them at some time or another.