Annapolis (Part 2) MD USA

The second big event that had drawn us to visit Annapolis was the Boat Show.  We cycled in on the Friday, left our bikes locked up by the Naval Academy and then spent a very happy day wandering amongst the yachts and the stands.  The boats on display came in all shapes and sizes from an absolutely gigantic 70+ft long catamaran right down to small 10ft sailing dinghies.  There were some beautiful day-keelboats too with every piece of brightwork gleaming to perfection.

Views over the show from the Fleet Reserve Club roof top bar

We also had a pleasant 2-hour distraction manning the small Ocean Cruising Club section of a stand.  We met lots of existing members who stopped to say hello but we also manged to catch some potential news members too and explained why we think the Club is worth joining.

Our club duties completed, we went exploring again.  We bought a few small items for BV, took details of possible spares suppliers, and discussing our generator issue with the Fischer Panda Agent.  We’ve already ordered a spare part for our generator, a large capacitor, which we hope will do the trick but if that doesn’t work then the fault is likely to be expensive to fix.  So, we also discussed replacement costs.  Sadly, the nice lightweight FP 5000i Neo generator that I would want to fit isn’t available in the USA and their smallest is the same power but much heavier and a bit big to get into our machinery space without seriously pulling the generator apart.  Let’s hope that the new capacitor works and that the windings aren’t damaged.

Peter and Tracey Goss’ yacht Pearl of Penzance, a Garcia Expedition 45

Out on the pontoons we spotted Peter and Tracey Goss’ yacht Pearl of Penzance.  She’s a Garcia Expedition 45 which is designed for adventure sailing, in particular for operating in colder environments.  The whole yacht is beautifully made in aluminium with several inches of insulation around the inside.  The stiff hull allows double glazing to be fitted on all of the windows and the cockpit area is well protected from the elements with a hard spray hood.  Surprisingly she also has a lifting keel and an impressively sporty performance.  All in all she’s a very interesting yacht to look around and is clearly very well thought out.

Abnormally high tides flooded many of the displays and the roads around the harbour

The Fleet Reserve Club opened its doors to show visitors, so we stopped in there for a beer before dodging the rather large puddles on the way back to our bikes.  The combination of a spring tide and an extreme low pressure in northeastern USA resulted in the sea level at high tide being as much as 3 feet higher than normal (perhaps even more).  It flooded many of the smaller stands as well as the roads around the harbour, bringing more of a real-time nautical feel to the show area than the organisers would have wished for.

Patty and Peter (Serendipitous). 
Photo taken at the OCC Annapolis Fall Dinner

We made our way back to BV but our fun was not over for the day; Patty and Peter on Serendipitous had organised a Pot Luck Supper back in Weems Creek for OCC members and friends.  They had already been stars by driving us out to get our propane tanks refilled first thing in the morning and their Friday night party topped off a fun day with some great socialising.  I clearly talked far too much and so didn’t take any photos of the party.

Weems Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, USA