Well, we got into Annapolis on Sunday morning about 11:00am. We took the circulator (trolly car) down to the show, but in reality we could have walked the 5 blocks from the parking garage. The weather on Sunday was grey, cool and cloudy (just like Seattle!). Apparently the previous days of the boat show, they had torrential down pours, so we felt lucky to have dry weather.
This was probably one of the most fun shows we’ve been to. We were starving when we arrived, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Pusser’s Restaurant in the Marriott hotel. Outside, on the water side they had bars set up with a band playing Caribbean music. It was very festive for a boat show!
They had so many sailboats and a great selection of Catamarans. Ironically, we came to this boat show after falling in love with the Lagoon cat, but after viewing so many others, we realized that it is no longer one of our favorite boats. It’s really designed more for chartering, than live aboard. We did get to visit quite a few cats for charter as well. For some of the big cats, we had to make an appointment, including a 90 footer that rented for $40k / week. The operators of the boat were also named Scott & Allison, so they got a kick out of showing us their cat.
They had all kinds of boats, including this tiny sailboat that actually had a miniature galley, a 4′ bed & a portapotty. If you look inside, you’ll see the stovetop. I joked that I found our boat!
Everywhere you looked, there were flags, flags and more flags. Yep, we’re attending a big show!
Being we were so exhausted on Sunday, we planned on really spending quality time on Monday viewing the boats, some of which we went back and revisited. At home, we only attend the show one day, so it was actually great to go back and review what we had been on already.
Immediately, one of our favorite cats was the Leopard. They had the 41, 44 and 49 at the show. The 44 was perfect for us and it was designed perfectly. Things we looked for were railings to grab onto while walking around the boat (you’d be surprised, but many of the cats didn’t have those and you would have to grab the bbq or the bimini), comfort of the stairs, width of the hall ways, etc. Here is the Leopard 44:
Big galley and it’s nice an bright. Tons of storage too.
This is the guest quarters – nice wide hall ways.
This is the owners suite. There is a couch outside the bedroom, which could be replaced with storage cupboards.
This is the owner’s head and the shower was nice and tall for Scott. The washer & dryer was in the large cupboard on the right.
Our 2nd favorite cat was the Antares 44i. We met the owner, Gordon Moon of the Bella Luna from Toronto. He was so kind and spent a good amount of time telling us about the boat and his experience sailing in the Caribbean from Argentina.
This cat had a huge salon and their galley is down below.
They put their washer/dryer upstairs, since it gets so warm down below.
The only “catch” with having the galley down below, is Scott is in one bedroom and on the other side of the galley is another bedroom and head. So the folks staying in the room he’s in, have to to thru the galley to use the head. But if you don’t have that many visitors, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Our next favorite was the Maverick 440. A little smaller than we were thinking we’d like, but it actually felt really roomy inside.
Ultimately, our dream boat would be the Leopard 49! Maybe if we win the lottery we can splurge on a new one of these!
Ironically this week on one of our local radio stations, they were talking about making wishes come true. The message was if you simply have a wish, it won’t come true. But if you have a wish and you put it out there and share with the world, eventually it will happen. That’s the reason behind this blog. To remind us everyday, that dreams are not that far out of reach and with determination we will do it some day.
