Cruisers have been pouring into Annapolis for the boat shows: most for the sailboat show the weekend of Columbus Day, and a few trawler cruisers who will go to the powerboat show the following weekend. Most of them plan to leave for points south immediately afterwards. If we didn't need to stay for some dental work and some boat work, we'd be heading out soon too, because it's getting mighty cold here. We're glad we saved our down sleeping bags to use as extra blankets!
If it wasn't for the morning cruisers' net, we wouldn't get out of bed until the sun warmed things up. But we get up at 0800 every morning and turn the VHF on to channel 78. The cruiser acting as net control for the day takes a roll call, then invites those having information to share (or requests for information) to speak up. We've learned about closures on the Intracoastal, where diesel is cheap, and where the local police are hiding out to pounce on speeding dinghies. The harbormaster's office checks in with the list of boats who have mail or packages waiting, and then the net controller asks for announcements of items to buy, sell, or trade. After the net closes -- usually about 15 minutes after its start -- the haggling begins.
Though we haven't bought anything from the VHF net, our credit cards certainly haven't been idle. Friday, October 1st, was the first day of the Boat Accessory Market, a huge flea-market type event held in a warehouse, with consignment gear, new overstocks from manufacturers, and bulk items such as rope. We showed up about ten minutes after the doors opened, and the place was already packed. By the time we'd circulated through once and figured out what would be worth a second look, the checkout lines stretched the entire length of the building. We got in line behind a man buying a used outboard motor; the next guy behind us had an entire stainless bow pulpit rail. Our haul included a nice selection of double blocks (pulleys) which we intend to use in the lifting tackle for hanging our dinghy from our new arch, a water pump which we'll install as a foredeck washdown, a dinghy anchor and the line to go on it, and a few other odds and ends.
This shopping trip was only a warm-up for the main event -- the Annapolis Sailboat Show. It's a monster extravaganza of boats and gear which takes over most of the downtown waterfront each year. All week, we watched as temporary piles were driven in the harbor, floating docks were pushed into place, and show boats were carefully maneuvered into their assigned slots. Then, more piles and docks were placed around them, and another set of boats moved in. Huge tents cover the boardwalk and parking areas, with exhibitor booths crammed in every available spot. The show opened on Thursday with a "VIP" day, where a VIP is defined as anyone willing to pay more than double for the special ticket good for that day; since we'd rather spend our money on boat gear, we came to the show on Friday.
The centerpiece of the show is of course the new boats, and most of them had pretty big lines of people waiting to tour them. But we had a mission. We'd made a list of gear we wanted that we thought we might be able to get "boat show discounts" on, we had a few vendors whose gear we already had that we wanted to ask questions about, and there were still a few items that we hadn't made up our minds on and wanted to talk to the manufacturers about. So what if we didn't get to see the new Island Packet, Oyster, Dufour, or Alden? We already have a boat, after all!
One great thing about the Annapolis boat show is that it's a major event in the industry, so most manufacturers send knowledgeable reps rather than just sales droids. With the smaller companies, the rep is likely as not the CEO, and they are always happy to talk about why their product is so much better than the competitors'.
We arrived at the boat show as it opened at 10 a.m., and left as it closed at 7 p.m, carting away a sewing machine (Sailrite's new compact model; they brought 15 with them to the show, and had sold all of them by noon) and a replacement regulator that the Balmar rep had given us to swap with our misbehaving one. We also ordered several goodies that will be shipped to us (we hope!) before we leave Annapolis: a Fourwinds wind generator, a Garmin 128 GPS, and a Dutchman boom brake. We might go back and order an SGC single-sideband radio, too.
We also did research on several items we're interested in getting sometime in the future. We checked out watermakers, autopilots, and navigation software packages, and tried to find if anyone makes a water-resistant daylight-readable computer screen that doesn't cost twice as much as a whole laptop computer (they don't) and if anyone is importing the new Spade anchor from Tunisia (they aren't). In all, it was an exhausting, interesting, and expensive day.
We sold our house, our furniture, and most of our belongings before moving aboard, but the one major item that we kept that doesn't fit on Windom is our VW Westfalia camper van. While we cruised around the Bay this summer, we left it parked at my parents' house, but when we returned to Annapolis we picked it up and started using it again. Even while we were taking advantage of being able to get around, we discussed whether or not we should keep it. We've had wonderful adventures in it, including a trip to Alaska in 1993, a jeep-road extravaganza in Colorado the fall before we left, and our journey from Colorado to the Chesapeake this spring.
But on the other hand, we really can't ask my parents to hang onto it for an indefinite period, and the money that goes to insurance would cover quite a few days of car rental. It's not really a practical vehicle for driving around town on errands, anyway; it's meant for camping, and for driving on remote and rocky roads. So, with mixed emotions, we sold it to a couple who promise to take it on many new adventures.
Back in May, I wrote about the difficulty of communications from a cruising boat. At the time, getting an internet connection was a hassle, but things have been getting easier. In August, we figured out how to make the acoustic coupler work on a pay phone, although of course that still means hauling the laptop off the boat and finding a reasonably-convenient phone. And just last week, we had a major breakthrough -- our cellphone modem cable arrived!
We had bought a fairly new model of phone (Nokia 5160), but to our dismay discovered that it was so new that there was no modem cable for it yet. Every once in a while, Britt would call Nokia or 3com (our modem manufacturer), and was invariably told, "Not yet, but soon." A helpful reader of our log (thanks, Doug) emailed us some information when the cable was about to come out; even though we ordered it as soon as we could, there was an incredible back order, and we didn't receive it until early October.
But now that we have it, it's fantastic. Sure, 4800 baud isn't exactly screaming, but it's enough to email, to do some web browsing (graphics off), and to upload this site. Best of all, we can do it while lounging in our berth.
(Details: we use a Nokia 5160 phone, a 3com 3CCM FEM556 modem, and we have AT&T cell service. The cable is called NOK-6 and it cost around $85. From what we've heard on the cruisers' VHF net, many other cruisers use this exact same system.)