Preparing for 40th Annual Annapolis Sailboat Show
Posted By RichC on September 15, 2009
I realize that the post title could be a bit misleading as I’m not “preparing as a presenter” at the 40th Annual Annapolis Sailboat Show, but “visiting” the show. Traditionally my wife and I would take a yearly trip to Annapolis toward end sailing season and enjoy the ambiance of the old city. We’ve detoured to take in the Naval Academy, Washington DC and Baltimore, but for the most part just enjoyed a ‘cheap flight’ to BWI, nice dinner and bouncing around on new boats. As our lives got more complex with teenage children, sailing and the trip to Annapolis dropped from priority. This year we’ve decided to revive the trip and maybe even rekindle the sailing dream?
Our “Brenich” in 1986 … me on the bow and Brenda at the helm
Our first visit to Annapolis started even before our first sailboat … when we (well … “I“) was still dreaming about owning an ocean crossing sailboat. My 
bookshelf reveals the aspiration as well, as it is full of nautical books; even my office closet is full of back issues of Cruising World magazines that I can’t bare to part with. Thankfully for us, the stars aligned and we bought our first true cruising sailboat early in our married life at the sacrifice of a better home. What a great time we had living and commuting from the boat each summer … I have zero regrets.
Then the responsibility of family, as well as careers, bills and high cost of long winters took their toll on our sailing; we adjusted our priorities finding it challenging with a baby. Our family grew older and we took a couple trips to boatshows, briefly return to sailing again … but never with the dedication that seems to be required with this costly investment. The interests of suburban teenagers were of figure skating, sports and friends … not of weekends and vacation trekking to the boat, so our second boat was reluctantly sold only a couple years after buying it. Oh, we still had a 18′ Thistle, our sailing dink (the Trinka — for sale if interested) and an inflatable tender for hauling on vacation, but that’s hardly the ‘cruising life.’
So I’ve booked our flight, purchased the online pre-paid tickets, rented a car and started (continued) to peruse the yacht brokerage ads preparing to rekindle the memories we enjoyed years ago. With kids in college and a decade or so before I can seriously consider an early retirement, dreaming is a satisfactory way to satisfy my mid-life urge. It will be interesting to see what has change and what has stayed the same … stay tuned.
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