Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Finished working the Annapolis sailboat show last night. Been a busy five days. The Annapolis water taxi picks us up at our boat at 8:00 am and brings us back around 7:00-8:00 pm. We worked as ticket takers at the main gate from 8:30 am to show closing (some days 7:00pm, some days 6:00 pm). Had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people and even got a bit of time each day to walk the show. We have today and tomorrow off and then go back on Thursday morning to work the powerboat show which runs Thursday thru Sunday. Last night when the show closed at 5:00pm it was amazing to watch how quickly they broke down the show and started moving boats out. It was a real happening. Spectators filled the restaurants and bars along the waterfront and as the first docks went out and opened up a way for boats to start moving everyone cheered. Cheers greeted each boat as the crew moved it out. Sunsail catamarans crew were throwing hats to the spectators. The crews in the J boats were real show offs and sailed out with a spinnaker up then jibed right in front of the dock. That brought another cheer from the crowd. I heard one couple say "this is more fun than the show"!
Today we're working on the generator with the hopes of getting a temporary fix,with a product called J B Weld given to us by our friends Jim and Judi, until our part comes in. Weather is turning fall like. Quite cool in the mornings (40's) but still warming up during the days. It's getting to be time to move on o I hope out part comes in on schedule. The temporary fix on the generator seems to be working however as Alan was leaving the engine room he noticed that one of the belts on the engine had three cracks in it. So we spent the better part of the day trying to find replacements. Ended up having to take a taxi to the Napa store but were successful in the end.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Did laundry at the marina today and also walked to the supermarket for a few provisions. Time to do some cooking so we don't have to eat out so much during the boat show this week. Bought some crab meat and shrimp and made a great seafood gumbo and crab cakes for dinner with plenty left over for tomorrow. We've sure been getting our fill of Maryland crab soup and crab cakes!
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Worked the first day of the powerboat show today. Good day but not as big a crowd as the sailboat show. Plenty of fun though and we got our paychecks for last week - yeah!
Friday, October 15, 2004
Quite an interesting day . Weather called for rain but we didn't get much. However, when we were picked up by the water taxi in the morning we were surprised to find some heavy winds and seas on the bay as we came out of Back Creek and headed toward Annapolis. Winds were out of the south and that really kicks up the bay. But being on the mooring up the creek we never would have known how rough it was out there - very quite in the creeks. That's the really neat thing about the Chesapeake - great places to hide . Round about 5:00 pm the tide started coming in at the boat show. I had seen these "high tide" signs around the boat show and thought they were some kind of joke but found out today they are for real. Today is a new moon which typically calls for higher than normal tides but with the winds blowing all that water up the bay from the south and the high tide we soon found ourselves in ankle deep water. We kept moving the ticket booth to higher ground and the crew brought in "bridges" for the customers but by 6:00 pm the water was coming up the main street and some restaurants were even sandbagging their front doors. Quite an adventure. By the time the show closed at 7:00 pm we were walking through calf deep water to get our gear and we actually had to go through an area with water up to our knees in front of the Marriott hotel to get to the water taxi. Got to the water taxi only to learn that we had a 45 minute wait. But have no fear - boat shows mean parties and one of the vendors was having a party right by the water taxi dock so we got all the free wine and roast beef sandwiches we could consume while we were waiting!
Monday, October 18 2004
Boat show wrapped up last night. We are now unemployed and retired again! Some of our new friends have already headed further south. We need to wait here until Wednesday for our generator part. It's getting colder in the mornings. Turned on the heat this morning and noticed that we had another problem with the generator. Seems there's a leak in the water pump - more likely another result of the overheating when the heat exchanger went. Another project for Alan. Days are still nice and warm in the afternoons. It's definitely getting to be time to move on. Going to refuel and take on more water today and do some cleaning.
Main Gate Crew, Annapolis Boat Shows
Bob, Pat, Alan and Joyce