Research Made Fun

Next week we will fly to Annapolis where we must suffer through the 2014 Sailboat Show.  Dang!  What a hardship!

According to an article in the Capital Gazette, only 130,000 of our sailing friends will descend upon Annapolis for the show.

                    Photo by Joshua McKerrow, on staff at Capital Gazette.

In 2012 at the Annapolis show, we wound our way through dock after dock of beautiful new boats, and the eye-candy was just too tempting.  After comparing several sailboats, we fell in love with the Fountaine Pajot Helia.  When we returned to Texas, we worked with Don Pietrykowski at TMM, and by good luck and fortunate timing, we were able to buy Let It Be and have her delivered to Tortola only four months later.

This year, the expenditures will be much smaller, but the research will be equally important.  Once we live on LIB, we will need to make several additions; many for safety and some for comfort. Okay, and a few more just for fun!

The Annapolis Boat Show is an excellent opportunity to look at many brands in one place.  Attending the show allows us to see and physically touch equipment as well as talk with well informed sales reps.  While I make light of this, the Boat Show is actually a fabulous opportunity to gather excellent information and seriously compare product features and ease of use.  Plus talking with others who have real-time experience with products we are considering helps us learn what we should be asking that we may not have considered.

Of course, walking docks and research is pretty thirsty work, so we might just have to have a painkiller or two ~ just to stay hydrated!