My business partner and I arrived last Thursday night and stayed at the Anapolis Waterfront Hotel. Absolutely fantastic place to stay - I can highly recommend. They have an old nautical theme (of course) with very posh decor, and there always seemed to be two supercars parked out front. Fantastic restaurant right on the water. As we sat for dinner one night two 74' sloops made several evening trips with dozens of passengers.
We had spent the last several months trying to decide if we should go, not sure if there would be much of a show due to Covid, etc. So neither of us bought tickets. I've pretty much always just wandered onto shows and paid at the door, and it never occurred to me that they might try to limit entry... you can see where this is going. After unpacking and booting up to check directions, I decided we should try to get our tickets online. SOLD OUT! What? All three days sold out. Feeling a fool, we called the show desk and a nice lady told me we could try at the gate and we may have a chance Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Friday late afternoon we made our way to the Bay Bridge. The spring show is actually in Stevensville on the far side of the Bay Bridge. What a monster! Truly an engineering marvel you should make a point to see. Parking was $10, directed by and benefiting a local girls swim team. Parking lot only half full at this point, about 3PM. Sunny but windy, it was chilly.
I'm used to the Chicago boat show, which is 100% indoors. This show was a mix of indoor, tent, and outdoor booths for vendors, distributed along a good mile of twisting path. Every time we thought we had reached the far end of the show it managed to find a way to keep going. There was a food area at one far end of the show with reasonable local fare - lots of lobster rolls, crabcakes, and Old Bay.
I was a little surprised but quite happy with how seriously the public in Anapolis and all the attendees at the show were taking Covid precautions. I didn't see anyone flouting the mask rules or causing trouble, and now I have a square shaped bikini tan on my face, the only part that didn't get sunburnt.
Standard vendors - lots of rigging, props, electronics, and all the hangers-on to every show (why are there always knife makers at these shows?). There was one fully electric boat for sale, made in Europe and sold in Miami. I am shuffling through my papers trying to find their brochure. I'll forward it when I find it. It was a cool little runabout. We talked with them for a LONG time because... IT IS SHIPPED WITH AGM. I really couldn't believe it. A new electric boat and you guys are powering it with AGM? They may soon be one of our bigger customers!
We saw an e-propulsion vendor there, and some of their new products. They also claim their battery packs can be submerged and float. I spent some time examining their larger packs; they looked like they belong more in a computer machine rack than in a boat.
Then there were the BOATS. Docks and docks and docks of boats to see. Many were for sale by owner, though the usual cast of manufacturers had representative yachts for viewing. My absolute favorite was an older Hylas 56, absolutely beautifully maintained. I find such a stark contrast between the finishes in the newer super-yachts to that you find in the 20+ year old larger boats. The Hylas seemed to be carved from a giant block of solid wood, but elegant and powerful. Across the dock - a massive brand new cat, all the latest electronics, but with finishes that looked more like a facade. Felt plastic to me.
We stuck around Friday until closing, then came back earlier Saturday to try again. Much nicer day - wind down, sun out, much hotter. By the time we got there the parking lot was full, and we were directed to "the old K-Mart, oh you guys aren't from around here, well across the highway, blah blah". We had to take a bus from there! Saturday the show was much busier. We still managed to get in, though after taking the bus ride I had my doubts.
My business partner and I were there to case the joint wrt Marine Battery Sales. The big question - will there be any competitors to our new venture at the show? Answer: No. In fact there was only one battery company at the show, and they had no lithium products at all! Lots of Lifeline stuff, and it was all on display, but I was really taken aback. We talked to them for a while and I came to a stark realization. There really is no "leader" in the lithium market. These poor guys had been running a retail battery store for 40 yrs (!) and were struggling to understand what lithium products to pickup. They realized all the tools and testing equipment they were used to using would be changing. They were anxious!
Mission accomplished, we had a great time at this show. It was busy, but not like shows I have been to in the past. I think it was a cautious re-opening, and I am excited that it went off without a hitch. I am sooo ready to get back to normal.
We will definitely have a booth at the October Anapolis show - the biggest in the world. Hope to see all of you there!
Cheers,
Jeff LaCoursiere
s/v Angels Quest
St Thomas, USVI
Checkout www.aquasparc.com for our latest lithium adventures...
On 4/24/21 7:14 AM, Carsten via groups.io wrote:
Same here.Boring...
Carsten
On Saturday, 24 April 2021, 16:38:22 GMT+8, peter snowdon via groups.io <petersnowdon=chello.at@groups.io> wrote:
I have not received any mail since 1st April. and now when I checked in the group I see there hasn't been any. Is there a problem or is it just that everybody is very busy?
Thanks, Peter Snowdon
--
 | Jeff LaCoursiere STRATUSTALK, INC. / CTO
| ||||||||||
   |
No comments:
Post a Comment