Went to the Sail America Show yesterday, Friday. Not crowded, good display of items. Seems smaller than the Atlantic City Show last year. Take a look at the new Benetuea 343. Lets hear what you have to say. Hope you are not snowed in 
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Stictly Sail Philly
Yep, I thought it was OK, but very poorly attended on Friday and not nearly as many exhibitors as I remember from the AC shows of the past. The snow is certainly not going to help this weekend. I left Philly @ 2:30am Sat morning, to head back to LI before the snow and traffic became a nightmare. Made the 150 miles in 2h 20m
Yep, I thought it was OK, but very poorly attended on Friday and not nearly as many exhibitors as I remember from the AC shows of the past. The snow is certainly not going to help this weekend. I left Philly @ 2:30am Sat morning, to head back to LI before the snow and traffic became a nightmare. Made the 150 miles in 2h 20m
smaller than AC show???
I thought the reason for moving to Philadelphia was to make the show bigger. Guess not. I went up Friday and drove around for an hour trying to park. I gave up and came home. This alone was reason enough for me not to go in the future, now you say it was even smaller than the Atlantic City show, I know I won't go next year. I looked forward to the seminars at Atlantic City every year and took the weekend off from work to attend all four days. I guess now it is only Annapolis in the fall for me.
I thought the reason for moving to Philadelphia was to make the show bigger. Guess not. I went up Friday and drove around for an hour trying to park. I gave up and came home. This alone was reason enough for me not to go in the future, now you say it was even smaller than the Atlantic City show, I know I won't go next year. I looked forward to the seminars at Atlantic City every year and took the weekend off from work to attend all four days. I guess now it is only Annapolis in the fall for me.
Not spectacular
Went on thursday to the Safety at Sea seminar. A little delayed by the rush hour trafic, but the center is surrounded by parking lots, so we dived into one. Seminar was much larger than I expected, maybe 150 people in a huge room. The guys I was with said the seminar at other shows was better, that some demonstrations were done in the water, etc. I was expecting it to be more instructional, but it was really a fast overview. The great majority were there to qualify for various Bermuda-bound races. The show itself was smallish, mostly common brands of boats and enough venders to keep you occuppied for a day. With the snow on saturday, I think it will not be considered a success. What I did like was the selection of smaller daysailers, which often get lost at large shows. I suppose if you are looking at a brand that was there, it was a good opportunity to look and talk without the turmoil of a larger show. Most reps seemed anxious to talk at length, rather than overwhelmed and fatigued. Personally, I liked going to Philly better than being in the strangely derelict atmosphere of AC, and its a good winter break to do some pre-season homework.
Went on thursday to the Safety at Sea seminar. A little delayed by the rush hour trafic, but the center is surrounded by parking lots, so we dived into one. Seminar was much larger than I expected, maybe 150 people in a huge room. The guys I was with said the seminar at other shows was better, that some demonstrations were done in the water, etc. I was expecting it to be more instructional, but it was really a fast overview. The great majority were there to qualify for various Bermuda-bound races. The show itself was smallish, mostly common brands of boats and enough venders to keep you occuppied for a day. With the snow on saturday, I think it will not be considered a success. What I did like was the selection of smaller daysailers, which often get lost at large shows. I suppose if you are looking at a brand that was there, it was a good opportunity to look and talk without the turmoil of a larger show. Most reps seemed anxious to talk at length, rather than overwhelmed and fatigued. Personally, I liked going to Philly better than being in the strangely derelict atmosphere of AC, and its a good winter break to do some pre-season homework.
Nice Show but few people on Saturday
Spent the whole day there (Saturday)- drolling over the Catalina 350 & 320 and the Island Packet 370. Not many people after the blizzard started. Attended several lectures which were pretty good. Sales reps were easy to get to with the lack of a crowd. Our first ever indoor sailboat show. Actually liked it better than Annapolis - no lines, not as many boats but a good selection. Since we drove 300 miles we stayed at a motel and took the bus to & from the convention center.
Spent the whole day there (Saturday)- drolling over the Catalina 350 & 320 and the Island Packet 370. Not many people after the blizzard started. Attended several lectures which were pretty good. Sales reps were easy to get to with the lack of a crowd. Our first ever indoor sailboat show. Actually liked it better than Annapolis - no lines, not as many boats but a good selection. Since we drove 300 miles we stayed at a motel and took the bus to & from the convention center.
Larry, problems parking???
We parked right across the street in a covered parking garrage,,,I know for a fact that there are at least 3 covered garrages within a block,,,behind the convention center 1 block there are 5 car lots that I know of...non were full saturday morning. We chose to park in the covered lot because of the snow. My wife and I arrived on Sat morning 9:00.... We attended the ancoring and docking seminar, Using the asymetrical spinnaker, Womens captian crash course (my wife took), maintaining your diesel engine, and crusing the northern chesapeake .........Overall we had a great time.....I was somewhat dissapointed by the seminars, however there is only so much depth you can get into in 1 hour per session...i was especially dissapointed with the cruising the upper chesapeake as it was basicly a slide show of the main places to go and no usefull cruising knowledge such as approches, currents, shoaling areas,local knowledge that helps visiting cruisers. the show itself was fine...its an indoor boat show,,,in my basic belief they are all pretty much the same...logisticly and financially there are only so manty boats that can be represented indoors....I was dissapointed by the fact that Cherrabinni had a booth there but no boats,,they are beautiful!....there was a good sampling of day sailors...some decked out in all there teak splendor...I belive this is a trend for upscale daysailors. The exhibitors were good...we purchased 2 oil lamps, 2 of thoses folding cushions, 2 hats with our boat name on it,,,(since we just changed our name)....and a rummage sale booth that I bought a $135 deck steaming light at 50% off..$67.50...I just bought this same light at west marine last week for $185.00 so Ill return that one now!..that savings paid for the show and parking! As usual the beer was exspensive...but bacardi was giving away free rum so we had to sample a few of those......We left around 6:00. the snow was about 6" by then and we puttered home...no problems with 4x4. I feel bad for the show because of the storm. When the show picked that weekend who knows when how could they know a major snow storm and the EAGLES game were going to be that weekend!...Congrats EAGLES! However since the crowds were light we saw every boat we were interested in. Looking forward to the next one.....Maybe next year Ill sign up for the all day seminars. Overall a good experience!
We parked right across the street in a covered parking garrage,,,I know for a fact that there are at least 3 covered garrages within a block,,,behind the convention center 1 block there are 5 car lots that I know of...non were full saturday morning. We chose to park in the covered lot because of the snow. My wife and I arrived on Sat morning 9:00.... We attended the ancoring and docking seminar, Using the asymetrical spinnaker, Womens captian crash course (my wife took), maintaining your diesel engine, and crusing the northern chesapeake .........Overall we had a great time.....I was somewhat dissapointed by the seminars, however there is only so much depth you can get into in 1 hour per session...i was especially dissapointed with the cruising the upper chesapeake as it was basicly a slide show of the main places to go and no usefull cruising knowledge such as approches, currents, shoaling areas,local knowledge that helps visiting cruisers. the show itself was fine...its an indoor boat show,,,in my basic belief they are all pretty much the same...logisticly and financially there are only so manty boats that can be represented indoors....I was dissapointed by the fact that Cherrabinni had a booth there but no boats,,they are beautiful!....there was a good sampling of day sailors...some decked out in all there teak splendor...I belive this is a trend for upscale daysailors. The exhibitors were good...we purchased 2 oil lamps, 2 of thoses folding cushions, 2 hats with our boat name on it,,,(since we just changed our name)....and a rummage sale booth that I bought a $135 deck steaming light at 50% off..$67.50...I just bought this same light at west marine last week for $185.00 so Ill return that one now!..that savings paid for the show and parking! As usual the beer was exspensive...but bacardi was giving away free rum so we had to sample a few of those......We left around 6:00. the snow was about 6" by then and we puttered home...no problems with 4x4. I feel bad for the show because of the storm. When the show picked that weekend who knows when how could they know a major snow storm and the EAGLES game were going to be that weekend!...Congrats EAGLES! However since the crowds were light we saw every boat we were interested in. Looking forward to the next one.....Maybe next year Ill sign up for the all day seminars. Overall a good experience!
Kicking tires and buying stuff
Parking was not a problem that I could find. Snow was another factor. I know a few of the vendors including "Bitchin" and all said people where buying. Lynn and Nevin from Sport-a-Seat said sales where worth the trip. Lou Carrato (sp) said most everyone was pleased with the turnout even with the snow and game. My wife and I spent all day Sat running from one seminar to another. Friday crowds were not bad, was able to crawl on any boat I wanted which was all of them. Sunday went to the Yanmar one day course and I'll give a critque in a couple of days. Oh Yeah on the rum tasting love that vanilla!! Jim S/V Java
Parking was not a problem that I could find. Snow was another factor. I know a few of the vendors including "Bitchin" and all said people where buying. Lynn and Nevin from Sport-a-Seat said sales where worth the trip. Lou Carrato (sp) said most everyone was pleased with the turnout even with the snow and game. My wife and I spent all day Sat running from one seminar to another. Friday crowds were not bad, was able to crawl on any boat I wanted which was all of them. Sunday went to the Yanmar one day course and I'll give a critque in a couple of days. Oh Yeah on the rum tasting love that vanilla!! Jim S/V Java
Liked the show
We wanted to go on Friday, but work and other complications nixed that, so we went on Saturday instead. The blizzard had to be a major setback for attendance, which made it very nice for those that made it to the show! It was easy to talk at length with all of the vendors, and it was easy to look at any boat on display. For day sailers, I really liked the Jim Taylor designed boat made for Colgate Sailing School. That looks like a fun boat! We looked at several dream boats and my wife was able to give me a good idea about what she thinks would be suitable for cruising ... cha ching!! We had fun and would have liked to stay for some music and drinks, but we wanted to make it home too, so off we went a little earlier than we would have liked, thanking General Motors for 4 x 4! BTW, parking is a little hard to swallow when it costs more than the price of admission. We paid $15 for an outside lot next to the center. But it seems a little funny to dream about a 40' Catalina and complain about the price of parking in the big city!!
We wanted to go on Friday, but work and other complications nixed that, so we went on Saturday instead. The blizzard had to be a major setback for attendance, which made it very nice for those that made it to the show! It was easy to talk at length with all of the vendors, and it was easy to look at any boat on display. For day sailers, I really liked the Jim Taylor designed boat made for Colgate Sailing School. That looks like a fun boat! We looked at several dream boats and my wife was able to give me a good idea about what she thinks would be suitable for cruising ... cha ching!! We had fun and would have liked to stay for some music and drinks, but we wanted to make it home too, so off we went a little earlier than we would have liked, thanking General Motors for 4 x 4! BTW, parking is a little hard to swallow when it costs more than the price of admission. We paid $15 for an outside lot next to the center. But it seems a little funny to dream about a 40' Catalina and complain about the price of parking in the big city!!
Parking
Not to beat a dead horse about parking...and I think the Sail show should have mentioned this somehow ...But we parked in the multi level enclosed parking garrage right across from the convention center (6'10" clearance Good for our tahoe). In between the show and the seminars around lunch time we went over to the reding terminal market which is a smorgasboard of food from all over the world...we had a great lunch AND had our parking ticket validated!!! free parking! Enjoyed the show....the music...and the vanilla over the mango rum samples! cant wait for spring!!!
Not to beat a dead horse about parking...and I think the Sail show should have mentioned this somehow ...But we parked in the multi level enclosed parking garrage right across from the convention center (6'10" clearance Good for our tahoe). In between the show and the seminars around lunch time we went over to the reding terminal market which is a smorgasboard of food from all over the world...we had a great lunch AND had our parking ticket validated!!! free parking! Enjoyed the show....the music...and the vanilla over the mango rum samples! cant wait for spring!!!
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