Dot and I drove to Newport today to see the boat show. It's funny how you start to notice the same thing from one boat to the next. Today, it was companionway stairs. I think it was because the first boat we went into, a Jenneau 43, had absolutely no handrails of any kind, and strange, cupped stair treads. A broken leg just waiting to happen. The safest campanionway stairs we saw, and by far the cheesiest, belonged to the Hunter 466. Tubular stainless steel, I am not kidding. But they had handrails--also tubular stainless--all the way down. Maybe they weren't the real stairs, just installed for the show. My favorite boat was the Tartan 3700, though we liked the 4100 almost as well. The solidly-built Tartans, like the Island Packets, fill the space between the over-the-top high-end boats and the coastal cruisers. They look like they would happily take you to Bermuda, just not with Nigerian Mahogany cabinetry. I'll own a Tartan someday, I hope. I never got aboard the Hinckley Sou'Wester 52, there was always a long line. I've long wondered how you can make a fiberglass boat cost so much. One way Hinckley runs up the price tag is by installing primaries the size of trash cans. The winches were smaller on Brad van Liew's Around-Alone Open 60 sitting on the next dock! Nobody could tell me what you're supposed to do when an in-mast furler jams with the sail pulled out. The question certainly prompted lots of salesman BS, though, mostly along the lines of "it will never happen." Somebody pick me up off the floor, please. There is still way too much topside teak on most of these boats. Every time I looked at a 40-foot long teak toerail all I could think of was me, a palm sander, and the hot July sun on my back. One vendor quoted me a foam vee-berth mattress for $1700. It was very good foam, I suppose. I got to meet Peggy Hall. For anyone imagining what she looks like, she is petite, trim and could shave more than a few years off her age without anyone the wiser--not very head-mistress looking. I expected someone more, well, like a plumber. A very nice lady but we knew that already. Just thought I'd share! Paul sv Escape Artist h336