Back Creek CRAB Party
From 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) will hold its annual party at Port Annapolis Marina Overlook Pavilion with great food, live music with The Eastport Oyster Boys, Calico Jack, and Caryl P. Weiss, and a silent auction and raffle.
CRAB is a 17-year-old non-profit dedicated to making the thrill of sailing a reality for physically or developmentally challenged individuals. In the above photo, Don Backe, CRAB's Executive Director, steers Doubler, the group's weekend cruiser, on her maiden voyage off Annapolis City Dock in 2006.
All proceeds from the Back Creek CRAB Party benefit the organization. SpinSheet is among many sponsors.
~M.W.
Photo by Mark Talbott/SpinSheet
On Friday, May 2 at 5 p.m., the MD Maritime Heritage Festival Block Party kicks off with Doug Segree playing from 5-7 p.m. and Virgil Cane playing from 7-9 p.m. in the parking lot of Fawcett Boat Supplies next to the Fleet Reserve Club on Compromise Street in Annapolis.
Say you’re exhausted, and your crew is hot and crankier than usual. Your bow has spent your “day off” bucking a bumpy Bay breeze. The only things left on your must-have list are a safe harbor, a shower, and dinner. Many marinas on the Chesapeake will give you those happy options and a boatload of others, as well. For example, we know of a resort marina with a breezy hill where wrought iron chairs beckon you to sit, sip lemonade, and quietly take in the view of lazy Carter Creek and surrounding shores. Want bright lights and big cities? For starters, marinas in Norfolk, Washington DC, and Baltimore should do the trick. Like the variety of boats they serve, there’s a Bay marina for most every sailor’s taste.
Do not throw your shrink wrap away!
In the Consumer Electronics and Software category, the judges picked the NavNET 3D, a multifunction navigation suite available in both stand alone and black box units, by Furuno USA Inc.
Walker Bay Boats’ Airis High-Pressure Inflatable Kayak (left) was the winner in the Inflatables and Tenders category. Constructed using patent-pending AirWeb technology, the boat can be inflated to more than six psi, resulting in a rigid and stable platform that is lightweight and compact enough to be carried as a backpack.
One PropTalk reader told us, "This show is the first harbinger of spring." His friend added, "A dose of medicine in this cold weather." We asked a SpinSheet reader what he was doing at the show. "Just dreamin'," he said and walked away with a beer in one hand, a bag of pretty brochures in the other. 
While the hard-core racers were in Key West, the balance of the mid-Atlantic crowd was engaged in the Baltimore Boat Show which for the first time included a special 25,000 square foot Sailfest section and was condensed to four days (as opposed to nine days in previous years). The Show featured all 300,000 square feet of exhibition space at the Baltimore Convention Center and included more than 700 powerboats, sailboats, and personal watercraft. The formula appears to have worked. 
It has been a fairly tough run for the mid-Atlantic, mid-winter sailboat show effort. This is a shame, really, because these shows offer the industry a valuable opportunity to connect with potential customers in an otherwise slow period, and they offer sailors unprecedented access to seminars and industry experts. After a decade or so of shows in Atlantic City, most of which seemed to coincide with major meteorological Winter Events, a pair of shows in Philadelphia filled the void in recent years. The Philadelphia shows were held in a very strong location but yet another ill-timed Winter Event gummed things up in 2005 and a show-less gap year followed in 2006. The momentum was slowed. The 2007 edition was decent but... a change is gonna come...
