Boat Show fever ...

Despite our annoyance at having to pay for the privilege of being pitched already criminally overpriced marine products, we here at Sailing Maryland admit to a bit of giddiness ahead of this weekend's Annapolis Boat Show. Maybe this year we'll finally out tack the Hinckley Yachts bouncer and get inside of one of those beauties.

As usual, though, the best part of the show is the "free" seminars put on by Cruising World in the ballroom of the Annapolis Marriott Waterfront Hotel, including several by Jimmy Cornell.

Sibling Rivalry

Zach Sunderland, the 17-year-old who recently completed a solo circumnavigation now has a little sister in his wake. Abby Sunderland, however, plans to upstage her brother by doing it non-stop. She'll be leaving next month, just a few weeks after her sweet 16.

Her glam shots aren't quite as polished as Aussie rival Jessica Watson. Watson leaves from Sydney in a few days. Presumably, Abby plans a West Coast departure, same as her brother.

Slocum Meets Google Earth

Here's a fascinating resource we found recently that traces Joshua Slocum's historic voyage on Google Earth. Waypoints are marked and text from the classic tale are attached. Great way to waste a few hours on the Web.

Here you go: Voyage of Spray download

Sighted on the Magothy ...

New solo challenge? Just say (goat) "cheese"!

A first in yachting: Cruisersforum

Wave forms ...

NOAA Samoan Tsunami animation

Weekend Weather

A little blowy, but otherwise not bad -- assuming it doesn't rain on Saturday:



NOAA Hourly

NWS Annapolis-Baltimore

NOAA Marine Forecast

Nautical word of the day

SLUSH FUND: In nautical jargon, slush is the fat and grease from boiling meat. Slush would be sold when in port and the money would be distributed among the crew. Nautical use of slush fund dates to 1839.

Grounded Hawk

Hawk, the 47' custom-built aluminum fractional sloop owned by the sailor/author Starzingers (Following Seas, Blue Horizons, The Voyager's Handbook) is on the hard at Cypress Creek on the Magothy for a thorough overhaul.

Beth will be appearing for a seminar at the Annapolis Boat Show.

Best Bay Boats - Tartan 37

There's a saying that goes something like this: "I know only two sailors who haven't run aground. One never left the pier and the other was a spectacular liar." On the Chesapeake, even the liar grudgingly owns up.

No doubt a shallow draft is a big plus here and that puts a bullet next to the Tartan 37 centerboard version (4'2" with the board up) on our list of Best Bay Boats.

The Tartan's interior build quality is excellent -- in fact, on a par with many of the Asian built yachts.

The balsa-cored decks and hull keep down the displacement. We've seen one local Tartan 37 hulled below the waterline and it wasn't pretty. On the other hand, we know of at least a few that have done circumnavigations.

Overall, T37s seem like sturdy little cruisers and great Chessie gunkholers.

Some 450 boats were built from 1976-1988.

There's a pretty good range on the pricing, but the median gets in around our $50K "affordability" benchmark. We admit that at 37' LOA, she comes in a bit over our original size parameter. But, hey, for this boat we're willing to bend the rules a little.

More info:

Tartan Sailing Association

Chesapeake Bay Tartan Sailing Club

Jack Hornor's Boat U.S. Review.