What a place! What a Show! Annapolis Boat Show 2024 in Review

What a place! What a Show! Annapolis Boat Show 2024 in Review

     

Photo from left: Russ, Carl, Mariana, Karin.  

We went, we saw, and mate, did we experience American hospitality in all it’s glory!  Our hearts are full, our heads are whirring, and we can’t wait to do it all over again.

For years we’ve explained ourselves to people all over the world as a small-scale factory, not big enough to attend the international shows. We weren’t too sure what to expect attending our first ever international boat show.

When we got to Annapolis, it was as if everyone already knew us! We each could count on one hand the visitors that were surprised to see our tenders. Every body else seemed to know it either online or from seeing it whilst cruising around.

We’ve returned feeling heartened and humbled, and madly in love with our product all over again. Big thanks to Mariana (Karin’s sister whom lives in Atlanta and knew very little about our business until she rocked up to the show!) for showing up and helping us out big time in receiving visitors to the stand and scoring extra work selling not only tenders but aviation insurance policies (her real job!). What a crack up!

After a day of checking Washington DC with a quick (no less impressive) visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, the Mall with the Washington Monument (someone got into trouble for miscalculating the amount of stones big time), the reflective pool after the National World War II Memorial (where we cooled our feet, reflected and prayed and wished all wars to stop), paid our respects to Mr Lincoln (incredible words everywhere), and had a peep at the White house from the outside of course, we finally connected with the rest of the team for a few beers at the last weekend of outdoor Pirate Bar at Gallesville Harbour.

Logistics were an interesting exercise (thanks Google Maps!) but once again is not what you know but who you know and via our network of friends and supporters we landed a nice gig with the Galesville Harbour Yacht Yard. Fred was a great host and has a great team assisting him.

Somewhat strange experience to be on the receiving side of our exported tenders! Feeling all the excitement and anticipation our owners must feel when they first spot the heavily labelled crate. The endless screws undone to finally get the crate open. Now we get the joke guys!

The 2024 Annapolis Boat Show was our debut onto the international stage. You better believe Russ had the red carpet ready to roll and signage that could not be missed! The only trademark item missing from previous shows was the iconic potted palm trees – US customs probably wouldn’t have approved that and we didn’t have time to source it!! But our spot was simply magical, right next to the water, the bar and had heaps of space for people to stop by and admire the sailing tender in its full glory.

It must have done the job properly because….. come on keep reading!

This was unexpected… but what a nice suprise! We were whisked away to a VIP breakfast on the second day of the show and awareded the ‘Best in Show’ prize for stands under 200 sq/m. An absolute honour, and also a helpful litte signal that we were making an impression. This is one that will be displayed proudly back in the Bay of Islands and we thank Sail America for the prize, support and priceless networking.

And then it began….although show opened at 10am, as of 930 we had people on our stand and it didn’t stop until just on 7pm (even though it closed at 630pm). One particular highlight was meeting exisiting clients from as far back as 2017! At least 40 clients stopped in to say hi over the show. And so many more who had already experienced our tenders. Kiwis and Australians popped by to say hi simply to acknowledge our Down Under connections, and of course we met many future owners we hope!

We were hugely impressed by the calibre of exhibitors. Mostly all the current and popular motherships chosen by our clients were on display, meaning we had the chance to see it in person. Having the opportunity to finally put a face to the name of so many representatives of the manufacturers we deal with on a weekly basis via email was also very special.

The YouTubers and influencers presence is one of the highlights of the Annapolis Boat Show. They put a huge effort in organizing events and scheduling different channels to meet and greet fans (they are plentiful!). The “oscars” of sailing channels is held one of the evenings, affirming the power and popularity of this new way to engage, share talents and experience, and make a living whilst cruising. Another novelty was the launch of the Sea People’s App which seems to be a very interesting new concept for cruising communications.

Russell enjoyed himself immenselly with quite a few of the You Tube crew and could not help himself when he met Mads from @SailLife.

Click the below to watch:

By 3pm on Monday the stand was empty and we took a photo on a rare moment without visitors – but they kept coming until show stopped at 5pm. Phew! Then we could go have a beer and watch the most entertaining event of all: the dismantling of the show – its a logistical nightmare done with utmost professionalism even when 20 knots is blowing into the harbor!

It’s fair to say the Annapolis Boat Show completely exceeded our expectations in terms of volume, quality, and opportunities. We’d like to once again thank everyone who helped make the trip a reality for us. We are definitely putting this one on the calendar for next year. Keep an eye out for announements in the new year, as specials for the boats on display will be up again. These even come with a farewell kiss from Russ!

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