3rd Annual Spring Boating Symposium

[Moonfish]

Is anyone here going? March 15-17 at the NW Maritime Center in Port Townsend. They leaned more towards sail and passagemaking the first couple of years (Lin and Larry Pardey were the featured speakers in year one, and Capt. Fatty Goodlander was last year), but are now trying to branch out into more power cruising.

They actually invited us to participate by bringing our boat to the docks in Point Hudson (there will be quite a few boats open for tours). Attendees tour the boats and ask questions of the owners when they're not attending classes all weekend. We're supposedly there to talk about our experience living and working aboard while cruising the Pacific NW with a small child. That and we can speak about all of the WA State Parks in the San Juan Islands.

It's a pretty full weekend with about 25 experts and limited to 200 attendees. Even if you don't attend, and happen to be in the Port Townsend neighborhood, stop on by and say hi!

Northwest Maritime Center - Maritime Symposium

 

[Moonfish]

Well, Delfin and I are here anyway. Both our boats are open for tours today and tomorrow as part of the Symposium. Say hi if you're around!

 

[Wadosan]

Moonfish - Darn...I didn't know about it and now have commitments. Is this a yearly thing?

 

[Moonfish]

Moonfish - Darn...I didn't know about it and now have commitments. Is this a yearly thing?

Wade and Maureen - This is the third annual Symposium, so there will most likely be a fourth. I do know that the attendance this year was an issue leading up to the event (which is why they introduced a' la carte pricing), but there are at least 300 people in the main hall this evening listening to Matt Rutherford's keynote presentation.

Who is that you might ask? Well, I had to ask the same thing, which I believe is a symptom of why they were a little worried about attendance. Matt is a very funny, engaging guy who happens to be the first person to sail solo around both North and South America. A lot of sailors I know had never heard of the guy. But this event has "historically" been sail and long-distance sail oriented, hence they're missing a larger audience. And that would be us.

Which is precisely why they asked us to attend with our boat, and why they asked us if we knew of any other trawler owners who cruise. That's why Delfin is also here. But if they want to attract us trawler folk more, they'll need to design some of the classes for us and do a better job of marketing to our demographic.

I think that is likely going to happen, so I'll keep everyone posted regarding next year's event.