Strictly Sail

Strictly Sail is a boat show in Chicago that is ALL about sailing; sailboats, sail gear and equipment, sailing seminars etc. etc.  There are no power boats, no ski boats or fishing boats….just sailboats, big and small.  Yippee.  This is supposed to be the primo sail show to attend.  So we hear.  The other awesome boat show is the Annapolis Boat Show.  Strictly Sail is 4 days of touching and feeling the gear that we have only seen in magazines and on the computer screen.  We can talk to the experts and ooh and ahh over their products and expertise.  We'll be like kids in a candy store.  And since we'll be boat owners soon enough, we will be able to see some of the products we actually need (and perhaps some that we don’t need but rather want).   This show is also all about the free seminars.  These seminars are presented by experts in the sailing and cruising community.  The very authors of the books and blogs we have been reading and researching.  We will literally be running nonstop from one seminar to the next.  There are sooo many cool topics (like cruising the Bahamas, galley essentials and weather) and sooo many not so cool, but necessary topics (like diesel maintenance, plumbing, seacocks and thru hulls).  In fact, there are so many seminars worth going to that Craig and won’t be going to the same seminars together.  I think we may have to put together an elaborate spreadsheet to keep it all straight.  Just kidding. We will have to divide and concur though.  And even still, we won’t get to them all because we have to save time to walk the floor with all the cool stuff.  Is there a point in which ones brain stops absorbing because it’s too full??

We are also taking our off shore cruising seminar while at the show (this one is not free).  It’s 9 hours jam packed with information we’ll need to know to stay safe and be comfortable.  John Neal of Mahina Expeditions will be presenting key topics like Boat Selection, Outfitting for Offshore, Piracy & Security, Communication, Medical Emergencies, Cost of Cruising, Storm Survival Tactics, Insurance, Anchoring, Rigging & Sails, Weather & Cruise Planning.   Not only that, but our very own boat broker, Pete, will be presenting as well as Jimmy Cornell (who has written many sailing books including the infamous World Cruising Routes, which we own).   

We are leaving the kids behind with a sitter and flying to Chicago on Thursday morning.  We signed up for this course months ago and have been anticipating it ever since!