Morning came early today as we had to catch the ferry to Seattle for the boat show. With Tracy's class starting at 9am, we had to make sure we were there on time. The ferry was set to leave at 6:20 so we left Zephyr at 5:40AM!!! A short night sleep for the two of us. The trip takes an hour so that put us into Seattle by 7:20. We found a Starbucks--really a tough thing to do here in Seattle and had some thing to eat. We then walked to Qwest Field for the show.It took us some time to find the right door for us to go through. I sort of snuck in with her. She went into the class with Jimmy Cornell on "Planning a Voyage". Since it was set to go from 9 to 12 noon, I had some time to kill. I could have attended the class as there was very little security as to who went in and who did not. Instead, I plunked myself down at the top of the stairs and waited. That went fine till about 10:15 when I was politely asked to leave and come back later. I walked across the street and sat in the lobby of a hotel. Nice place. Fireplace and nice comfy chairs.
At noon, I went back and we had a quick lunch. Now the food inside Qwest field is not only expensive but really quite bad and the soft drinks they sell--something called "Jones Cola" is just this side of horrible but not by much. We walked across the street to a street vendor and had "polish" dogs and cokes. Both meals came to less than one inside the show--and tasted better too.
After lunch, we browsed the show. Up and down the aisles. On we went, stopping here and there and asking questions. Taking notes and business cards for later followup. We did find one product we will buy when we go back in a few days. It a set of basically industrial suctions cups with a handle between the two. We plan on mounting it by the life line gates where we get on board. As we leave the dock and the ladder we normally use to get on board is already stowed, Tracy has a hard time making that final boost to get on board. With a hand hold mounted just above the gate, it will be much easier. Plus, it can be mounted on either side as needed. A great idea. I don't have to drill holes and mount some piece of hardware that will only get used occasionally. On or off either side as needed.
We talked to the Gill folks about foul weather gear, Nobeltec on computer navigation software and many others. For fun, we toured two boats that cost between 1.3 and 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS!!! I don't quite see where they came up with such an outlandish price as I didn't think they were worth that kind of money. But hey, what do I know?
Tracy's second class--at 4pm--again with Jimmy Cornell was on "Practical Aspects of Long Distance Cruising". From what she said, a better lecture. I expect to hear more about it tomorrow.
With Tracy getting out at 7pm, we left shortly thereafter as we were both quite tired. Neither of us had walked that far, let alone talked to so many people in quite some time. We missed the ferry back to Bremerton by two minutes. Oh well. We bought our tickets and took off for Ivar's Restaurant. Tracy--fish and chips, and I had shrimp and chips. Neither of us finished so leftovers for lunch tomorrow. As we figure our legs will be quite tired tomorrow, we think we will wait a few days before going back.
When Tracy went in for the class, they didn't take her ticket, so we can go back for three more days if we want to. Since the ferry is free to go over to Seattle, and not much to get back--they only charge for going one way, why not go back. If the weather is bad, it will give us something to do. Since we now have something to do if we want to, I expect Mother Nature to bring really nice weather over the next few day--at least till the show is over.
One day down and several to go.
Have a great weekend everyone.
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