Recently in Chicago they had a boat show entirely devoted to sailboats. I had to go.
Luckily for myself I had a spare day off of work saved up for just such an occasion. One thing that I don't like about Chicago is that it takes about $5 in tolls to get there. After navigating the horrendous downtown traffic, parking next to several exotic cars, and using a subway restaurant purely for the restroom, I was on my way to the boat show. The windy city certainly earned its title that day as wind chills threatened to freeze my ears and nose off. The idea that I was going to soon see so many new sailboats was more than enough to get me to walk briskly over to the Navy Pier.
I had never been to the Pier before, and I highly recommend it. I'm not sure who's idea it was to put suck light things like 50 foot sailboats on the second floor while reserving the ground level for heavy artifacts like stained glass windows, but I digress. As soon as I had my bright paper bracelet on my wrist I was off with my trusty DSLR camera to tour the sloops and take as many pictures as I could. All around there were offerings from Catalina, Jeanneau, Benetau, Hunter, and many more. Sizes ranged from tiny kayaks and inflatable dinghies on up to a Beneteau Sense 50. I was in heaven.
Although I am a fan of old classic looking boats with long, full keels, I couldn't help but be awestruck at the beautiful dual helms, plumb bows, and beamy sterns of these modern racer cruisers. It has always amazed me how much space can be found in a 30 by 10 space. I am not quite sure if I can pick a favorite boat yet. They each had their own charm. The Blue Jacket 40 certainly seemed to be a favorite of the cruising community with its rich wood and chrome interior. The Com Pac yachts had interesting choices in the sub-30 foot category. One yacht of particular interest was the chubby Com Pac 23 Motor sailor. With a stout pilot house one could choose either to steer with the tiller at the stern, or the shiny helm wheel tucked safely below.
Several vendors were set up pedaling their inflatable life jackets, propane powered outboards, carbon fiber winches and the like. I did get to try my hand at grinding away on a large Harken pedestal winch. I had the second fastest time [to do 20 revolutions] of the day.
Some boats sacrificed all of the usable space in order to achieve greater speed. A 27 foot boat that could hardly sleep two seems a bit of a waste to me, but I'm sure the racers out there can't understand how a cruiser can make due with such a heavy hull and such small sails. I guess everyone has their own taste, and there's a craft for each. As far as racers go, the most stunning boat of the day had to be the old Shields classone-design sloop. A full keel racing boat with long over hangs and a very fine transom had all the telltale signs of boat plans drawn in a bygone era. Favoring minimal wetted surface area over having a longer waterline was the norm back in the day. Although it was one of those longer boats that are good for no more than racing and daysailing, I would take one in a heartbeat.
Pictures to follow.
