Boating Issue 2023

WHERE SHORE ADVENTURES BEGIN

24 Meet the Experts at the Boat Shows

Discover the latest trends in the boating world— Capt. John Page Williams and Jefferson Holland

43

Love my tender— MacDuff Perkins

On Boats

51 Grady-White 281 Coastal Explorer— Capt. John Page Williams

57 Solara S-310 Console Walkaround— Capt. John Page Williams

62 Chesapeake Cocktail

The Painkiller is the must-have drink at the Annapolis Boat Shows

80 Stern Lines

Changes in Latitudes: CBM salutes the late, great Jimmy Buffett— Cheryl Costello

5

64 Four Boats Not to Miss at the Boat Shows

COVER: Jimmy Buffet’s signature aqua-colored multihull powerboat, a custom-built 42’ Freeman called Last Mango, docked at the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in October, 2020. Photo by David Sites.

ABOVE: Bali Catamarans is just one of 24 builders of multihulled boats that will have nearly 60 boats on display at the Annapolis Boat Shows (see page 24).

EDITOR Jefferson Holland

CRUISING EDITOR: Jody Argo Schroath

EDITORS-AT-LARGE: Ann Levelle, John Page Williams

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rafael Alvarez, Kelsey Bonham, Will Boram, Niambi Davis, Ann Eichenmuller, Robert Gustafson, Mark Hendricks, Marty LeGrand, Kate Livie, MacDuff Perkins, Angus Phillips, Nancy Taylor Robson

ART DIRECTOR Nancy Lambrides

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Meg Walburn Viviano

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST: Cheryl Costello

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Merina Navarro

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Jay Fleming, Mark Hendricks, Mark Hergan, David Sites, Steven Waltrich

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It’s showtime! Boat show time, that is, of course. Back in 1970, when the world’s first in-water boat show brought about 50 new sailboats to the Annapolis City Dock, this little tidewater town didn’t know what to expect. The locals were unprepared for the thousands of avid sailors who flocked from all across the country— in fact, from all around the globe.

One veteran restaurateur told me that all the nearby eateries ran out of food. He had to send to Baltimore for an emergency truckload of hot dogs. The city fathers couldn’t figure out what to charge the event organizers for the use of the dock, so they tallied up the amount of change that would have been collected from the meters in the parking lot and that was the rent for that first year.

Up until that time, boat shows took place in the middle of winter, in the middle of big cities, in the middle of cavernous convention centers. The New York Boat Show at the Coliseum on Columbus Circle was the model for nearly a century. Staging an event dedicated to just sailboats was one radical departure from the marine industry’s traditional marketing efforts. Another was to have the boats displayed in their natural habitat. A third was to hold the event in a small town in October, when the Chesapeake’s weather is at its dependable best.

Despite a few odd years of rain, impending hurricanes, high tides and occasional Indian summer heat, the formula proved to be a success for boaters and boat builders alike—not to mention all the purveyors of every

FROM THE EDITOR

‘Tis the Season

by Jefferson Holland

imaginable nautical accessory, piece of boating equipment and professional service. It’s been a win for the City of Annapolis, too, despite gripes from residents about traffic and parking. Those in the know rent their homes to exhibitors or visitors and flee for the hills until the hub-bub has done hubbubbling. The city coffers reap more than mere meter change these days, and the local hospitality industry gets its biggest economic boost of the year as well.

But none of that explains the sheer excitement of being at the shows, seeing all the new boats and boating

stuff, meeting all the other folks who go ga-ga over anything that floats. As editor, I’m hoping this special boat show edition of Chesapeake Bay Magazine will serve as a companion piece to the show programs. We’ve included previews of some of the more spectacular boats and boating trends you’re likely to discover at the shows, as well as insights from some of the experts you’re apt to meet.

And I’d be happy to meet you there, too. I’ll be joining my staff colleagues at the Chesapeake Bay Media booth. Please stop by and say hello!

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Maryland Plants 1 Billion Oysters in 1 Year

by Cheryl Costello

photos courtesy of University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

It’s quite a milestone: the team at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science laboratory at Horn Point near Cambridge, Maryland produced one billion oyster spat-on-shell in a single season. It shows remarkable progress considering it took 30 years to produce the previous 10 billion. Nearly all of this year’s massive brood is going to restoration reefs in the Chesapeake.

“We’ve been setting spat on adult oyster shell here since April,” declares Stephanie Alexander, the lab’s manager and self-described “oyster wrangler.” “And we're still going.” The lab produces oyster larvae, each about the size of a grain of sand, then “set” the larvae on adult oyster shells sitting in large tanks filled with brackish water pumped directly from the river. Once the larvae are set on the shell,

they’re referred to as “spat.” Spat need the adult shell to set on, since they absorb the shell’s calcium carbonate to form their own shell.

Horn Point has more than 50 tanks in production. “We are here seven days a week,” she explains. “We don't really get weekends or holidays, because they are our babies, and if you don’t come in and take care of them, they’re not going to do so well. And ultimately it’s

Left: Stephanie Alexander, self-described 'oyster wrangler,' shows off of oysters as they grow in the wild.

Below: Adult oyster shells are placed in cages, then submerged in huge tanks full of brackish water, then 'set' with oyster larvae, or 'spat.'

All

Mother Nature. Mother Nature was in a fantastic mood this year. We had great salinity, so we were able to start spawning early this spring.”

A partnership is at play here too. Horn Point gets its shells from the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), which operates a program that recycles oyster shells from restaurants throughout the Bay watershed. ORP director, Ward Slacum, explains that once shells are collected from eateries, they’re left out in the sun for a year to dry out, then washed and delivered to the lab, where Reynolds and her staff introduce the larvae in the tanks. Once the spat are set, the Department of Natural Resources uses most of them to replenish newly established sanctuaries.

Chris Judy, director of DNR’s Shellfish Division, says that Maryland has five large-scale restoration sanctuaries: Harris Creek, Tred Avon River, Little Choptank River, upper St. Mary's River, and the Manokin River. “The program is designed with the hope—and we say ‘hope,’ because it’s actually not a proven fact yet—that by increasing oysters in sanctuaries we can help ignite oyster reproduction throughout the Bay,” Judy explains.

Oysters are filter feeders, sucking in water, ingesting the algae, and depositing particulates and other waste on the river bottom. Each adult can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. When Capt. John Smith explored the Bay 400 years ago, there were so many oyster reefs, Smith described them as a positive hazard to navigation. Collectively, some scientists estimate that they could have filtered every drop of water in the Bay every three days—all 18 trillion gallons of water, making it crystal clear.

In recent years, oyster growers struggled with chronic low salinity following historic rainfall. Oysters need some salinity to survive and breed. Salinity of at least 14 parts per thousand is ideal, and the water at the mouth of the Choptank River was abundantly salty all this past season.

Stephanie Alexander is pleased with the results. “With us having a great year this year, I think we’ve satisfied a lot of the need” to supply spat to watermen engaged in aquaculture as well as to replenish sanctuaries. “Probably not all of the need,” she says, “but we've satisfied a lot.”

With one billion oysters in the water in these sanctuaries this season alone, the

You can view this video report by scanning this QR code.

partners say these big numbers are proof that they’re making real progress in restoring the oyster population. “We’re not going to get back to the 1800s,” Slacum explains, referring to the fact that the acme of the oyster harvest took place in the 1880s, when watermen landed 18 million bushels, compared to just one percent of that number in recent years. “But we are going to get the oyster population to a point where it’s healthy and it’s contributing to the health of the Bay. And our seafood economy.”

CBM's Multimedia Journalist Cheryl Costello spent nearly two decades reporting for television stations, most recently at WJLA in Washington, D.C.

Above: The lab breeds oyster larvae in temperature-controlled vats.

Right: Shells set with spat are washed overboard to replenish oyster sanctuaries.

Retired Coastie’s Mid-Course Correction

A gifted boat and new adventures

by MacDuff Perkins

After 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, Jodie Knox is enjoying her retirement. Having just completed a successful Delmarva circumnavigation aboard her 2005 Mainship 400T trawler, Knox speaks to us from Solomons, Maryland, where her mechanic is fixing a “minor hole” in the bow thruster.

“I wasn’t prepared for how many things were going to break,” she says, listing the ways in which she’s received a second education in boat maintenance through YouTube, Google, and every owner’s manual on the boat. “Every time I fix something, I do a touchdown dance.”

Knox knows her strengths lie in boat handling, due to her many years in the Coast Guard. This helped her significantly with her Delmarva circumnavigation, but only to a point.

“I received a foundation from the Coast Guard,” she says. “But the rest of it is just me having the courage to go out and do this.”

Knox may chalk it up to courage, but her life story is full of significant boating memories and experiences. Growing up in an Army family, Knox’s childhood began in Minnesota where she learned to sail and boat on inland lakes, fishing during the summertime

Jodie celebrates entering the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay after successfully negotiating an open-ocean run from Delaware Bay.

and also when the lakes were covered in ice. Later, Robert Knox’s career took the family to Hawaii, where he bought a sailboat and started sailing with his daughter regularly.

“My dad had a 32-foot Columbia,” Knox recalls. “We’d go offshore and have insane things happen. Once a whale hit our keel. Another time, we were dismasted miles off the coast of Pearl Harbor. But these weren’t tragedies for us. They were adventures.”

For the dismasting adventure, the Coast Guard was called. When they reached the Knoxes, a 16-year-old Jodie was in awe.

“I was totally enthralled,” she says. “I saw those guys looking down at me and thought, ‘This is what I want to do with my life.’ ”

She enlisted at age 19 and became a boatswain’s mate, working in searchand-rescue, law enforcement and environmental response. During the second half of her career, she became an officer and worked in Command Center coordinating large-scale incident responses, vessel recovery, and much more.

Above: A newfound friend and fellow Mainship owner, Les, comes to the rescue, helping Jodie pull the impeller on the water pump.

Left: A map of the Delmarva circumnavigation shakedown cruise that Jodie and her father Robert completed together.

As her time in the Coast Guard drew toward an end, she knew she wanted to find a trawler to go long distance cruising on. A friend in Solomons knew of the perfect boat: a couple had purchased a trawler in 2005 intending to cruise the Great Loop. When life’s circumstances got in the way of the dream, they needed to find someone with a similar dream to take on the boat. They made Knox an offer she couldn’t refuse, on one condition: they asked Knox to catalog her cruising adventures online so that they could live through her ‘vicariously.’ She ended up changing the name of the boat to reflect their faith in her dream: the M/V VICARIOUS.

Knox’s Great Loop adventure on VICARIOUS is set to start in June 2024. Traveling with her father, she’ll tackle 6,000 miles of waterways around the eastern United States and Canada. The path will take them through the Chesapeake Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Eastern Seaboard, New York Canals and into the Great Lakes. A full circumnavigation can take more than a year to complete.

Knox is using this as an opportunity to spend more time with her father, both boating and planning. “That’s one of the best things about this,” she says. “At dinner, we’ll both have our phones out, nerding out with Navionics, all the while smoking cigars and having a Miller Light. No matter what, I’ll never regret spending this time with my dad.”

When they’re underway, Knox and her father share helm time. But when things go wrong and break, she’s the one crawling into tight spaces.

“I’m the small person, so I have to get in there with a screwdriver,” she says. “In the moment, you can be in that hot, angry space where you’re thinking that you never want to be on your own boat. Just enjoy other peoples’ boats. But then you fix it,

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you crack a cold, tasty beer, and you get going again. You feel like you can do anything.”

The Delmarva circumnavigation was set as a trial run. Knox has owned the boat for less than a year, and getting her on the move allowed Knox and her father to get a feel for how she’d do on a long-distance voyage. “We had a few white-knuckle moments,” she says. “We were up and down, head-on in the seas in the Bay. I was thinking to myself, ‘This is my home!’ And I’d look down to see what had fallen where. But she handled it like a champ! And that built my confidence a lot.”

Knox had the opportunity to bring her stepmother, Susan Rogers, along with her for part of the ride. She was a complete cruising newbie, but quickly fell in love with the lifestyle and adventure of exploring the Chesapeake.

“Cape Charles was new to me, and became one of our favorites,” she says. “And Cape May, because I was there for bootcamp 20 years ago. A friend was able to give us a tour, and we got to see recruits running around, getting yelled at. It was a full-circle moment for me.”

Jodie’s Solomons repairs are finished, and she’s heading back to her home port in Washington, D.C. for a full completion of her first circumnavigation. The gear has been stowed, the tools are put away for now. And Knox is feeling great. Her dream is becoming a reality, and she’s excited.

MacDuff Perkins lives in Annapolis, where she is the owner of Groundswell Yoga Studio. She and her family enjoy sailing their Sabre 42 around the East Coast.

Above Top: Jodie's 2005 Mainship, Vicarious docked at Cape Charles, Virginia.

Above: Jodie and her father, Robert Knox, grinning at the moment of 'crossing their wake,' completing the circumnavigation and heading for home.

A Capital Tradition

The 50th Governor’s Cup Yacht Race marks a triumphant anniversary.

Story and Photos by Will Boram

On any given day, the waters around the City of Annapolis are bustling with an array of vessels, with only a question of how many. But each year during the first weekend in August, eager sailors take to the Bay in throngs as the curtain rises on a beloved tradition: the Governor’s Cup. As the oldest overnight race on the Chesapeake Bay, this year’s 50th annual Governor's Cup Yacht Race carried with it a legacy that spans generations and a sense of

adventure that continues to ignite the spirits of sailors today.

The race runs overnight from Annapolis to St. Mary’s City, Maryland's colonial capital of inside the mouth of the Potomac River. As the boats assembled at the starting line, a sense of camaraderie intertwined with the spirit of competition. A gentle breeze blew across the Bay, rippling the sails of vessels of all shapes and sizes, from sleek racing yachts to the Pride of

Baltimore II. Sailors exchanged smiles and cheers, ready to embrace the 60mile open water challenge that followed the sound of the starting gun.

The race began under the afternoon sun, with each boat setting its course toward the distant horizon. For some, it was a test of skill and strategy, a dance with the wind and waves that would carry them through the night, assuming conditions would be forgiving. 

Fortunately for this year’s competitors, the weather could not have been more ideal. Local sailor Nick Iliff returned this year for his seventh race and could only remember one other Governor’s Cup with conditions so favorable. “There is nothing more challenging on the Chesapeake Bay than tacking up the St. Mary’s River in the morning when there’s no wind.” Iliff said. “There just couldn’t have been more perfect weather.”

As the heat of the day faded, the moon emerged in a clear sky, illuminating the serene waters that lay

ahead and extending to those in need a chance for a well-deserved power nap. But, as race manager and sailor Rick Loheed put it, “Most people are so excited they can’t help but stay up.”

As the first light of dawn began to pierce the darkness, the night’s leaders emerged, their silhouettes defined against the slowly brightening sky. The end was in sight, but the final leg of the journey would be no less demanding. The boats turned up the Potomac River and into the St. Mary's River, where the tactical race truly began. The ten miles of twisting waterways and shifting currents challenged the sailors' resolve, but their determination was unwavering.

cheers of victory rang out from the triumphant vessels.

The celebrations beckoned the weary sailors ashore as crowds converged on the St. Mary's College waterfront, where food trucks and bars offered respite from the summer sun. Rock and steel drum bands set the mood, inviting everyone to dance and revel in the jubilant atmosphere, steeped in maritime tradition. In the midst of it all, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra took center stage.

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At last, the finish line loomed ahead, marked by the new Maryland Dove, an 84-foot replica of a 17thcentury ship from Historic St. Mary’s City. As the calm waves gently lapped against their hulls, the

The Governor’s Cup Yacht Race has etched its legacy as more than just a competition. It is an exercise of sailing culture that has navigated through time, leaving an indelible mark on he sailors who race on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Boats maneuver for an advantageous approach to the starting line in the seconds before the gun goes off.

Top: Pride of Baltimore II at the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race, 2023.

Will Boram is studying communications at Towson University. He served as a summer intern with CBM editorial staff.

Chesapeake Stingray Meets the Art of French Cooking

by Robert Gustafson

Chef Jacques Bonnet has had seafood flowing steadily throughout his 60-year-plus cooking career. Classically trained in Paris in the early 1960s and head chef at several Parisian restaurants specializing in seafood, Bonnet’s culinary adventure took a turn when his daughter married an Eastern Shoreman and moved to Northampton County, Virginia at the southern end of the Delmarva peninsula in 1992.

At age 16, Bonnet started a job that would change his life—as a chef’s apprentice at a country inn about 30 miles outside of Paris. “I never planned to be a chef,” says Bonnet. “It started as just a job.” Seafood was on the menu, and he learned the classic French preparations, including sauces that took several days to make and the now banned beurre noir sauce (containing burnt butter that is a suspected carcinogen).

After three years as an apprentice, the owner promoted Bonnet to sous chef at his ritzy restaurant in downtown Paris, Place des Pyramides, which specialized in seafood. Bonnet worked 12-hour days making classic dishes like sole with caviar and St. Pierre à L’oseille (John Dory with sorrel). He became head chef and later took the head chef’s job at La Langouste Amoureuse, where he cooked 250 kilos (550 pounds) of langoustines a week. Later he served as head chef at Le Sherwood, a seafood restaurant next to Harry’s New York Bar where he worked 12-hour days, six days a week

in a stifling basement kitchen serving as many as 400 dinners a night.

Bonnet and his lovely wife Catherine married in 1969. The first time I saw Jacques cook, he whisked eggs as Catherine poured a spider-web-thin stream of olive oil into the bowl of emulsifying homemade mayonnaise. A partnership made in culinary heaven.

With a young family and tiring of the grueling hours, Bonnet became head chef at a private medical clinic and retired in 2002. Through it all, he found time to play billiards, which he had learned from his father at age twelve. Bonnet was the champion of Paris, the French national champion in 2004, and competed in the European billiards championships several times.

During his many visits to the Eastern Shore, Bonnet has applied his classical French training to turning Chesapeake seafood into outstanding dishes. Bonnet has visited the Eastern Shore of Virginia 15 times, but he will never forget his first visit in 1993. “Everything was huge in the US the cars, the houses, the supermarkets,” he says. The seafood here was similar, but there were more shrimp, scallops and crabs, different kinds of fish, and none of the diminutive mollusks, like sea snails, he was used to cooking in France.

He also noticed that Americans avoided eating stingray, a popular dish in France. “It’s a shame,” he says. “It’s good fish that the French eat in restaurants and cook at home. It’s good for children because it has no bones.” To prove his point, Bonnet recently agreed to prepare Chesapeake

The southern stingray is considered a baitstealing nuisance by many Chesapeake anglers, but it’s prized by French chefs.

AIRLIA GUSTAFSON

stingray for a crowd of Americans in a classic French style, Bretonne style). I jumped at the chance. If anyone can make a delicious Chesapeake Bay stingray dish, it’s Jacques Bonnet.

Given his immense knowledge of cuisine and love for seafood, I was eager to have him prepare stingray for us. My first job was to catch a stingray. The stingray eaten in France is very similar to the southern stingray (Hypanus americanus) which is common throughout the Chesapeake. I hooked one that was about 18 inches

prepped it exactly as Bonnet directed.

fillet knife. Bonnet dismissed the notion that it was important to remove the skin immediately. In fact, he insists that ray wings must be left to rest covered in the refrigerator for two days to achieve optimal taste and texture. After the required rest, I filleted the meat off the cartilage that runs horizontally through the wing and removed the skin, leaving four fillets. They were slightly pink, with pronounced strands of muscle that left me hoping that the meat would not be hopelessly tough. I should not have worried.

dredged in flour and squeezes lemon on it before digging in. Bonnet suggests pairing ray with a muscadet wine from the Loire Valley. If you are drinking local, try Chatham Vineyard’s outstanding Steel Chardonnay (chathamvineyards.com)

The whole crowd pronounced the ray delicious. Despite the stringy appearance of the raw meat, the cooked ray was extremely tender, and the capers and lime offset its slightly sweet flavor. A young houseguest who had told us that she does not like seafood bravely tried the ray and I think she may be reexamining her lifelong aversion to consuming Neptune’s bounty.

Why do Americans largely avoid eating stingray? I believe the answer is habit and appearance. It is simply hard for many people to enjoy a type of meat they did not grow up eating. The unfamiliar, vaguely bat-like look of rays and their whip-like tails are probably also contributing factors.

It was not always this way. While exploring the western shore of the Chesapeake in 1608, Captain John Smith caught a stingray on his sword and received a painful sting from its barb. The pain was so intense that he thought he was dying, and a grave was dug nearby. But he recovered in a few hours and got revenge on the ray when, “he ate of the fish to his supper.” The location is now called Stingray Point at the mouth of the Rappahannock River.

Far Right: Chesapeake stingray being sautéed in olive oil. The meat of the common southern stingray is tender and slightly sweet.

Bonnet first prepared the sauce while demonstrating his knife skills by removing the lime peels in one long strand and cutting decorative lozengeshaped croutons for a garnish on the plates. He then gently sauteed threeinch pieces of the ray in olive oil. At home, he often simply fries ray

Several days after Bonnet returned to France, he sent me an image of a plate of stingray he had bought at the local fish market and prepared in his kitchen with capers. This dinner in France was essentially the same as we had eaten on the shores of the Chesapeake just a few nights prior.

Through my friendship with Jacques, I have discovered that seeing our local Chesapeake ingredients through the eyes of a visitor can help us to take stock of what we have,

Above: Jacques and Catherine Bonnet hold a platter of stingray from the Chesapeake Bay prepared in a classic French style.

HELENE DOUGHTY

reimagine our own foodways, and make some darned good meals in the process. Ray is a delicious addition to the bounty we enjoy from the Bay, and you don’t need a be a celebrated French chef to cook it for yourself.

Recipe

Stingray Fillets in the Breton Style (Aile de Raie a là Bretonne)

Serves: 4 as a main course

Ingredients

½ medium red bell pepper, diced

3 limes, segmented (membranes removed) with juice reserved

¼ cup capers, drained

2 pieces white bread, refrigerated, crust removed, and cut to quarter-inch dice

1 piece white bread, crust removed and cut into four lozenge shapes (optional)

All-purpose flour for dredging

1 pound skinless southern stingray fillets

Olive oil and butter for sautéing

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Sauté bell pepper in several tablespoons of butter in a medium frying pan until soft, about 3 minutes. Add lime segments, lime juice, and capers and simmer to combine the flavors and break down the lime pieces a bit, about 4 minutes. The ingredients should form a thick sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

2. Sauté the diced bread in butter until lightly browned and crunchy, stirring to cook both sides. Sauté the optional large croutons until lightly browned. Drain onto paper towels.

3. Dredge the ray wing (whole or cut into pieces) in flour and sauté in olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until slightly browned, but do not overcook.

4. Arrange cooked ray on a platter with large croutons, reheat the sauce and pour over the fish. Sprinkle the small croutons on top. Serve immediately.

EAT LIKE A FRENCHMAN ON THE EASTERN SHORE: PERIWINKLES

On one of his visits to the Eastern Shore, Jacques Bonnet noticed some periwinkles, tiny aquatic snails, living on spartina grass near the mouth of a creek. He commented that they looked very similar to bigorneaux, which is a popular addition to seafood platters in France. A quick search told us that the two are cousins, both members of the Littoraria genus. We gathered a small basket of the periwinkles, and he simmered them in salted water. We used curved pins to remove the meat and pull off the hard operculum that protects the animal when it is in its shell. Dipped in melted butter or homemade mayonnaise they are chewy but delicious!

Robert "Gus" Gustafson lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia by way of Chicago, Harvard University and a career on Capitol Hill. In his spare time, he coaches Broadwater track and field teams and cultivates heirloom vegetables from the Chesapeake region..

HELENE DOUGHTY

Meet the Experts at the Boat Shows

BY CAPT. JOHN PAGE WILLIAMS AND JEFFERSON HOLLAND

The media persona known as “Captain Boomies,” is one of the biggest boat show boosters on the planet. She is a professional yacht captain who loves to make boating “fun and accessible on the internet (and just a little silly),” as she likes to say.

“Boat shows are the most magical way to see everything cool that’s happening in boating,” she says. “I love boat shows for the access, for all the exciting new things and all the fun with other people who are just as excited about boats.” The exhibit tents will be overflowing with all the latest boating equipment and accessories. “If you want to try them out, the boat show is the place to do it, because you can corner the experts and get the answers you want, and even give them input on features you’d like to see in their products.”

She’s making a list of all the boats and people she wants to see. “At the powerboat show, I’ve heard there’s going to be an electric hydrofoil cruiser, the Candela C-8.” She says she can’t wait to take a test drive from the show’s Demo Dock. “At the sail show, I’m also excited to see a lot of other great storytellers and content creators. And all the painkillers I can drink.” [See the Chesapeake Cocktail column on page 62].

Prowl the Cats at the Sailboat Show

CBM editor Jefferson Holland is looking forward to prowling around all the new catamarans and trimarans at the Annapolis Sailboat Show. “There will be nearly 60 multihulls built by 24 different manufacturers from all around the world,” he notes, “from the inflatable MiniCat Guppy less than 10 feet long [see the preview on page 43] to a bluewater cruising catamaran 66 feet long.”

Four models are making their North American boat show debut this year. The BALI Catsmart, built by BALI Catamarans in France, is just 38 feet long, but with its rigid foredeck and twin helm stations, it stays true to the BALI fleet DNA. The all-new Seawind 1170 from Corsair Marine is a 39-foot catamaran built in Turkey to be capable of both coastal cruising and more serious offshore sailing. The Astus 20.5, designed by legendary French design firm VPLP, is a small trimaran that's capable of racing with larger boats, daysailing with the family and even camp sailing. Easy to rig and easy to dock, the Astus 20.5 is billed as a “beach tri with a cabin.” Built in the shipyards of Xiamen, China by HH Catamarans, the HH44 is a gamechanging, eco-friendly cruising yacht powered by a parallel diesel/electric hybrid and an industry-leading 4,232watt solar array. 

HH44

Seawind 1170

Bali CatSmart

Holland notes that, by their very definition, all sailboats have always been eco-friendly. “They are, after all, powered by wind generated by the sun.”

Here’s what other seasoned boating pros are expecting out of this year’s U.S. Sailboat and Powerboat shows.

John Page Williams, CBM ’s Editorat-Large and long-time boat reviewer, has studied the list of boats coming to the fall shows and the innovations in their means of propulsion. Here’s his insight:

Powerboat Designs

Time was, within the memory of many of us, that a 16-foot aluminum skiff with a 25-hp outboard or an 18-foot runabout with a 90-hp made a great dayboat. Today we ask for a lot more: lots of comfortable seating, including lounges and sunpads; big stereo sound systems; convenient and efficient coolers for food and beverages; shade and weather protection; and especially a head/changing room that’s genuinely usable (even inviting). We ask for these features in all but the hard-core centerconsole fishing boats. Moreover, dayboats have to get larger to provide them. Here are some examples.

European boatbuilders have been onto this trend for a long time. One company that offers a range is Beneteau. Look at the layouts of seating, sunpads, control consoles and other amenities offered in their 24–35’ Flyer (beneteau.com) series. Another is large, seaworthy, but relatively low-sided center-console bay boats designed more for river, open bay and nearshore ocean waters than for offshore blue water. They are also known as crossovers or hybrids. Several that will be at the Powerboat Show are the Crevalle 26 HCO (crevalleboats.com), Boston Whaler’s 280 Dauntless (bostonwhaler.com), the Caymas 28 HB (caymasboats.com), the GSX 28 ( gsxpowerboats.com), and the Regulator 30XO (regulatormarine.

Crevalle 26 HCO

Caymas 28 HB

GSX 28

com). A review of Grady-White’s new 281 CE (Coastal Explorer) appears in this issue, see page 51. These are shallow-draft vessels that can fish or literally become floating islands with sunshades and consoles large enough to offer space for changing clothes as well as answering nature’s call with a porcelain toilet and holding tank.

Another trend involves even larger boats whose center consoles become cabins with double bunks, small galleys and air conditioning. Examples at the show include Pursuit’s S428 (pursuitboats.com/s428.php), Regal's 38 SAV (regalboats.com), and Cobia’s 350 CC (cobiaboats.com). See also the Solara S-310 CW (reviewed in this issue, see page 57). Jeanneau’s DB/43 OB ( jeanneau.com) and Tiara’s 48 LE (tiarayachts.com) are in a class of their own for size and amenities.

The last five years have brought a number of Scandinavian “adventure powerboats,” designed for exploring the open waters and commuting to the islands of the Baltic Sea. Fast, able, and efficient, they adapt well to the Chesapeake. Though their squared-off “axehead” bows, double chines, and stepped hull bottoms look radical, they run well at a wide range of speeds and offer multiple layouts, including allweather pilothouses, weekend cabins, center consoles and sunpads. Examples at the Powerboat Show include Axopar’s 28 Cabin (axopar.com), the Nimbus T9 (nimbus.se/boats/tender-8/), the RYCK 280 (hanseyachtsag.com), the Quarken 27 (quarken.com) and Wellcraft’s new 355 Commuter (wellcraft.com).

Meanwhile, cruising certainly isn’t dead, and one trend there is outboard power. Back Cove was one of the first to design cruiser hulls specifically for outboards. Look for the elegant 34O & 39O at the show (backcoveyachts. com). Others coming to Annapolis include the Beneteau Antares 11 (beneteau.com), Pursuit’s OS 355 ( pursuitboats.com), and Regal's 42 FXO (regalboats.com). 

Boston Whaler 280 Dauntless

Candela P-8

Beneteau Flyer

Marine Power

Two years ago, Mercury Marine brought out a stupendous, 600-horsepower Verado V-12. Yamaha’s largest outboard is their giant 450-hp V-8 XTO. Suzuki’s is the 350-hp V-6 draft horse with contra-rotating propellers. Look for them around the Powerboat Show. Boatbuilders have seized on them to power cruisers, day boats and fishboats between 35-65’ with twin, triple, quad, and—yes— even quint applications. These behemoths hardly apply to most of us, but the technology they represent has already trickled down to lighter engines that have much broader application. Meanwhile, the manufacturers are also producing remarkable small engines. For example, Yamaha’s engineers are justly proud of their F25, which weighs less than 100 pounds.

With due regard to the wizardry of today’s four-stroke gas outboards, diesel engines are still more efficient at burning their fuel, thereby also reducing their carbon impacts. Longtime distributor Mack Boring & Parts is displaying Oxe Marine’s Diesel, which currently offers engines of 150-300 hp. Chesapeake, Virginiabased Volvo Penta will display its well-proven Aquamatic DPI (dualpropeller) Diesel sterndrives at the powerboat show aboard a Solace 415CS (solaceboats.com) and a Southport 30FE (southportboats.com). In addition, diesel-hybrid systems make sense for many uses, e.g., for entering/departing no-wake zones, exploring creeks and cruising sunsets. Some hybrid systems include battery-electric cruising ranges of twenty miles or more for leisurely travel. Examples from Volvo Penta include a partnership with Beneteau (volvopenta.com) and an upcoming IPS professional platform “prepared for a range of energy sources.”

Finally, check out the 39-45-48’ Greenline Yachts ( greenlinehybridusa.

Cobia 350 CC

Pursuit S428

Tiara 48LS

com), which offer diesel-only, dieselelectric hybrid, and fully electric drive systems. Greenline has been showing hybrid yachts in Annapolis for at least a decade and refining their systems regularly.

The 2023 Powerboat Show will show off an increasing number of battery-electric outboard and inboard motors. Start with Annapolis Hybrid Marine's ePropulsion small outboards on Laguna catamaran dinghies (annapolishybridmarine.com). You’ll also see Candela’s remarkable C-8 hydrofoiling Daycruiser (candela.com), which has an advertised range of 57 nautical miles at 20 knots and a top speed of 27 kn. Another is a Highfield 390 RIB with an FM40 Flux Marine electric outboard ( fluxmarine.com) that offers a cruising range of 35 miles at 20 knots. Smaller electric outboards in production include Mercury’s Avator 7.5e, 20e, and 35e models. Finally, look for Vetus E-Drive inboard motors from that highly respected maker of bow and stern thrusters.

Stay tuned. This revolution is just gaining steam, and we boaters will be the beneficiaries. Chesapeake Bay Magazine is keeping a close eye on this remarkable industry.

Electrical Systems

Over the past 30 years, Marine Electric Systems in Annapolis has helped recreational, commercial and government boating clients in the maritime industry with their lithium battery systems and electrical needs. Patrick Tewes started working there after college in 2001.

“We’re finding we do cruising sailboats as our main customer,” Tewes reports. “In the past, it was always lead acid batteries, but now everything is going to the lithium battery; but you can’t just put a big lithium battery bank in your boat without impacting the whole system. Nowadays, you’re able to integrate all the charging components and

Beneteau Antares 11

Nimbus T9

Wellcraft 355

remotely see the whole system from your phone. You can monitor the output of each panel.” Boat owners appreciate that convenience, he says.

“We don’t try to be just total leading edge,” Tewes notes. “We want the technology to be sound. Our customers are making big ocean passages, so we want to make sure the systems are reliable.

“We’re pretty much all Victron Energy these days—they’re the big name, everybody’s putting in these system,” he says. “People like the way all the components tie together and communicate with one another. The failure rate is minimal and parts are widely available. With other manufacturers, getting ahold of parts has been a problem.”

Tewes explains that “Victron coordinates the lithium batteries with a shunt, which is the meter that tracks the state of charge for the batteries— amp hours in and out equates to the percentage of charge for the batteries.” The smart shunt puts that data out to display at the nav station, monitors the solar regulators, and the battery charger is networked, so it can provide the complete package for cruisers. “The ease with which the Victron and their components all communicate, [provides] a nice user-friendly display showing all the parts,” says Tewes. Plus, he adds, “All these components have built-in Bluetooth to let you monitor remotely.”

Tewes notes that the Victron system also helps with troubleshooting when the boat is offshore and something goes wrong. Tewes and his technicians are better able to diagnose the problem from their shop in Annapolis.

“Any modern production sailboat is good for day sails and maybe an overnight or two when it’s plugged into shore power,” he cautions, “but the minute you want to go offshore, there’s not enough battery, not enough of what it takes to live comfortably without being plugged in.” 

Regal 38 SAV

Jeanneau DB 43 OB

Regulator 30XO

Sailboat Rigging

Jay Herman of Annapolis Rigging notes that, “If there’s a trend, it’s in cordage.” Dupont Spectra 1000 has been the top choice for running rigging in racing sailboats since it was first marketed in 1965, but it’s generally thought too expensive for cruising yachts. “But the patent ran out on Spectra,” Herman says, “and now any of the rope manufacturers can make it.”

In addition, Herman adds that, “New England Ropes has introduced a line they call ‘VIPER,’ made with a braided polyester jacket around a polyester core. It’s lightweight, has low-stretch and excellent UV resistance. So it’s become economical for cruisers to rig their halyards with this new product at about one third the cost of the original Spectra.”

Hull Protection

For the past 30 years, Ann Miller and her crew at Above the Waterline have been taking care of other peoples’ boats in the Annapolis area, doing general detailing, bottom cleaning, shrink wrapping, interior cleaning and general maintenance. One of the latest trends Miller notices in hull maintenance is to ditch wax jobs for a new ceramic coating product. “These coatings create a hydrophobic barrier between the material you’re trying to protect and the elements,” Miller explains. “It’s similar to what waxes do, but ceramic coatings go over and above,” she says. “They don’t fade after 6 weeks. If you’re losing the gloss, you’re also losing that protective layer.”

“Gtechniq is the product brand we use most,” she says. It also has a three-year warranty if it’s applied by a certified technician, she says, adding, “It’s a little more money than a traditional wax job, but it lasts a lot longer.” 

Axopar 28 Cabin

Pursuit OS 355

Back Cove 34O

One of the drawbacks is that people don’t follow the directions, she cautions. “It’s not a one-anddone; you still need to wash your boat and maintain things. It just creates a different sort of maintenance program.” So there’s an advantage to consulting with a professional service like the one Miller provides. “Do you want to use your boat, or do you want to work on it? That’s where we come in. We can work on it on weekdays, and you can enjoy you boat on the weekend.”

Satellite Communications

Jessica Kafer and her family live aboard their Lagoon 450. “We sold our house in Annapolis last year,” she says, “sold everything, got on the boat with the kids and spent the last year cruising.” As a liveaboard cruiser, keeping in touch with folks back on land is a challenge, but more and more sailors are using a satellite communications system called Starlink.

“When I was settling in on the boat last year,” she recalls, “I did what most cruisers did, using local hotspots for Wi-Fi and communication. Then people were starting to trickle over to Starlink. Now, I don’t know many people who don’t use it.”

Most satellite internet services rely on a single geostationary satellite that orbits at 22,000 miles above Earth. As a result, the round-trip data time between the user and satellite—also known as latency—is high, making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls or other high data rate activities.

Starlink uses thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 350 miles high, covering the entire globe. Because Starlink satellites are in such a low orbit, latency is significantly lower.

“I’ve used it from here all the way to St. Thomas, real offshore stuff,” Kafer explains. “We island-hopped

RYCK 280

Highfield 390 RIB

Southport 30 FE Volvo Penta

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and it never stopped working. When I knew weather was coming, I started sending out texts on the Garmin inReach, but it’s slower so you only use [it] for texts. Once the weather hit us, it was the first time we lost Starlink for about 20 minutes. If your electric goes down, Starlink goes down, so you need a backup. Some people still use the SSB radios, but nobody I know has one.

“If you’re getting into a risky situation with the weather where it might be difficult to communicate, you can use Starlink to Wi-Fi call anybody you need to notify,” Kafer says. “Iridium GO! also provides global voice calling and text messaging for a smart device. A lot of the liveaboard community likes that,” she adds.

Back to the Show

The Annapolis Powerboat Show runs the weekend of October 5 - 8, and the Sailboat Show from October 12 - 15. With a legacy spanning more than 50 years, these annual boating exhibitions are the highlight of the year for boaters, industry professionals and adventure-seekers alike. In addition to all the new boats on display in the water and ashore, both shows feature a multitude of exhibit tents packed with booths featuring the latest advancements in marine technology as state-of-the-art navigation systems and other innovative nautical accessories, as well as exhibitors catering to the luxurious side of boating with a selection of lifestyle products, professional services and boating apparel.

Another trend you'll discover is that both shows are going green. They're discouraging single-use bottles by providing a number of water refill stations around the show grounds where you can refill your own water bottle. These will be provided by Annapolis Green, a nonprofit

Solace VolvoPenta 415 Greenline 39

Regal 42 FXO

organization dedicated to improving the local environment. You can pick up a reuseable literature bag at the Dock Street gate provided by LaVictoire Finance, and recycling bins will be available to collect bottles, cans, cups and cardboard.

The amount of information you can glean from the experts at the boat shows—exhibitors and visitors alike— can be overwhelming but exhilarating at the same time. Boaters have gathered in Annapolis from all over the world to share their knowledge and love of the water. So, grab a program, map out your plan of attack while munching on a pit beef sandwich from the Fleet Reserve Club or sipping on a painkiller from Pusser’s and go to it.

CBM Editor-at-Large, educator, guide and author of three quintessential Chesapeake Bay books, Capt. John Page Williams was named a Maryland Admiral of the Bay in 2013.

CBM ’s editor Jefferson Holland writes about the Chesapeake Bay in poetry and prose. He lives in Annapolis with his wife, Louise White, their rescue retriever, Millie, and two cantankerous cats.

Jessica Kafer and her kids aboard their Lagoon 450.

New Ideas IN INFLATABLE OPTIONS

BY MACDUFF PERKINS

They’re ubiquitous in the cruising lifestyle: dinghies dragging behind your boat or lashed down to your bow for a transit. They can be the bane of our existence (hello, slow leak) or a regular part of our morning routines (coffee always tastes best after a dinghy ride). 

LOVE MY TENDER

By Joan Wenner, J.D.

• Inflatables can be stowed on deck where space is typically limited, suspended from davits at the stern or towed, when sea and weather conditions permit. Be sure to label your tender with your contact information in case it drifts off for some reason.

• Be careful of the maximum number of people a particular model is designed to carry. Keep in mind the bulk and weight of stores and fuel you’ll be bringing back from shore.

• Engine cutoff switches are important when using a tender. If you fall out of the boat, it can keep running in a circle, often resulting in injury. The Coast Guard’s mantra is, “It only works when you use it.” An autotether wireless fob works just as well.

• When towing a tender in rough waters, it’s wise to pay out more rode and deploy a makeshift or storm drogue behind the tender. This will limit shock loading and prevent it from landing on top of your boat.

• BoatUS provides some informational guidelines for their insuring tenders. As long as the dinghy is not too large, fast or expensive, and is used primarily as a tender, it can be insured by BoatUS as equipment on the main policy. If it’s used for other functions (besides mainly tender) it will be insured separately as its own boat as opposed to “equipment” related to the "main boat.”

But today’s tenders look nothing like those of our parents, thank the boating gods. New advancements in design have created more possibilities for cruisers, allowing for greater customization due to specific needs. For those who are tired of hauling the tender onto davits, easily inflatable dinghies allow for stowand-go operations. For longer trips, media consoles and more comfortable seating create a party platform where we once had a barebones method of transport.

We’ve profiled three new inflatables hitting the water this year, just in time for the boat shows.

Laguna 290

Available through Annapolis

Hybrid Marine

Inflated Dimensions: 9'5" L x 5'7" W

Deflated Dimensions: 44" x 24" x 16"

Max Payload: 1,100 lbs

Packaged Weight: 85 lbs

Max Passengers: 2-4

Transom height: 15"

The Laguna 290 is perhaps one of the more exciting tenders to hit the fall boat shows. Originally built in California by Further Customs, the catamaran-style dinghy addresses many of the issues cruisers have dealt with over the years.

Sally Reuther, owner of Annapolis Hybrid Marine, says that the Laguna opened up more options for her own cruising. “When we’d cruise our 38foot sailboat, we had a regular dinghy. Taking dogs, getting on and off, that was all problematic for us. When I first saw the Laguna, I thought the open bow would make it easier to pull up on the beach. Stepping in it is also easier, and since it’s wider than most other dinghies, it’s much more stable.” A closed-cell foam floor is much like a paddleboard, and is a solid platform for ease of entry, pet guests, and any standing you may need to do while on the water.

Alex Caslow sailing off the beach at Gunpowder State Park, Hammerman Area in Maryland.

Joan Wenner, J.D. is a widely published boating safety writer, lawyer and lifelong sailor.

MiniCat Guppy

Reuther notes that the Laguna can be deflated in minutes. For cruisers who don’t want to store their dinghy on davits, the Laguna can be stowed below and forgotten about until it’s time to reinflate (which takes just 1520 minutes). For cruisers envisioning lengthier passages, this setup is a game changer.

Annapolis Hybrid Marine is debuting the Laguna at the boat shows this fall, offering demos of the tender along with the Spirit 1.0 electric outboard motor. The Spirit is a great companion to the Laguna, Reuther says, because of its ease in operation. “You don’t have to carry a gas can, and it has plenty of power to make 3-4 trips. You just plug in the battery while you’re waiting for your coffee, and you’re set to go.”

MiniCat Guppy

Available from Redbeard Sailing

Dimensions: 9'10' x 4'11'

Mast Height: 14'9"

Water Draft: 6"

Total Weight: 60 lb

Carrying Capacity: 529 lb

Assembly Time: 10 minutes

Takacat Inflatables are some of the most popular tenders on the Chesapeake. Stable and versatile, Takacats bring an elevated sense of style (and ease) to the world of tenders.

Taking this a step further, the MiniCat Guppy is an amalgamation between the Takacat tender and a personal sailboat. Designed to make getting on and off the water easy, the Guppy is a lightweight catamaran that’s meant for the whole family.

“Once you’ve done it a couple of times, you get hooked,” says Alex Caslow, owner of Redbeard Sailing, who will have the brand new 2023 model in his booth at the show this year. “You start with a bag the size of a golf bag, and ten minutes later

you have a fully rigged sailboat ready to go.”

The Guppy can be easily stored belowdecks, but it’s also perfect for families enjoying the “Land Yacht” lifestyle. “It’s essentially the same size as a piece of checked luggage, so we have plenty of families putting them in camper vans so they can take everyone sailing having to pull a sailboat behind you.” And the Guppy can actually be pulled behind you: its bag has small wheels that allow it to be rolled like a suitcase.

The European-built Guppy retails for less than $5,000 and is comfortable sailing with up to three people.

Highfield CL340

Annapolis Inflatables / Fawcett

Boat Supplies

Dimensions: 11'1" x 5'8"

Total Weight (boat): 134 lb

Maximum Load: 1,462 lb

Max People: 6

Highfield Inflatables, sold through Annapolis Inflatables, has a wide range of classic, dependable boats. Small tweaks to design offer a greater range of versatility for boaters who want a customizable tender.

“The Highfield range gives you the most bang for your buck when it comes to features,” says Jesse Tucker, sales manager at Annapolis Inflatables. One of the biggest selling points is the wheelsteering option paired with a lightweight boat. “For sailboats and catamarans that don’t have the lift capacity to carry a traditional wheelsteered tender, this is a great option without the weight associated.”

Highfield is also upping its electric game when it comes to outboards. This makes a significant amount of sense to Tucker.

“Being electric, you don’t have to carry an extra fuel source around,” he says. “They’re extremely quiet and practically maintenance free. The standard first service for an electric motor is five years, whereas with a gaspowered outboard it’s generally within the first year.”

Tucker and Annapolis Inflatables will have the 340 Classic at both the Power and Sailboat shows.

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™ Cruises, oyster roasts, live music, dinner parties, happy hours and more!

MacDuff Perkins lives in Annapolis, where she is the owner of Groundswell Yoga Studio. She and her family enjoy sailing their Sabre 42 around the East Coast.

Left: The Highfield CL340 offers an optional wheel-steering station, a unique feature for such a light boat.

Highfield CL340

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Regulator 34

Valhalla V-37

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Six-Tool Player for Boating on the Bay— Grady-White 281 Coastal Explorer

by Capt. John Page Williams

Grady-White 281 Coastal Explorer

LOA: 27’7"

Beam: 9'4"

Draft: 19” (engines up)

Weight: 5,650 lbs (dry, w/o engine)

Transom Deadrise: 16 degrees

(SeaV2 progression)

Bridge Clearance: 7’11”

Fuel Capacity: 160 gal

Water Capacity: 18 gal

Waste Capacity: 10 gal

Livewell Capacity: 18 & 38 gal

Max Power: 600 hp

In softball or baseball terms, scouts would describe Grady-White’s new 281 Coastal Explorer as a big, athletic, well-conditioned “six-tool player.” This hybrid bay boat can serve as a watersports towboat, a shaded family sandbar oasis, a comfortable race committee platform, a maneuverable shallow-water casting platform, a deepwater podium for chasing breaking fish or jigging wrecks and reefs, or even a weekend explorer of rivers and towns with B&Bs.

The 281 CE starts with a 27'7" x 9'4" SeaV2 hull with a sharp bow entry and a relatively shallow 16-degree running bottom. Draft with engine(s) up is only 19". Figure on Grady-White’s painstakingly strong hull layup, spec’ed by the company’s structural engineer. In our sea trial on North Carolina’s Pamlico River near the company’s Greenville headquarters, that hull showed impeccable manners in conditions varying from drifting in a short, washboard chop up through easy cruising at 20 to 30 knots to tears-in-the-eyes speeds topping out right on 50 knots. Power was a pair of Yamaha’s well-proven 300-hp four-strokes with Helm Master EX Digital Electric Steering and joystick. Optional power is a single 450-hp Yamaha XTO four-stroke, but we’d opt for the twins on this rig. First, they offer extra maneuverability with the full suite of Helm Master EX programs, including autopilot, Set Point, Drift Point and Fish Point. Second,

their electronic rigging is exceptionally neat, making for a clean transom platform for moving around when handling lines (both dock- and fishing). Third, fuel efficiency is about the same as with the single big motor, according to Yamaha’s tests.

The hull is classically attractive, with a raised sheer and Carolina flare, but the 281 CE’s magic lies in its intricate and still thoroughly strong and useful deck-and-liner, which takes three days to lay up and laminate properly. Look closely at images of the boat’s interior (or better yet, a finished boat at hand), from bow deck and anchor locker through lounges to the console and the afterdeck. Note that the console is an integral element in the deck layup. Consider what it took to analyze the structural needs and develop specifications for all of the flat

surfaces and angles in the layup. Remember that the liner must not only come out of the mold structurally strong but also shaped and sized to accommodate the boat’s human occupants while looking attractive to them. That’s why Grady-White’s design team also includes our friend Christian Carraway, an engineer who specializes in ergonomics and aesthetics, and who came along on our sea trial. His understanding of the whole design process is always valuable for a review like this one.

Imagine what it takes to set the fabric package properly into all of the small, narrow recesses in this large part, to add correct amounts of resin, and to squeegee it correctly into the fabric. That is modern composite craftsmanship. One testimony to the strength of the console is that the

entire frame and hardtop assembly fastens to it. That feature also means that there is nothing on the deck around the console for a person to trip over.

So much for size, athleticism, and physical condition. As to the towsports tool, either power package is plenty for towing all manner of skis, including bare feet, as well as boards and inflatable toys. A ski arch is optional for a single-engine boat, or a pylon for twins. A sturdy, electrically actuated

The seats along tn the bow are insulated to hold ice, food, and drinks, while the aft ends rise on electric rams to create forwardfacing lounges.

door in the cockpit’s portside offers great access for swimmers, away from the engines. Its telescoping ladder lives in an adjacent topside compartment that also contains the switch for lowering and retrieving the door. Any water that might splash in runs aft to a large drain in the port transom corner and thence overboard.

For visiting a beach or sandbar, the 281 CE slides in easily, and deploying twin (dealer-installed) shallow-water anchors at the transom makes it a piece of cake to hold position. A stern shade electrically actuated from the hardtop is optional, as is a bow shade extending from the front of the hardtop and standing on four carbon-fiber poles set in small gunwale sockets. The two cushioned seats along the sides of the bow and the double seat in front of the console are insulated to hold ice, food, and drinks. The aft ends of the bow seats rise on electric rams to create forward-facing lounges.

A table in the center can rise to serve lunch or lower to create a sunpad, along with a crescent-shaped insert that extends from the table to the double console seat. The vented, lighted console offers 63" of headroom and enough shoulder room for anyone but an NFL linebacker to change clothes or use the standard porcelain toilet. All of these amenities except for the swim door would also be useful for race committee duty at a regatta, along with the full-beam stern seat.

If Saturday morning means shallow water fishing, the 281 CE is ready.

Katie Creech, a Pamlico River native turned Grady-White marketing pro, enthusiastically went over the boat’s capabilities while we were on her river. Without cushions, the forward seats, table, and crescent form a vast casting deck. The boat comes pre-wired for a (dealer-installed) 36-volt bow-mount electric motor. The stern seats become a full-width casting deck. Wellplumbed livewells in the center of the stern deck and the leaning post hold plenty of bait.

One of the aforementioned insulated boxes ices the catch. Drawers in the helm’s large seating module hold tackle boxes, and the top of the unit offers a sink and cutting board. Rod holders behind the helm, companion and transom seats, on the after edge of the hardtop, in both gunwales, and under the starboard gunwale provide plenty of secure options for rigs. It wasn’t difficult to see how this setup would work for

stalking speckled trout and redfish along shorelines on both sides of the lower Chesapeake as well as in Tangier Sound, the mouth of the Choptank and Eastern Bay.

For working specific spots along bridge pilings, reefs and wrecks from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel between the Virginia Capes to the Bay Bridge off Annapolis, make sure the bow-mount motor is GPS-enabled to hold the boat in position. The helm offers space for a pair of 16" electronic displays (owner-selected and dealer-installed) that enable the skipper to position the 281 CE precisely for casting and jigging, whether the quarry is drum, cobia, sheepshead or spadefish. Of course, the boat is also perfectly outfitted to anchor over a shell reef for a family panfishing trip seeking croakers, spot and white perch, and rigging it for trolling Spanish mackerel would be easy too. 

A sturdy, electrically actuated door in the cockpit’s port side offers great access for swimmers away from the engines.

Yamahas is $300,000. Nicely equipped with electronics, electric bow-mount motor, and other useful options, figure around $350,000 ready to launch. Chesapeake GradyWhite dealers include Tri-State Marine (tristatemarine.com), Deale, Maryland, Norfolk Marine (norfolkmarine.com), Norfolk, Virginia, and Southeastern Marine (southeasternmarine.net), Richmond, Virginia.

CBM Editor-at-Large, educator, guide and author of three quintessential Chesapeake Bay books, Capt. John Page Williams was named a Maryland Admiral of the Bay in 2013.

America’s Boating Club is a nationwide organization of boating enthusiasts with a strong presence in the MidAtlantic region. Our members come together to LEARN boating skills, ENGAGE with boating friends, and CONNECT with the boating community. Learn how easy it is to join.

© 2023 United States Power Squadrons

A Different Kind of Bowrider— Solara S-310 Console Walkaround

by Capt. John Page Williams

Solara S-310 Console Walkaround

LOA: 30'10"

Beam: 10'

Draft: 25"

Weight: 10,500 lb (dry)

Transom Deadrise: 24 degrees

Bridge Clearance: 8'4"/9’2" (w/radar)

Fuel Capacity: 200 gal

Water Capacity: 41 gal

Waste Capacity: 21 gal

Max Power: 600 hp

Almost sixty years ago, one of my cousins brought a new kind of boat to our family’s collection of old cottages on the lower Potomac. It was a 16foot MFG Beachcomber powered by a 40-hp Johnson outboard. Unlike his previous boats’ full bow decks and windshields, the Beachcomber had an open bow with seats on both sides, in front of a pair of windshields, with the helm behind the starboard windshield and a convertible companion/lounge seat beside the one to port. MFG called it a “bowrider.” We saw the bow cockpit as a great place to sit on family boat rides, with passengers in full view of the skipper and companion. It also became a useful place to stand to cast to surface-breaking rockfish and bluefish, and yes, it made for easy departures with the bow nosed into shore for beachcombing.

The MFG designers were clearly on to something. Though the boat brand disappeared in the 1980s, bowriders have proliferated ever since as runabouts. When built by fishboat companies like Grady-White, Cobia and Pursuit, we tend to call them “ dual-consoles.” Either way, the basic layout serves especially well for family activities on the water. The boats, however, have gotten considerably larger and much more powerful, as families shift their water time from cabin cruisers to dayboats. Today’s bowriders/dual consoles take advantage of

computer-aided design and weight analysis to produce hull forms that balance well even with half a dozen people in the bow cockpit and have enough flare molded in to keep them dry underway. The boats also now sport leisure features that would have put the most luxurious cabin cruisers of the 1960s to shame.

Trust the creative engineers at Fluid Motion in Auburn, Washington (also makers of Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats) to craft their own innovative variation on the basic bowrider layout, built to serve multiple pursuits among the bays, sounds, and islands of the Pacific Northwest on day trips and weekends. That is the “Center Walkaround ” design in the company’s new Solara S-310 CW. Power is a pair of Yamaha F300s with

Helm Master EX digital controls, plus an autopilot and a bow thruster. A joystick is one of the few options available for the well-equipped standard boat. We had an opportunity in late summer to run one on the Lynnhaven River’s Broad and Linkhorn bays, and we came away impressed with not only the boat’s broad versatility but also the level of detailed engineering that Fluid Motion’s designers have packed into this new model.

Our test boat’s owner, an experienced skipper who has owned multiple larger rigs, fills his S-310 CW with friends and family some weekends but also fishes the boat in the big, open waters around the mouth of the Chesapeake and even cruises her up the Bay as far as the lower

The deep, multi-use forward cockpit features two bucket seats in front of the console plus upholstered double benches port and starboard and storage beneath.

Rappahannock. He especially likes the way she can carry six people comfortably in the deep bow cockpit, with seating for six more in the helm and companion chairs and the double folding benches at the transom and in the port hullside.

The boat’s basic layout centers around an asymmetrical deck plan with a large console amidships that extends three-quarters of the way across from the port rail, leaving a commodious 28-inch walkway to starboard. That leads to a deep, multi-

use forward cockpit with two bucket seats in front of the console plus upholstered double benches port and starboard and storage beneath. A triangular table mounts in the sole. In the gunwale at the forward end of the walkway are a pair of beverage holders and three vertical rodholders for casting to breaking fish. Recessed into the topsides above the two benches are spaces for small gear and stereo speakers with controls.

In between, the bow deck holds hatches over an anchor windlass to port and a telescopic bow ladder to starboard for beaching. To port next to the console lie steps leading to a gunwale-top nonskid pad with a freestanding handrail for docking alongside a high wharf. It’s also possible to walk aft on a narrow nonskid path to the rear cockpit, while holding onto a cabintop rail. In typical PNW fashion, the cabintop includes a rack for kayaks, paddleboards or bikes, plus flats for mounting radar and other antennae, an innovative 8-rod rocket launcher on a pivot that allows lowering it for easy access and a cockpit floodlight.

The helm holds a tilt steering wheel, with electronic controls for throttle/shift. Our test boat’s owner pointed out four opening, rectangular vents along the upper edge of the windshield, which provide welcome breezes underway on hot days. The dash also holds switches for twin windshield wipers, the autopilot, bow/ stern cameras, a color engine display with digital fuel flow data, and a twoscreen Garmin 8612xsv navigation system with GPS and sonar. Naturally, it also holds beverage holders and USB charging ports. The adjustable, bolstered helm seat offers an aft-facing seat behind. To port are twin companion seats, with a refrigerator/ freezer beneath.

The companionway lies in between the helm and companion seats. It leads to a small but functional,

lockable cabin inside the console, in the deepest part of the hull. The cabin has air conditioning and reverse cycle heat. The electrical system includes both 110- and 12-volt circuits, using shore power or a combination of a 3000w inverter and lithium-ironphosphate batteries. We measured headroom at 6’2”, with 6’1” inside the enclosed head/shower to starboard. A V-berth forward measures 82” foreand-aft, 92” along the sides. Above the berth to port are racks for three fishing rods. To port opposite the head is a small galley with countertop, microwave, Keurig coffeemaker, refrigerator/freezer and wine cooler. The cabin also provides a Fusion stereo system, a water heater, an LCD

flat screen TV with antenna, LED lighting and opening portlights. Our test boat’s owner reports that the cabin provided comfortable accommodations for a weekend cruise from Lynnhaven to a destination marina on the Rappahannock.

Aft of the helm and companion seats, the large cockpit offers an upholstered, folding double seat across the transom and another recessed in

The helm features a tilt steering wheel with electronic controls for throttle/shift.

locked in during hard turns, functioning in the hull/water interface the way dimples do on a golf ball in flight. We were suitably impressed by how well they kept the hull planted in maneuvers at higher speeds.

With this setup and the strong, smooth Yamahas doing what they do, the S-310 CW (which weighs in at more than 10,500 pounds) topped out at 41 knots (5400 rpm), with its painted bottom and auto-leveling trim tab system limiting the revs. Disabling the trim tab system and trimming the engines out would allow them to reach their maximum of 6000, but higher speeds are seldom practical in a boat like this, whether in the Pacific Northwest or the Chesapeake. Instead, the system of steps, strakes, tabs and flow interrupters provides an impressively wide range of useful cruising speeds, from 14 knots (3000 rpm) to 34 (4500), to allow the skipper to adjust to sea conditions for both safety and comfort. The tester’s owner particularly likes to cruise at 4200 rpm (30 knots), which happens to provide peak efficiency and a range of 190 nautical miles.

Solara’s pricing policy includes nearly all of the features a prospective owner would want for a standard advertised cost. For the S-310 CW, that is $373,937. The only options a buyer might order for a Chesapeake boat are a joystick (though the standard boat maneuvers beautifully with twin engines and the bow thruster), a Garmin xHD radar, a 175w solar panel, and weather curtains around the console for extending the season in spring and fall. Otherwise, this modern vessel takes the bowrider concept to an extraordinary new range of Chesapeake capabilities. For more information, visit solaraboats.com. The local dealer for all Fluid Motion boat brands is Pocket Yacht Company, Grasonville, Maryland. ( pocketyachtco.com).

CBM Editor-at-Large, educator, guide and author of three quintessential Chesapeake Bay books, Capt. John Page Williams was named a Maryland Admiral of the Bay in 2013.

410.956.7278 209 Chinquapin Rd•Suite 101•Annapolis

HOURS: M-F 10-6 & SAT 10-4 WimseyCoveFramingAnnapolis.com

CHESAPEAKE COCKTAIL

The Painkiller

October boat show time in Annapolis is Painkiller time, and for good reason.

For boat builders and vendors, a Painkiller or two is prescribed medicine to carry on through the marathon of entertaining the crowd, and evenings of schmoozing inside of the boatindustry networks. 

The Painkiller Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

2 to 4 oz Pusser’s Navy rum

4 oz pineapple juice

1 oz coconut cream

1 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice

8 oz crushed ice

Freshly grated nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS:

Blend everything except the nutmeg.

Pour into a tumbler full of ice. Garnish with a slice of orange and a red-dyed cherry if you must.

Dust with grated nutmeg, the second most critical ingredient.

After an exceptionally active boat show stretch last year, one un-named member of our tribe started calling them “brain-killers.”

For boat show guests, Painkillers fuel the celebration of being a part of the recreational maritime culture, and research has shown that a couple of four-ouncers will produce the necessary courage to write the deposit check.

The formula was originally concocted in the 1970s at the legendary Soggy Dollar Bar, “a sunny place with shady people,” on the White Bay beach at the Sandcastle Hotel on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.

Technically, you can’t properly make one unless you’re using Pusser’s Navy rum, which is blended to the Royal Navy specifications that ruled the waves aboard British ships for more than 300 years until July 31, 1970, the unofficial end of the empire’s nautical dominance, some might argue.

The bartender may ask if you want a “One, two or three,” referring to the number of shots of rum you want in your drink. (They make space in the cup for all three shots by sprinkling a little less nutmeg on top.)

Newcomers to Annapolis will notice, and veteran boat show goers know, that Pusser’s Caribbean Grille abuts the show and one of the main ramps along Ego Alley into the show. Thus, if you make that your exit, a painkiller in hand is easy to acquire with a fist-full of soggy dollars on your way out, or back in, and back out again and again.

Annapolis becomes the center of the boating universe the first two weekends in October. The Powerboat Show comes first, October 5–8, followed by the Sailboat Show, October 12–15. For each event, an army of workers assembles an armada of floating docks, all packed to the gills with the latest new boats from the U.S. and abroad, all on display in their natural habitat. In fact, when the sailboat show was launched in

1970, it was the world’s first in-water boat show, and it still reigns as the largest and best-attended event of its kind.

With only four days to see everything at each show, and all those docks and exhibit tents to navigate, it pays to plan ahead. Here are just a few examples of boats not to miss at the shows, as selected by our advertisers. See you at the shows!

Grady-White Freedom 375

Tartan 365

This new 37’ dual console blends the best characteristics of a bowrider cruiser and a sportfishing boat. It boasts plenty of room for a crowd with plush seating, including wraparound bow seating with tables. The array of fishing attributes begins with a large self-draining cockpit, digitally controlled thermostat on the aft fish box, a 30gal. livewell and optional outriggers.

Standard features that add to all-day comfort include the hardtop with AV²® enclosure, air conditioning at the helm and inside the console, and an electronically sliding sunroof and SureShade® to provide protection on sunny days. With Grady’s award-winning SeaV²® hull and the standard Seakeeper® 5 stabilization system, the 375 can seamlessly go from one water activity to another.

It's available with twin or triple Yamaha V6 and V8 fourstroke outboards and Helm Master joystick for docking. The Freedom 375 on display at the Annapolis Powerboat Show is powered by triple Yamaha F-450s.

The saloon features an L-shaped seating area. In the spacious cabin below the port console, a retractable seat converts electronically to form a large double bed. Another full-length single berth lies aft of the seating area, along with a bulkhead-mounted flat-screen TV, with storage beneath the berths. A second cabin under the starboard side console contains the head, shower and vanity.

The galley/wet bar sits aft of the helm, facing the rear cockpit and boasts an electric grill/BBQ, a sink with hot and cold water, a dual-voltage fridge/freezer and plenty of storage.

The companionway between the two consoles leads forward to the bow seating area, where there’s plenty of convertible seating and several storage lockers.

The helm provides a clear view fore and aft and features a tilt-adjust steering wheel and digital throttle controls. The dash has plenty of room for a compass, VHF radio, engine instrumentation and two large instrument screens.

Available from Tri-State Marine, www.tristatemarine.com.

LOA: 36 ft. 7 in.

BEAM: 13 ft. 2 in.

DRAFT: 2 ft. 5 in.

DEADRISE: 20.6 deg

WEIGHT: 21,200 lb. (w/ power)

FUEL: 320 gal.

POWER: Triple Yamaha F-450s

The Tartan 365 moves the performance in “performance cruising” genre into another gear. This modern dualpurpose, family-friendly boat is a bit leaner than other models in the line and sports a very long waterline. Tartan’s advanced laminating resins and reinforcements brought together in their industry-leading infusion process makes for a very strong hull, yet displacement remains moderate at 13,000 pounds.

Belowdecks, it’s all handcrafted North American maple or cherry wood and teak-and-holly cabin sole. The twocabin layout features abundant storage. The galley to port is fit with a convenient drawer-style refrigerator and a two-burner LPG stove. A comfortable navigation station doubles as an accommodating workspace. The head features a separate shower.

On deck, the Tartan 365 allows a cruising crew or perhaps the occasional racing crew to optimize performance. The large cockpit is fit with dual, custom, carbon-fiber steering pedestals. The sailing sightlines from each steering position provide excellent visibility. All sail controls are led to housetop winches through rope clutches. Wide side decks, with double lifelines and properly placed handholds provide safe and convenient movement on deck.

Powered by a lofty carbon-fiber mast, built by Tartan sister company AMP Spars, the now tried-and-true Tartan CCR rig (Cruise Control Rig) drives the 365’s slippery hull with ease. Carbon-fiber is simply the best material for a sailboat mast and Tartan is the only performance cruising boat that is delivered with a carbon-fiber mast and boom as standard equipment. The light weight, stiffness, and strength of carbon-fiber increases stability and reduces pitching moment, all combined to deliver greater performance, safety, and comfort.

Available from Crusader Yachts, www.crusaderyachts. com. On display at D Dock at Annapolis Power Boat Show.

LOA: 36’6”

Beam: 12’

Draft: 4’11”

In the midst of a multi-million-dollar, revitalization, we’re excited to welcome our Chesapeake Bay boaters back to the Canton waterfront! In addition to our state-of-the-art docks, we’re excited to introduce Baltimore’s premiere, craft cocktail dock:

Use the code CBLHP23 to book 2 nights and get the 3rd night free!*

Nimbus C11

The Swedish-built C11 is a fast and spacious year-round commuter designed for long distance transport in high comfort. The cruise speed is between 20 and 40+ knots. The range is 205 nautical miles powered by twin Mercury V10 400hp outboards. It’s also available with fuelefficient Volvo Penta inboards.

The Nimbus C11 has a well-balanced, air-lubricated twin stepped hull with good high-speed characteristics combined with a low-planing threshold. The hull has a sharp bow section for splitting the waves and an added "flare" that deflects water spray so that the boat runs dry.

The C11 is designed to easily transport up to 9 people fast, protected and comfortable year-round, regardless of weather conditions. The heart of the boat is the cozy spacious saloon with large light inlets and a flexible seating arrangement. The high ceiling and natural lighting in the saloon combined with fully opening side doors, open stern door and fully opened roof hatches gives the feel of an open boat.

The helm seats two people snugly. The pilot can choose to stand or sit while driving. The dashboard has space for two 12-inch plotters. Options include professional suspension seats and joystick steering.

The C11 has plenty of social areas on deck, a wide walk-around with extra generous deck space and wide passageways. The large aft deck can be used as a load surface and has a folding bench. There’s an easily accessible, vast storage space for bulky gear. The swim platform and aft deck can easily accommodate several people at the same time.

The foredeck offers room for a divan and a sun bed as well as a large cargo hatch with access to the front cabin. Thanks to the high gunwales, the foredeck can also be used as a seating area and socializing space.

Below deck you will find a fully equipped galley, two separate cabins and a spacious head with toilet and shower with sufficient headroom.

The C11 is prepared for optional air conditioning, diesel generator (genset), gyro stabilization, joystick steering, roof racks, professional suspension seats, solar panels and much more.

Available from Seattle Yachts, www.seattleyachts.com.

LOA: 40’7”

Beam: 11’4”

Jeanneau DB/43 OB

Draft: 3’2”

Power: Twin Mercury V10 400s

Powered by triple Mercury 350hp Verado outboards, the new Jeanneau is a 43-foot day boat that offers sporty, responsive driving, with top speeds approaching 40 knots and a comfortable cruising speed of about 28 knots. Excellent performance is accompanied by remarkable seakeeping abilities and comfortable cruising, notably due to the hull design by renowned marine architect Michael Peters, with its Scan-inspired “axehead” bow.

The helm station features an expansive dash with room for two large screens.

A companionway leads down to the spacious owner's cabin forward that provides a double V-berth and a private head and shower. Guests can luxuriate in a central cabin stretching across the full 12-foot beam, equipped with a double berth and a settee that can double as a single berth. At the foot of the companionway there's a below-decks galley that Jeanneau describes as a "breakfast point." It provides extra worktop and space for an optional microwave, fridge and coffeemaker. In an alternative layout, this area is occupied by a day head.

In the airy cockpit, an inviting saloon accommodates up to eight people around a modular table. There’s a well-equipped central island galley. The foredeck features a broad sunpad. On the aft deck, another sunpad shifts to form facing settees on either side of a teak dining table. That whole seating console lifts up to reveal a cavernous lazarette for stowing bulky water toys. But the most innovative features are the “wings” formed when sections of the bulwarks fold down port and starboard to dramatically broaden the aft deck on either side of the boat.

The Jeanneau comes equipped with an onboard Seanapps unit. Using its mobile application, owners can track the boat’s data on their smartphone, including monitoring tank level, scheduling maintenance, geofencing, and much more.

Available from Chesapeake Yacht Center, www.chesapeakeyachtcenter.com.

LENGTH OVERALL: 44'5"

BEAM: 12'6"

DISPLACEMENT: 21,716 lb

DRAFT: 3'1"

WEIGHT: 28,499 lb.

FUEL CAPACITY: 342 US Gal

POWER: Triple Mercury 350hp Verados

Chesapeake Lifestyle Experts

Stefon White

REALTOR®/Team Member

Denise Neitzke

REALTOR®/Team Member

Kyle Antel

REALTOR®/Team Member

Megan Erickson

REALTOR®/Team Member

Tommy McKay

COMMERCIAL Specialist/ Team Member

Lacey Foerter

REALTOR®/Team Member

Chris McNelis

ASSOCIATE BROKER/ Team Leader

Will Hooper

REALTOR®/Executive Assistant

Announcing our new Team Member Carol Velez, REALTOR® and Evelyn Aus, Business Development Coordinator

Look for them in our future ads!

...................................................

O 410-394-0990

M 410-610-4045

Web: L veChesapeake.com ...................................................

Waterfront. Land and Farm. Condominium. Commercial.

Serving Southern Maryland and the Patuxent River region since 1992

WATERFRONT ESTATE - LEONARDTOWN

‘STONEGATE at SEPTEMBER POINT’- This extraordinary, 20+ acre, waterfront estate with 350 ft of beautifully revetted shoreline and manicured grounds on the Potomac River is now available. Historic St. Clement’s Island, Coles Point in Northern Neck of VA, Shark Tooth Island, multiple marinas and restaurants are within five miles.

40972 Mollies Way, Leonardtown MD 20650$1,999,000

ANNE ARUNDEL CO - HOLLAND POINT

YOUR CHESAPEAKE LIFESTYLE is available now, just 45 minutes from DC! Located on the highly prized property on the point of Herring Bay & the Chesapeake Bay. Property located near Herrington Harbour South marina. Private pier, fenced yard, sunrises. 5,293 SF home has 3 levels serviced by elevator, large entertaining spaces. 7 outdoor living spaces include a rooftop deck!

808 Bay Front Ave, North Beach MD 20714$1,795,000

© Melissa Barrick Creative

Live Where Other’ s Vacation in Virginia' s Northern Neck

Incredible property and location! This home has an attached garage, open floor plan, 2 primary bedroom en suites and a great room wall of windows filled with water views. The pier sits on a protected creek just seconds to the Bay with one boat lift and 2 ski lifts. Located minutes to the town of Kilmarnock.

www.GreatWicomicoRiver.com

This property has it all! Privacy, deep water, sand beach and big river views. The home features an open floor plan with 3 en suite bedrooms and attached garage. The pier has multiple slips and 10 ft. MLW. Truly relax at the beachside tiki bar with electric and water.

3296

2398 Sqft., 4 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms, 1.03 acres $794,700

Sqft., 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bathrooms, 2.2 acres $1.150,000

IsaBell K. Horsley Real Estate is a well-established and reputable company in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula areas with a broad reach and comprehensive understanding of the local real estate market. They focus on providing personalized and high-quality service often described as a “whiteglove” approach, demonstrating a commitment to personal service and client satisfaction

This family-owned business, passed down through three generations, is deeply committed to success. And there is no stopping this firm from continuing to grow. They opened their fifth office location in Kilmarnock and are rebuilding a brand new office in White Stone giving them a substantial geographical area from the Potomac to the York Rivers. Their nearly 50-year tenure certainly speaks to their trustworthiness and reliability. Specializing in luxury waterfront properties, residential, land, and commercial properties, the Horsley Real Estate agents are eager to work for their buyers and sellers.

“Our community is the key to our success. Horsley Real Estate and our agents give back by participating in many events financially and/ or a hands-on approach. We Live Here. We Work Here.”

~Katie Horsley Dew, Principal Broker

kingsmill

All brick 5 bedroom 3.5 bathroom home.

LARGE kitchen w/ double ovens, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances. Family room with cathedral ceilings and gas fireplace. 1st floor primary bedroom.

$750,000

garrett Realty Partners presents COASTAL VIRGINIA’S finest

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Virginia BeaCh

2-bed, 2-bath 1 level WATERFRONT condo! Large kitchen, formal dining room, eat in kitchen area, wood fire place and so much more! Boat slip that can fit a 35’ boat, dock, elevator, pool, and more!

$625,000

Chesapeake

Western Branch Reserves neighborhood!

5 bed and 3.5 bath, sunroom with pass through fireplace, office, large kitchen with island, granite countertops and SS appliances. TWO primaries with ensuites!

Yorktown

7-bedroom, 7-bathroom, 6,900 sq ft home with 3 ensuites, one on each level, MEDIA ROOM, office and formal living room. Full walk out basement w/ in-law suite and indoor solar heated pool & hot tub!

smithfield

Deep water! Almost 11 acres. Refinished hardwood floors throughout the first floor, 3 bedrooms downstairs, with 1 bonus room upstairs and an amazing open floor plan with giant windows.

$678,000

poquoson

Gorgeous brick 5-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom property on a pond in the Lakes of Poquoson neighborhood!!! 1st floor bedroom and full bathroom, gas fireplace, large kitchen Fenced backyard and large deck.

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Virginia BeaCh

Custom home overlooking Cypress Point golf course! Light & bright home with an open floor plan, formal living AND dining room, built in bar. Gourmet kitchen w/ gas stove, double ovens, SS appliances & granite,

poquoson

Big .61 AC lot. First floor primary bedroom featuring WIFI speakers, dual sinks, tile stand-alone shower and soaking tub!

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Greg Garrett

FEATURED BROKERAGE

Changes in Latitudes

by Cheryl Costello

Jimmy Buffett, the beloved “Margaritaville” singer/songwriter and entrepreneur, died of a rare, aggressive skin cancer at the age of 76 on Sept. 1, 2023. He made several visits to the Chesapeake and made a big impression on the people he spent time with on the Bay.

John Potvin, manager of the restoration project at the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, recalls when Buffett visited the Bay’s iconic landmark in October, 2020. Buffet’s signature aqua-colored multihull powerboat, a custom-built 42' Freeman called Last Mango, docked at the newly renovated lighthouse, where he spent three hours touring and recording. (That’s Last Mango at the lighthouse on this edition’s cover.)

“He went upstairs and then he actually sang his songs in a gallery at the very top,” Potvin says.

Potvin was impressed with Buffett’s laid-back attitude, despite being a world-renowned yacht rock star. “I thought he was extremely down to earth,” he says. “He really paused with the information we were giving him.

And he really had intelligent thoughts about what the lighthouse would have been like in 1875 when the keepers were out there.”

More refreshing than the margaritas he sang about was the time spent sailing with Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Frieda Wildey, a Navy Offshore Sailing Fleet captain, recalls that Buffett “went out sailing with a crew of our offshore team on a Navy 44, one of the blue-hull sailboats with the blue-andgold spinnakers. You can see him sitting on a stern rail with his phone. He’s videoing the action of the crew, because he was so fascinated by how these young people, you know the oldest is like 21 maybe, how they work together in a complex environment.”

Buffet performed at Alumni Hall in 2018 and was awarded the Department of Navy’s Superior Public Service Award. But he wasn’t all Annapolis—Buffett spent a few days in the upper Bay in October 2020 docked at Chesapeake Inn Restaurant & Marina on the C&D canal.

Potvin says, “What I found with him is that he was fully engaged, in the moment. When we had him there, he was ours.”

A “Fins Up” flag hangs in Eastport, across Annapolis Harbor from the Naval Academy, somewhere where it will always be five o’clock.

Potvin is sad that Buffett won’t be around for the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse in 2025. “With the exposure that we got from Jimmy, a lot of people found out about Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse that didn’t know anything about it before.”

Potvin is forever grateful for the star’s interest in the lighthouse, and we’re forever grateful for Jimmy Buffett changing our attitude.

CBM's Multimedia Journalist Cheryl Costello spent nearly two decades reporting for television stations, most recently at WJLA in Washington, D.C.

The late Jimmy Buffet (far right) perched on the stern rail of a crew of a Navy 44 sloop with a crew from Navy’s offshore sailing team in October, 2020.

FRIEDA K. WILDEY

Service and Storage Professionals