Lake Park Trawlerfest

Let's go backward and talk about the Lake Park Trawlerfest, which took place from Thursday February 27 to Saturday March 1.

A full dock of used trawlers (brokerage boats)

A Trawlerfest is very different from a boat show.  The Trawlerfest is sponsored by Passagemaker Magazine, the foremost magazine for serious cruisers.  The program consists of three days of seminars followed by a boat show that focuses exclusively on trawler type yachts.  Boat builders like Outer Reef, Hampton, Kady Krogen, Nordhavn and Fleming display some of their offerings along with brokers with a wide array of preowned boats.  It is also safe to say that the people attending this program are for the most part serious boaters. 

Guided Discovery and the 70 at the show

Outer Reef's much smaller booth occupied the "corner" lot

Outer Reef's new and very colorful trailer added to their presence

I met several couples that were attending the seminars as part of their preparation for doing the Great Loop.  I also ran into a former neighbor who was a serious sailor when he lived in Chicago and now was a serious cruiser having traded in his sailboat for a Nordhavn 46 oceangoing trawler.

It was fun being at the show and it gave us a chance to revisit boats that we had seriously considered in the journey that ultimately led to building the 63.

2010 Ocean Alexander 60 - We considered buying this boat in 2012.

Nordhavn 50 - We considered building this boat in 1999

Nordhavn 50 Salon

Nordhavn 50 Galley

Nordhavn 50 Master Stateroom

Fleming 55 on the right.  We considered buying or building one of these in 2011-2012

This show was particularly easy.  Show hours were from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM as compared to 10 to 7 at Miami.  Further, there was not much action at 10:00AM so Outer Reef was in no hurry for us to leave.  Unlike Miami, parking was not an issue and we were only 15 minutes from Palm Beach.  No sooner did we finish a late lunch and do a couple of errands than it was time to return to the boat.  There was even a cocktail party sponsored by Passagemaker each night.  Very festive.

Adding to the enjoyment was a visit by our very good friends Jim and Heidi.  We had dinner with them on Wednesday and Thursday at a great restaurant called Charley's Crab (located on the beach).  We also explored The Breakers (a famous Palm Beach hotel) with them on Thursday.

The Breakers as viewed from the water as we traveled to Lake Park

The Breakers viewed from dry land

Saturday we added a tour of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum to our "away from the show activities," which again made the day fly by.

Henry Morisson Flagler Museum - Formerly his palatial Palm Beach Home

Who is Henry Morrison Flagler?  Readers will recall that we wrote about Flagler when we visited several Florida cities while heading north on our Great Loop adventure.  Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railroad and is largely credited with creating what we now no as the Florida east cost.  Towns like St Augustine, Palm Beach and Miami were created by this man's vision and energy.  Here are a few photos from the museum visit.

Great Hall

Dining Room 

A "small"bathroom

Henry's private railroad car (70 feet long)

Inside the railroad car

The docent who conducted our tour was without a doubt the best docent that we have run into in all of our travels.  He was highly professional, animated, enthusiastic, interactive and incredibly knowledgeable.

Finally, Kodi had a great time (as she always does).

Kodi enjoying a little grass time after her visit to the museum

Written by Les.