The 31st United States Sailboat Show was held in Annapolis this year, and according to the press release, it hosted every leading American manufacturer as well as other major builders from around the world. There were a lot of boats at the show — 25 percent more than in previous shows. Most of them were large catamarans that took up a lot of space, making the show seem larger than ever. Seeing that most show goers walk the half-mile of dock several times, it adds up to a nice workout.

The list of new boats introduced at the show is impressive, with a new 47-footer from Beneteau USA, a new 36-footer from Cabo Rico, and other new boats from Dufour, Manta Enterprises, Noah Corp, Saga, Bavaria, X-yachts, William Clements and VPM. Not so new, but still interesting, are boats such as the traditional looking W-76 and W-46 built at the Brooklyn Boatyard in Maine, the 58-foot Tayana deck salon and the Lagoon 57 catamaran. Among the smaller boats are the Hobie Super Wave and Hobie Fox and the "Small" dayboat from English builder William Clements.

Also from abroad, the Netherlands Marine Industry and the British Marine Industries Federation took over sections of the show to display wares from their respective countries. The Netherlands exhibit included a number of boats in its in-water display.
Companies from France, Australia, Canada and Germany also showed new boats.

The show also featured Lin and Larry Pardeys' engineless "Taleisin" and earlier boat "Serrafyn," although visitors were asked for a donation to Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating (CRAB) to go aboard either. One of the prettiest boats at the show was a dark green 14-foot Melonseed skiff with mahogany trim from Crawford Boatbuilding. This boat demonstrated that simple is beautiful.

Charter operators Sunsail, The Moorings and The Catamaran Company had boats on display and for sale. Sunsail announced the winners of its junior writing competition. This year the theme was "Why I love sailing," and the winner Aaron Dornbrand-Lo from Encinal Yacht Club California won a 29er sailboat. Three other winners won a one-week's vacation package at Sunsail's Colonna, Antigua resort. Second-place winners got various prizes from the competition sponsors: Interlux, Douglas Gill and American Airways. Honorable mention winners got a Douglas Gill sailing vest.

Lots of new products were on display including a new parachute sea anchor from Fiorentino Para Anchor. This anchor is similar to the ones made by Para-Tech and others and is a welcome addition to the world of storm sailing. The Offshore Para anchor incorporates an anchor stabilizer that allows the anchor to adjust to the conditions. There was a lumber support pillow from Sport-a-Seat that looked interesting. But of even greater interest was the 4x9 dinghy from DeWitt Sailboats with its self-bailing Roto-molded hull and ACR Electronic's new hot-shot mirror. Simply look through the hole in the middle of this mirror and aim the red dot at your target. The red dot guarantees that your steady signal will be noticed.

At the Lewmar booth, not only winches were on display, since Simpson-Lawrence has just bought the company, but there also was a range of S-L anchors to accompany the Lewmar line of winches and windlasses. Also on display at this booth was the newly imported Whitworth steering system, also owned by S-L. A brand-new in-boom reefing system was being demonstrated just a few booths away at the Shaeffer stand. This system can easily be retrofitted to an existing boat. Davis Instruments had its usual display, but with an array of colored navigation and interior LED lights, which caught my eye. These lights have low battery drain and are quite bright for such a small unit. Also at the Davis booth, I checked out the simple plastic guides. Keep the one on weather signals and another on buoy identification on your boat for peace of mind when you are afloat.

The Annapolis show has something for everyone and is well worth a visit if you are in the area around the first or second week of October. With a half-mile of docks and boats from every manufacturer to look at (some manufacturers brought their whole line), the Annapolis Boat show is probably the largest pure sailboat show in America.