Julie and Richard are not your typical TrawlerFest attendees traveling clear across the United States from Bermuda to Anacortes WA but they ARE typical in that they are boaters who are interested in moving up to a Trawler! Read on to learn what they think…
Hey Richard and Julie, we appreciate your wonderfully detailed description of a great TrawlerFest experience….
Thanks Captains Chris and Alyse,
Less than 18 hours after leaving Anacortes we were boating in Bermuda. I hope your trip back was as smooth as ours.
Invariably the reaction at Trawlerfest was an incredulous “You came all the way from Bermuda for a boat show!!” But Trawlerfest is so much more than a boat show. It is an education on a certain lifestyle although it is probably an injustice to summarise in so few words. It was also an opportunity to see somewhere new. So not only did we attend a “boat show”, we went whale watching, hiking, saw a couple of deer up close and personal, had a tour of the Boeing factory and did a little shopping as well.
Where we plan to partake in such a lifestyle, it makes perfect sense to attend Trawlerfest and benefit from the PMU courses. We decided the ideal starting point was the Couples cruising course and also agreed that it made sense to enroll for the full Trawlerfest package as first time attendees to find out and experience what Trawlerfest is all about.
You, as moderators, for the couples course met or exceeded our expectations. Where Julie and I have different levels of boating experience, the course serves as the ideal foundation for learning together and having the same reference to draw upon. In this regard you both provided your expertise and shared your experience freely in an easy going manner absent of any preaching or lecturing. This made for a very educational, interesting and informative two day experience. Julie commented that it was a tremendous confidence builder but relatively intense with the amount of information to assimilate. It also added a valuable dimension with 3 other couples participating with their own varying levels of experience and skills. All in all it was very practical and provided us with the common framework we hoped for on which to build.
Trawlerfest was equally fulfilling. The quality of the seminars exceeded my expectations and even subjects which might be considered relatively dry were quite fascinating. Maybe this is a combination of the presenters’ skills and our own levels of interest. One of the revelations, besides the seminar quality, was how much is going on at Trawlerfest: morning seminars, afternoon seminars, boats on show, products on display, expertise on tap, private boats “open house”, along with the social events. It means there is always a reason to visit the next Trawlerfest and there isn’t sufficient time to cover everything. We only saw a fraction of the boats on display, a fraction of the booths on display, did not get a chance to visit any of the boats “open house” nor attend any of the afternoon seminars. So lots still to do at future Trawlerfests inlcuding “All About Anchoring” with Captains Chris and Alyse.
Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you again.
All the best, Richard and Julie