Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival 2016

This time last year we were preparing for the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival in St Michaels, MD, on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. Then Hurricane Joaquin was born in the Caribbean, with the track forecast to run right up Chesapeake Bay as a very intense storm . The event was cancelled for the first time in it's more than 30 year history. the storm turned off into the Atlantic Ocean but still dumped a tremendous amount of rain over the Mid-Atlantic states for most of the weekend.

This is a camping and boating event, so many inches of rain would have created massive problems for organisers and participants. I was to be the Saturday night dinner speaker at that event. Everything was put on hold for a year and the organisers have hit the restart button, picking up where they left off last year. It will happen on 1st and 2nd October 2016.

For those who are interested, I will be there and will be sailing my Paper Jet prototype. Anyone who would like to experience sailing a skiff like this will be welcome to take her for a sail as well. Note that a boat like this is not for novices, you will need to have reasonable sailing skills to sail her.

Sailing my Paper Jet with the big rig and trapeze. We can depower by using the
smaller sloop rig, depending on wind strength and the skill of the sailors.

My presentation at the Saturday night dinner will be a discussion about my designs, illustrated with PowerPoint slides. It will include the amazing open boat circumnavigation that was made by Anthony Steward in a custom 19 footer based on one of my little trail-sailer designs.

Hope to see you at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival.