Who's going to Chicago Strictly Sail 2015 (besides me and the boss)?
http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/ (http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/)
Tentative plans are to come into Chicago friday evening, do the show Sat and Sunday.
Anyone else planning to attend?
Rick
Sounds awfully cold! We'll be in Fla-di-da visiting our daughter. But it would have been fun to meet more Compac-o-nauts.
Bob23
Leaving for St Pete right after the show, on Monday!
I am going Wednesday. I usually go on the weekend when it is crowded. I should have the place to myself on Wednesday.
Rob
Well, I just got back to Punta Gorda today, leaving a blizzard and -25 windchills in Chicagoland. Strictly sail was, when I went a couple of years ago, rather disappointing. It was the height of the recession, probably 2011, and there really weren't that many boats there. A couple Lasers, a few windsurfers, a couple of the Sewards, a 26 for sure and maybe a 32 too. The big boats were a couple of Hunters and Benes. No Compacs or Catalinas that I recall. There were a of ton of booths with 'stuff", vacation packages, one at Bitter End Yacht Club looked very enticing. Custom canvas, vinyl stickers, hats, shirts, etc. Electronics, you know, boat stuff, not necessarily sailboat specific either. I didn't go to any of the seminars or classes, there are many, none of which appealed to me. YMMV. I haven't looked at this year's list of exhibitors because I won't be there. Check it out and see if anything looks enticing.
My take of it, and it may be better now, is if there is a boat there you are interested in, that you probably can't see anywhere else, go take a look. If not, and you aren't local, keep in mind the weather. the cost of lodging and food, which ain't cheap in the city, and look at their web site to see if there are any classes/seminars you might be interested in. Locals can skip the lodging and food and see if it is worth the trip. I'm not all that big of a fan of big cities. Oh, and Navy Pier is among the worlds greatest tourist traps, but you locals already know that. Chicago is a great city if you like citys. Be prepared to drop lots of cash if you want to really have fun and eat at the best places. If you want to make a vacation of it, do it in September or Early October. The weather is gorgeous and the tourists are gone. There is also great sailing if you want. Chicago Sailboat Charters is highly recommended if you want to have a cruise on the Lakefront. Our captain of a Catalina 390 offered to let me drive. Truly spectacular if the weather is good is the fireworks cruise in the evenings. If you fancy yourself a Photog, bring a long zoom and fire away. My Pro friend had a Canon 1d something with a 70-200L 2.8 IS and his shots were post card quality. That's about 5K$ worth of camera and 2K$ of lens to you non shooters. And a 30 year Pro pressing the buttons. My sorry Canon 50D and $600 lens could come close, about 8X10, he could have blown them up to 30x40 easily.
But I digress.
If I was going to spend the money to go to a boat show it would be Annapolis in fall, not Chicago in winter. I hate the cold, so glad to be back in sunny SW FL.
Vectordirector
Few corrections to above:
The show is not at Navy Pier this year...its at McCormick Plac, combined with RV/motorboat show. This is a bit disappointing, but I'll give it a try.
I always go to the show and can't recall a year that Catalina didn't show.
Com-Pac will be there.
I find the show a nice diversion in the middle of the winter. My boat has been out of the water for 2.5 months and my new boat won't be here for about 2.5 years.
Give it a try. It will be cold, but it's winter and supposed to be cold!
Brenda and I find the show a great mini-vacation during the winter. We take advantage of the numerous free seminars which can be quite interesting and informative. Although we aren't interested in purchasing a mega-bucks yacht, it is still fun to tour them and get the summer sailing juices flowing again.
We plan on arriving Friday a.m. and staying through Sunday noon.
Mike and Brenda
Wow, I wasn't aware of the change of venue. Thanks for the correction. McPlace is huge. Did the auto show there a couple of times. Hope everyone has a blast. Let us know how it goes.
Vectordirector
i have that wednesday approved off, but after macgyver had to cancel, we decided not to go.
however, a combined show sounds interesting as there may be vendors with items useful on a sailboat.
CC
i wont be there either----cant really leave my mother in law alone anymore
Kick: I know the feeling...in the same boat!
B23
Quote from: crazycarl on January 09, 2015, 05:28:30 PM
i have that wednesday approved off, but after macgyver had to cancel, we decided not to go.
however, a combined show sounds interesting as there may be vendors with items useful on a sailboat.
CC
I agree...since I just ordered a HDC there a number of things I need. There may be more availability of accessories with the combined show. Also check out Curt Crane's booth. Local artist and sailor in Milwaukee. See below for one of his paintings I own.
Rob
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/rbh1515/imagejpg1_zpsb3c23dc2.jpg) (http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/rbh1515/media/imagejpg1_zpsb3c23dc2.jpg.html)
My wife Linda and I will be attending the Chicago show on Friday and maybe Sat. morning. Would love to meet up with any fellow ComPac sailors attending as well.
I'm going tomorrow. Anyone need info or pics of anything?
Rob
Rob, I'm not familiar with the venue since it's new there this year. Perhaps you can scout out a good place where some of us could meet up, on Friday or Saturday? Snack bar, lounge area, compac booth?
Rick
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Sure! I'll let you know. I have not been there either...it is supposed to be huge.
So far, it looks like 3-4 of us should be there Saturday, chime in if you'll be there too.
Rick
Quote from: relamb on January 14, 2015, 12:30:11 PM
So far, it looks like 3-4 of us should be there Saturday, chime in if you'll be there too.
Rick
Greetings,
My wife and I will be there on Saturday as well. We have a contract on a Com-Pac 27 and are keen to meet other members.
I will be there on Saturday morning into the early afternoon. I'd love to meet some other ComPac owners and say "hi"
Tom
S/V TomCat
Chicago
Preferences? We could meet up a) at McCormick place prior to the show opening, like perhaps 9am at the coffee shop; b) Inside the show, perhaps at lunchtime, c)later in the afternoon, perhaps beer thirty or so. Any of those work for me on Saturday.
State your preference!
Rick
Went to the show yesterday. The signage for parking is not great. Look for Lot A. That's the place to park.. Go into the Hall that coonects to Lot A, and follow signs to the South hall.
The venue is huge. When you first enter all you see is motorboats. The sailing section is over to the right and it looks like the size of the sailing area is close to what they had at Navy Pier. Com-pac is way over to the right, and has a large open area next to it--a good meeting area. They had 3 boats...the Launch (the motorized version of the HDC which is what I ordered). It was good to sit on the Launch to get a feeling for what the HDC will feel like.
I met Rich--actually saw him at the entrance to the show, introduced myself and we walked back to the Com-Pac area. Very nice guy.
Rob
Compac Owners - (and interested non-owners too) Meeting info for Chicago Strictly Sail on Saturday 1/17/2015
If you are interested in meeting other compac owners, lets plan for two times on Saturday.
You're invited to either or both.
9:30 AM Starbucks Prior to the show opening, outside the show floor at the East end of the grand concourse appears to be a Starbucks.
My wife and I will be inside or standing out front, depending on the crowd, with a sign that says Compac Owners
Noon: Compac Booth S3220 If you miss the first one, stop by the compac booth at NOON.
There is no agenda, just an opportunity to meet other owners face to face, ask questions about their boats, etc.
If you don't have a compac but might like to get one, show up as well and ask your questions of us.
This is an interactive map of the show floor, you can see the Starbucks in the Hall as well as the Compac booth locations
http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/attendees/venue/floorplan.aspx (http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/attendees/venue/floorplan.aspx)
Hope to see you there,
Rick 317-694-9488 cell
I am going to the show today (Friday) and plan to get there when it opens at 11 and stay till 3 or so. Would like to beat the traffic getting out of town. If any others are going today and would like to meet up at the CP booth, let me know.
Lafayette Bruce
This is Bob Tudor, my wife Linda and I will be at the show today (Friday). My cell number is: 309-303-1636. We will be there at opening. Trying to beat the crowds as well.
Addendum: Since we are staying at the Hyatt tonight we will also make the gathering tomorrow morning outside Starbucks
Great Bob, it looks like about 5 couples have expressed interest in getting together.
Rick
Don't know what happened this morning but we were at Starbucks this morning but didn't see any sign? Actually kept checking both the Starbucks outside the show entrance and the one just below. Too bad, was looking forward to meeting some of you. Did get together with Bruce Borror yesterday.
Enjoy the show.
Sorry we missed you. The "Starbucks" on the show website interactive map had changed to something else, and starbucks appears to have split into two different locations upstairs and down. So we asked for the starbucks, and was told it was downstairs, so that's where we were, and later discovered the one upstairs.
We did meet up with Tom at noon at the Compac Booth.
I was a little disappointed in the show, It was maybe 4 times larger than before, but mostly power boats, pontoons, RVs, ginsu knives and shamwow towels.
Seemed like the actual sailing vendors were fewer and had smaller booths.
But the sailing seminars were pretty good. One interesting one was about Safely Navigating the Chicago Waterways. Man, what a crazy scene on the Chicago River it must be in the summer. Three or four river cruise companies navigating with the barges and commercial traffic, interspersed with powerboaters, and now pontoon and electric boat rentals, and three or four new kayak rental companies have started up. Many of the obstructions that were above the surface recently are now submerged due to higher water levels, and boaters are hitting them because they don't have charts. A tour boat operator discussing safety said they picked up 40 people out of the water in the river downtown this summer, because they were on the scene before the Police or Coast Guard could get there. Mostly kayakers dumped over by other boaters. Mayhem!
It was nice catching up with Rick and his wife at the ComPac booth. I enjoyed talking to them. I hope to catch up with you guys this summer out on the Lake (or at a marina with a cold one)
Thom
Likewise Thom, we'll sail over to see you!
Rick