[C320-list] C320 Regatta 2008

[Allan Field]

Warren - My story re: Annapolis Yacht Basin.  My boss keeps his boat there.
Several years ago we were on a mooring and took the dingy in to see if he
was there.  We could not get past the Nazi's at the fuel dock; they actually
ran us off despite assurances we were trying to visit my boss.  Definitely
small boat unfriendly.

As you come up Spa Creek, there is a marina to port just before the bridge.
We stopped in there last year to take on water and fuel.  They charged us $5
for water.  When I got the receipt, only the fuel charge was on the receipt.
Gee, I wonder where the $5 went?!

The attitude I find in Annapolis goes something like this:  You (boaters)
have it, I don't, therefore you must have stolen it from me therefore I can
steal it from you.  I have a good 20 years of Annapolis unfriendly stories
that I could tell! 

I tried to get an electrician to install something for me several years ago.
His price was something like $75 per hour if I had purchased the electronics
from him and $100 if purchased elsewhere.  That guy did not get my business.

The buzz from the dock workers in Annapolis is that power boaters are good
tippers and sail boats are lousy tippers with most giving nothing.  I
generally fall into the nothing category in Annapolis as I always wind up
pumping my own fuel, filling the water tanks, and holding the pump-out hose
and nozzle.  It's like they want a tip just for being there.  With the
prices marinas charge for everything, my attitude is let the dock workers
get it from their employer UNLESS I get good service without an attitude -
rare on most docks I visit.

So there!  And now let's see what can of worms this thread opens!


Allan S. Field
Sea Shadow - #808
Columbia, MD

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Warren Updike
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 11:21 AM
To: c320-list at catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] C320 Regatta 2008

Here's a story about Annapolis Yacht Basin from my early sailing days.  In
the late '80s, we were new to the Chesapeake Bay and were chartering a boat
on a July weekend.  We had taken a spin around the harbor which is a zoo of
boats in the summer; and, needed to take on some ice and water.  As we
approached AYB, a dock hand came to the edge and asked what we needed.  We
told him, "Ice and water."  "How many bags?" he said.  We told him "two,"
whereupon he retrieved two bags and threw them to us as we approached the
dock.  We paid him and he pushed us off: no water, no docking.  They wanted
the space for the big-buck boaters.

Can't say as I blame them.  Why should we tie up a fuel dock for $40 of
diesel when the (power) boat behind us will take on 500 Gal. and pay over
$1,500.  Why, indeed?  What happened to first-come, first-served?

Warren & Pattie Updike
C320, #62, 1994, "Warr De Mar"
Frog Mortar Creek, Middle River
Chesapeake Bay