The Homegrown, Grassroots Sausalito Boat Show Is Coming Soon
Sausalito Boat Show, where have you been all our lives?
Next week, Clipper Yacht Harbor will host the first-ever boat show hosted by the saltiest city in the Bay Area. This is a maritime milestone! According to organizers, the Sausalito Boat Show is a grassroots event — there’s no major organization behind the show. “It was built by a group of citizens and marine-industry businesses, many of whom are home-ported in Sausalito,” though the Bay Area’s shores will be well represented on October 13-15.
“We’re twisting the boat-show concept up,” said longtime friend of Latitude 38 Mitch Perkins, the boat show’s manager. “In a short amount of time, we’ve created a well-rounded show. Nobody does this amount of entertainment, speaker lineups and seminars, music, food and entertainment,” Mitch told us. “The city and community of Sausalito has been instrumental in outreach and support.”
But wait, there’s more!
On Sunday, October 15, Latitude 38 and Spaulding Marine Center will host the Last Call in Paradise Party, featuring the Cruz Boys and a tribute to Jimmy Buffett. Admission to the party is free with show ticket; get discounted beer tickets at the Latitude 38 and Spaulding booths. The party is from 12 to 2 p.m., but it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!
Parties are just the tip of the iceberg.
There are currently eight seminars scheduled, free to boat show attendees: Kira Maixner of Modern Sailing (who is featured in this month’s Latitude) will host a Women in Sailing seminar; Tom Relya of South Beach Riggers will tell you how to save money with safe rigging; Laura Gill of the Marine Mammal Center will discuss the work of rescuing sea life; yacht broker Ben Rifkin will hold a seminar on Marine Navigation; Jennifer Hinkle will hold the Sail Racing 101 seminar; broker Malcolm Morgan will host the Boaters Guide to Corrosion, Electrolysis and Shock Hazards; Lisa Chapin will discuss The Many Pathways to Sailing; and Michael Rex will talk about the Charles Van Damme Ferry Paddle Wheel Project.
Excited yet? Hungry? Thirsty? There will be beer and wine at the boat show, as well as food trucks such as Kona Ice, and lots of Sausalito businesses such as Fish and Firehouse Coffee; and don’t forget the Rhum Bus by Batiste Rhum, brought to you by Marin local Tristan Mermin.
And did we mention boats? “This show is filled with every kind of boat from many name-brand manufacturers,” Mitch Perkins told us. “Sail, power, fishing, foiling … there’s something for every boating enthusiast to see.”
Perhaps the biggest stars of the show will be Clipper Yacht Harbor and its home city. Sausalito has long been the historical, economic and spiritual sailing and boating capital of the Bay Area. This is not to take away anything from the many wonderful shoreside towns in the Bay, but Sausalito’s maritime roots run very, very deep. Latitude 38 is thrilled to see salty, saucy Sausalito finally host a premier event showcasing the local maritime industry.
Please enjoy the show, stop by the Latitude 38Â booth, and celebrate boating in the Bay.
All the boat stuff, but is there a dinghy dock or guest slips if I chose to arrive by boat?
Or is this another boating event that you cannot come by boat?
Joe — Blame the lawyers. Apparently, the reason you can’t dinghy up to a boat show is because the insurance doesn’t cover pedestrian dinghy docks.
Awesome! Coming all the way from Morro Bay for this one!
I wonder if we can get Mitch Perkins to create this kind of show for us over here in Split, Croatia where we seem to have more boats, skippers, harbors and marinas than any place in the world. Mr Perkins appears to be a tour d force of vision and collaboration. I understand the idea for this show didn’t even surface until late spring. Kudos. I will make an effort to be there.