We stayed on in Solomons to be able to see the Waterman's Festival. The Festival has been going on for 7 years....about 5 other water towns in the Bay have this Festival. About 20 waterman/boats participated this year. They have 4 classes...rookie, charter, medium and large boats. They have contests that scare the bejesus out of you...The most exciting event is the one where the boats must basically go full throttle out of a slip(going forward not backing out) and then have to make a very sharp, fast port turn and back into a slip (about 3 slips away) at full throttle and place a line on each of four pilings. It is a timed event. The event gets so competitive that at one point a waterman, as he threw a line on a piling,he proceeded to do full summersault into the water just so he could get the line completely over the piling.The crowd went wild! The waterman who participate are anywhere from 20 to 68 years old. They can manuver their boats (one screw)so amazingly fast and accurate. The event is free to the public but a boot is passed throughtout the crowd to gather all the contest winnings to be passed out amongst the winners...John had a unique opportunity to get a ride on one of the boats because as they say the squeaky wheel get the grease...The announcer appreciated his enthusiam....He said it was great! It was over before it started...Then Jason (another squeaky wheel) played announcer for a bit of the festival....
1 comment:
OMG, that is SO cool. We went to one over Labor Day a few years ago on the other side of the bay and it was absolutely amazing. The docking ability of these guys is incredible. Definitely put us to shame!
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