Prestige 560

NYC to Norwalk & Mystic, CT: Part 3

New York City to Norwalk, CT

As we suspected all along when we planned this trip, we were not able to keep to our original itinerary. The plan was to stay in New York City until Friday, and then to head to Norwalk, CT. However, the weather forecast in NY and in CT for Friday was bad. So, we moved our itinerary up a day, and headed to Norwalk on Thursday instead. We will make up the day by staying two days in Mystic. So, trading one NYC day for a day in Mystic. Actually, I think that’s a good tradeoff, as even in 2 days we had our fill of the city.

I’m finding the marinas to be pretty flexible with cancellations and moving days around. Hopefully that will remain the case because as long as we are a day ahead of schedule, we’ll have to shift things around in several places.

This morning, Ann and Elana walked back to the vegan restaurant By Chloe and picked up “pancakes” and other breakfast “food”, and as soon as they returned to the boat around 8:45, I had everything ready, and we headed out for a 43 nautical mile boat ride to Norwalk. The Hudson was pretty rough, and in fact that was the roughest water we’ve encountered so far on this trip. We took it at around 10 knots so that Ann and Elana could eat in peace. Benny was still asleep.

As we circled Manhattan, heading South on the Hudson, I took in the views of Manhattan one more time. The East River is extremely heavily trafficked with commercial vessels and ships, and I had to stay really focused, but I managed to snap a few photos.

Once we got past Hell Gate (much ado about nothing), we headed into Long Island Sound. The water could not have been more calm. Not even one foot waves. We are getting spoiled. In the Sound, we saw the deepest water we’ve seen on the trip so far.

Had one hiccup leaving the Sound. My multi-function display plotter on the boat did not have chart details coming into the channel. So, I had no indication of depth or channel markers. I had two choices – just follow the channel markers and trust them, and use my waypoints to make sure I’m on course, or pull out my charting app on my iPhone and navigate using that. I ended up doing both – using my iPhone but following the waypoints on the charts and the channel markers. I will have to do the same when we leave tomorrow. Probably stressed me out more than it needed to, but I’m kind of a high strung person, and better safe than sorry in boating.

About 75 minutes after entering Long Island Sound, we arrived at Norwalk Cove Marina where we tied up stern-in to a really nice slip.

We are docked next to a gorgeous 80 foot yacht (named Dot Calm) with two tenders, including an open bow speedboat (Dot Net), with two 350HP outboards, that most people would probably be thrilled to have as their primary boat. I vowed not to have boat envy, as I just bought my dream boat, and no 80 foot yacht is going to change that. Amazing that no matter what you do, there is always one bigger.

After I checked in at the office, I had a nice chat with Grandpa Steve, my student Nick’s grandfather who is the marina manager. Of course he spoke very highly of his over-achieving grandson!

Once we settled in, and I plugged into shore power and took care of all the details associated with docking in a new slip (fastening and securing all the lines, lining up the fenders, shutting down the generator and the instruments, washing the boat, etc), we took our dingy out for a nice cruise around Norwalk Cove. We cruised around the marina admiring the boats, and then headed out into the open water on plane. The dingy does a good 25 knots at 3/4 throttle, and that’s as far as I felt like pushing it even though the water was completely flat. We crossed under a closed drawbridge which started opening, just as we were going under it, and scared the bejeebers out of me. Then we passed through an old spinning railroad bridge, and finally through a deep water marshy area where we saw a dozen or so swans. Gorgeous animals. Unfortunately, I did not bring my iPhone with me because I was worried about getting it wet, so we don’t have any pictures of that.

I let Benny drive the dingy, and we took it out into the Sound and drove around the Southern/Eastern shore where saw a really nice beach. Finally, we came back and put the dingy away. The process of stowing the dingy in the chocks, flushing its engine, securing everything, tying the paddle board to it, and washing everything took me over forty minutes. There’s always so much to do. We need to pump out again in the morning, but we’re good on fuel and water for our trip to Mystic tomorrow, and there seems to be a pretty wide weather window. I’d like to get out on the paddle boards once we get there tomorrow. Haven’t used them yet on this trip.

Shortly after we were done with the dingy, a strong storm came in. We enjoyed watching it from the comfort of our boat, secure in the slip and glad that we timed our travel well, but also aware that one day we may end up in something like that on the open water. Amazing how all of a sudden the waves whipped up, and it was awe inspiring to watch the fury with which water in the marina came to life.

Once the storm passed, we took an Uber to South Norwalk where every other establishment on Main Street looked like a nice restaurant. We settled for a Pho/Ramen place that accommodated all of our eating habits. I’ve never had Pho before, and probably won’t rush back to have it again, but it was okay.

The Rubins eating Pho and Ramen in Norwalk.

We then settled in for the night. Ann reading, me working on my laptop, and Elana and Benny playing video games on their phones. Our plan is to watch a movie over Netflix using the high speed marina WiFi. Tomorrow, we head to Mystic, and we’ll time our departure based on the forecasts here and over there. Hopefully we can keep our great weather streak with no waves alive for at least another day.

Norwalk to Mystic

It rained all night in Norwalk, and when we got up, it was still raining hard. However, the weather forecast showed that the rain would let up some time around noon, and although thunderstorms were coming, they would not arrive until around 5:00 pm in Norwalk. The forecast for Mystic, our destination, was better, and although there were thunderstorms in the morning, the afternoon looked clear, with thunderstorms coming again in the evening. All of this to say that we had a window leaving Norwalk at mid day and getting to Mystic around 4:30.

We desperately needed to pump out our waste tanks, so as soon as there was a break in the rain, we headed over to the fuel dock and pumped out. Elana has become very handy on the boat, and she handled the bow line and helped me with the dreaded pump-out routine.

Of course, as we pulled out of the marina it began to rain again, so I drove the boat from the inside helm – first time ever. As soon as I tried to chart our course, I discovered that I still had no chart data in my MFD, and I had to use my iPhone app and the in water navigation aids to make our way through a somewhat tricky channel to get back to Long Island Sound. Visibility was low, it was raining, and my equipment was not ideal. I was pretty stressed out for about the first 20 minutes. Then we found open water, and I got the hang of using the app instead of the chart. The rest of the way was simple, but we encountered our first day with some waves. I’d say average waves were about three feet, and we were bouncing around. Still, the boat handled it great, and we were able to do about 21 knots without any discomfort. It was 66 degrees out and raining on and off, so none of us were up top where we normally like to ride, and we stayed inside the whole way. The water is deep in the Sound, and I noted the depth sounder reading 188 feet at one point. Unfortunately, we did not see any dolphins or other sea life. I guess those are more common in the ocean.

When we got close to Mystic, we found an easy to reach fuel dock, and I was impressed when my crew jumped into action, we had the lines and fenders in place in under a minute, just as I was pulling up to the dock. A huge improvement over our earlier experiences, and everything was handled much more calmly and smoothly with Ann, Elana and Benny each comfortable and experienced in their roles. Professionals!

The rest of the way to Mystic was in a marked channel in a no wake zone, and I was easily able to navigate it without any equipment, which was good, because according to my chart plotter we were on land some of the time. I wrote to Navionics who provides the data chip with the maps and asked them how come I have no data on my charts. Haven’t heard back yet. Looks like I’ll be dataless on my charts until Martha’s Vineyard in a few days.

As we approached Mystic, we had to wait for the railroad swing bridge to open. I called on the radio and the bridge tender said “5 minutes”. About 15 minutes later, a train went by, and then 5 minutes later the bridge opened, and we went through. The one bad thing about a marina next to a train bridge is that you are next to a train bridge, so now every 15-20 minutes a loud train goes by, and they seem to feel they need to honk when they are on a swinging bridge. We are docked about 50 yards from the tracks. Let’s see how late they run…

As soon as we got through the bridge, we saw the dockhand signaling at our slip. It was a scary looking docking situation. I had to turn us around in a busy bridge crossing channel with another large boat coming behind me. Once I did that, I had to back into a slip right next to another boat about the same size as ours, with a current pushing me away from that boat and into the edge of the moving bridge, and with little room and no pilings between us. Of course, the owner of the boat was on his bow cleaning it, so I got to do this right in front of him. I had to fight the current and straighten out the boat and line it up with the slip. Of course, Ann is behind me telling me I’m not going to make it, but I had a plan, and I stayed even with the slip, on the side away from the other boat and down current from it, and eased Sababa in until I had 6 inches to spare, and then I slowly started to move back and inch the boat into the current and away from the dock as I backed her in. It went very smoothly, and I was pretty proud of myself, but I realized how intense the whole experience was when I caught my breath afterwards. One of the more stressful docking experiences I’ve had in a while, but I felt very good when the guy on the other boat told me that as soon as he saw how I was approaching it, he was not in the least bit worried. Called me a pro!

So, of course, as soon as we get all the lines tied and the power connected, Ann suggests that maybe I should turn the boat around so that we can get our dingy out in the morning. Luckily, she agreed that maybe that’s something we should do tomorrow. Hopefully, she’ll decide we don’t really need our dingy in Mystic after all. Not loving the idea of docking it again here. But if I have to, I have to.

Tied up in Mystic near the swing bridge and next to a nice boat that I did not hit when docking!

Once the boat was secured, I took a shower, and we headed into town. It was only a short walk, which gave me hope that we won’t need to use the dingy here.

Of course, we went to the restaurant that made this place famous, Mystic Pizza. Kind of corny because they had TVs all over the place running the movie on endless loop. The back of the menu told the story of how a movie producer traveling through town decided it was the perfect spot to stage her story, and the rest is history. The pizza was actually pretty good!

Besides a famous pizza restaurant, the town also has a pretty well known and seriously cool drawbridge. There are large cement blocks 50 feet in the air that counterbalance the bridge when it opens. The bridge opens every hour at 40 minutes after the hour, assuming there is a boat that wants to cross. During off season, they require 8 hours notice to open it. Presumably that’s how long it takes to get someone there to set everything up and open the bridge.

After dinner, we walked back to the boat, and I did a thorough washing down from stern to bow. It’s supposed to thunderstorm overnight, but a hard rain won’t wash off all the salt the way my washing does. So, we’re in for the evening. Benny on his video games, Elana texting on the phone with friends, Ann reading and talking on the phone, and I’m working on my laptop. Typical evening on the Rubin boat. On to Providence, Rhode Island!

This blog written by Avi Rubin chronicles the boating adventure of the Rubin family in July, 2017. Casting off in Baltimore with Boston as the destination and many stops along the way.

Cape May to Atlantic City to Manhattan: Part 2

Day 2: Cape May to Atlantic City

We “slept in” this morning until 7:15 am after getting to bed later than usual in Cape May. The kids were still asleep, so Ann and I had breakfast and got the boat ready without them. We pulled out of Cape May at 8:00 am and headed towards the inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.

The trip today was 38 miles along the Eastern Coast of the US. The most direct route took us about 5 miles offshore. We could still see the land the whole time. As soon as we left the inlet, I could feel the waves, although the ride was pretty flat. I don’t know if we even had 1 foot waves, but you somehow could sense that this was no longer the Chesapeake Bay. As soon as we turned North, I spotted dolphins, and called out to Ann. Elana and Benny showed up around that time. We slowed down and tried to get close, and we saw plenty of them but were not able to get any good pictures. The rest of the day, we were surrounded by dolphins all around us. Spectacular site! The trip took less than 2 hours.

So far, we’ve been extremely lucky with weather. However, tomorrow’s forecast in New York looks a bit dicey with a reasonable chance of thunderstorms starting at 3:00 pm, so we are planning on leaving the dock in Atlantic City no later than 6:30 a.m., which should get us in well before noon. I decided not to fill up the fuel tanks here, as we have around 420 gallons left and 95 nautical miles to go tomorrow. The trip to NYC should require about 250 gallons, so we can easily do that, and then we’ll fill up there.

Under normal circumstances, the weather is a casual conversation topic, but when boating, it is everything. A bad day can be really serious if the weather is not right. We check the weather forecasts all day long.

The trip to Atlantic City was easy and uneventful and very different from boating in the Chesapeake where I’ve done most of my water travel. I really like using the radar in the ocean. I took a 2-day course in marine electronics at the Annapolis School of Seamanship last year which focused on radar, and the open waters of the Atlantic make the radar extremely useful, to the point where I think I would seriously miss it if I didn’t have it. I always get into gadgets, and this boat offers limitless opportunities for me to geek out. Ann seemed surprised that I read the entire 400 page manual for my chart plotter/radar/AIS multi-function display. Well, maybe not too surprised.

Tied up in Atlantic City; first time docking stern in. Nailed it!

Once we got settled into our slip in Atlantic City, I washed down the boat and then headed to the Borgata to play some poker. I played 2-5 from 11:30 to about 4:00 pm and had a decent winning session. If I hadn’t lost my chips in one of the first hands when my QQ ran into AA, it would have been a very big winning session, but I spent most of the time just clawing back and was happy to book a modest win.

Arrived at Borgata. Before picture of starting stack.

Later, our friend Aliya from New Jersey met us at the boat, and we went to Buddakan at Caesars for dinner.

Back at the marina, we have a great view of the Borgata at night, and are ready to turn in early because we need to start very early tomorrow.

Now if that damned band would stop playing that loud reggae music right by our boat, we could get some sleep! Oy.

Day 3: Atlantic City to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan

Concerned about the forecast for thunderstorms in the afternoon in NYC, Ann and I set an alarm for 6:10 a.m. this morning. We got up and immediately got the boat ready to go. At 6:25 we were under way. Our route took us along the East Coast of the United States, about 2-3 miles from shore in many spots. This was to be our first test of mother nature – the first time we were committed to several hours in the open ocean, which we believed was a completely different boating experience from previous outings. However, the weather was fantastic. The waves, to the extent that we had any, were 1-2 feet at most. The ride was relatively smooth. And there were dolphins everywhere, a wonderful sight I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. As we pulled out of port, we took one last look at Atlantic City, and I got a gorgeous shot of Ann on the bow putting the lines away as we headed into the sunrise at Atlantic City inlet and turned to port to head North to The Big Apple.

Sunrise silhouette of Ann as we leave Atlantic City

About an hour into our trip, we passed by the Shore house of our friends from New Jersey, Shery and Michael Jay who came out to the beach early, around 7:30 just to wave and see us go by. They saw our boat, and we saw two small people who we thought were them in the distance waving, but we couldn’t be sure. Text messages confirmed that they saw us, and I was kicking myself for leaving my binoculars below deck in the crew quarters storage area. That’s what happens when you leave port half asleep early in the morning. We’ll try to see them better (with binoculars!) on our return trip home.

After about three uneventful hours of boating, we approached the Verrazano bridge, which I remember crossing (by car) as a child when we drove to Brooklyn to visit my grandmothers. It was a bit nerve racking coming under the bridge because of the heavy amount of large ship traffic with no clear indication of where recreational boats such as ours were supposed to go, but it all worked out.

After crossing the bridge, we got our first real view of Manhattan. What a skyline! Still makes me sad to see New York without the twin towers. I don’t think I’ll ever get over 9/11. Every time I see New York I think of it.

Several moments later, we passed the Statue of Liberty. I wish they had a public dock where we could stop by and visit, but I’m pretty sure that only the tour boats are allowed to stop there. Anyway, we got our money shot, which is what really matters when you are a dedicated blogger.

As we made our way to Chelsea Piers, Ann noted that you could see the Lincoln Tunnel in our navigation chart on the plotter, and that I should take a picture. So I did.

Chart plotter shows us about to cross above the Lincoln Tunnel.

With Chelsea Piers only minutes away, Elana adopted a happy pose.

This marina is known as a rough water marina. The boat shakes back and forth non-stop, and docking in this rough waters was a new challenge, but also confidence building, as I pulled her in slowly and smoothly with no hiccups. Starting to feel good about this docking thing, always the most stressful part of boating. If I can dock it here, I can dock it anywhere. It’s up to you, New York, New York!

Tied up at Chelsea Piers; I got this docking thing!

After tying up, I spent a good 30-40 minutes washing the boat. There was salt on the metal rails and on the cleats, and the ocean water really did a number on the dingy and the rest of the big boat, so I gave her a serious hose down. I had to connect two fifty foot hoses to each other and wash from both sides as well as from on the bow to really clean everything. Came back on the boat sweaty and exhausted and downed a cold beer and relaxed before we headed out to explore New York. Although we arrived at NYC around 10:40 am, it wasn’t until 2 pm or so when we were fueled, emptied of waste, tied up and washed. There’s lots of work to do, but it’s a labor of love. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

After a quick shower, we took to the streets. The first shot here is at the entrance to Chelsea Piers. It had been a dream of mine to come here on a boat ever since my early 30s when Ann brought me to the city on my birthday, and we hit golf balls at Chelsea Piers driving range and had a nice dinner in the city. Today, I finally realized that dream. Hope she doesn’t take me to Thailand next for my birthday because getting there by boat will be a bigger challenge!

Every time I come to New York, I discover a new site that I had never heard of. This time it was the High Line. An amazing walking park in the city that covers many blocks, above ground. It’s a peaceful oasis in a crazy bustling city. I don’t think it’s been around that long, but somehow in all my recent trips to New York, I missed it.

Ann and the kids wanted to try out a famous vegan restaurant called By Chloe, and I wasn’t too enthusiastic about that. Luckily, I had been in touch with a former student of mine, Nick who I met at the Chelsea Market. We got some Hummus at DizenGoff restaurant and took it back to the boat where we sat on the flybridge, ate dinner, and he taught me about the ins and outs of statistical horse betting.

Great to keep in touch with former students.

Tomorrow, we have tickets to see School of Rock on Broadway. I’m sure we’ll explore many other parts of the city as well, and I will sneak in some meat or dairy food whenever I can get away with it. We are going to be here 3 nights, and I’m going to take a break from this blog, which I always intended to cover our travel days more so than our multiple nights.

We have our eye on our departure day, which is Friday. Some concern about the forecast, so hoping there is a good window of time to get to Norwalk, CT. Also trying to time the tide at Hell Gate because apparently there is a reason they call it that. Between the projected thunderstorms (BTW, today they never came), and the rough currents in Hell Gate we have our work cut out for us. Finally, as it turns out (small world!) the dockmaster at the marina where we’re staying in Norwalk is Nick’s grandfather, so we look forward to seeing grandpa there.

So that’s it for the blog for a few days. Looking forward to a few days of fun, and then we’re back on the water on our way to Boston!

This blog written by Avi Rubin chronicles the boating adventure of the Rubin family in July, 2017. Casting off in Baltimore with Boston as the destination and many stops along the way.

Summer Adventures on our Prestige 560: Part 1

This blog chronicles the boating adventure of the Rubin family in July, 2017. Casting off in Baltimore with Boston as the destination and many stops along the way.

It’s finally almost here – the trip we’ve been planning for months and dreaming about for years. In the last few weeks, we kind of lost our minds and decided to buy our lifetime dream boat, a Prestige 560 Fly. We knew we would do this some day, and decided what better time than right before our 3 week boat trip to Boston? We named the boat Sababa, a Hebrew word that indicates that things could not be better, and with a boat like this, and this upcoming trip with my family, that’s how I feel!

Over the last six months, we mapped out an itinerary with several key milestones that include poker and shopping in Atlantic City along with dinner with Aliya and Dan from NJ at Buddakan, a “drive by” to waive at the Jays on the NJ shore, a play on Broadway (School of Rock), pizza (vegan for some) in Mystic, Ct, visiting Amy & Michael (Ann’s brother and family) in Providence, Martha’s Vineyard, biking in Nantucket, touring Falmouth on Cape Cod, and the highlight of our trip: stopping in Boston for two nights to visit Tamara at Camp Young Judea in New Hampshire during visiting day; and let’s not forget, Peter Lugar’s with Cousins Kenny and Laurie in Brooklyn on the way home. Finally, we may be joined by the Geva boys in Brooklyn for the final stretch back to Baltimore. Click for our full itinerary.

Day 1: Baltimore to Cape May, NJ

I woke up just after 6:00 a.m. this morning full of adrenaline. Months of planning, so many details, an unexpected new boat that we could not have even imagined buying a month ago, and the time had finally arrived. I did not want to wake up Ann, so I stayed in bed for about 15 minutes, but then I had to get moving. With everyone sleeping, I took care of some details – moved the water hose from the dock to the boat, put our empty luggage in the crew quarters, which we use as storage, removed the remaining covers from the bow and stowed them, and secured the galley. At around 6:50, I woke up Elana, and we went for a 2 mile run along the inner harbor. Beautiful morning, and lucky for me, I am still able to keep up with her – barely.

When we got back, Ann was already up and having breakfast. Elana and I took showers, and I started getting the boat ready. Turned on the generator; pulled the power cords and stowed them; turned on all the electronics; turned on the main engines; plugged in our route to the chart plotter, and we were ready to go. Benny was still sleeping, so Ann, Elana and I released the dock lines, brought them onto the boat, and we were off! (enable FLASH to watch this video clip)

As we pulled out of Harbor East marina, Ann and Elana brought in the dock lines and the fenders, and I piloted and navigated from the flybridge.

Our route this morning was 118 nautical miles. We cruised along just below 6 knots through the inner harbor area for about 15 minutes until we were ready to get on plane.

As we approached the Key bridge, I brought Sababa up to 23 knots, at 89% load on the port engine and 92% on the starboard one, and we were planing.

As we approached the Key bridge, I set a cruising speed of 23 knots.

Elana and Benny assumed the teenage position, despite all the beautiful scenery around them.

We followed the shipping channel up to the Elk River, which connects the Chesapeake to the C&D Canal. I had timed our departure to hit the Delaware River at 12:30, and despite some no wake speed in the C&D, we arrived about 15 minutes early, which was just fine. Water in the Delaware River and the Bay was as calm as can be. I had heard many stories of the rough waters there, and so it was with great relief that we had a completely smooth ride. Even as we approached Cape May, NJ and looked out on the open Atlantic Ocean, there were no waves. It was sunny and 77, and in fact, up on the bridge we had to put on sweatshirts because it felt chilly.

Our new boat, which we’ve only had for 2.5 weeks, handles great. She leaves a pretty big wake behind, and we had to be conscious of that because it really impacts other boats if we’re not careful.

Sababa has quite a wake. We almost knocked over a sailboat in the C&D Canal, so we learned to be more careful.

We saw a couple of pretty lighthouses along the way in the Delaware Bay.

Beautiful lighthouse near Cape May inlet

After leaving the Delaware Bay, we were in a no wake canal for several miles. We tried to get on plane in several stretches where it is allowed, but our wake was too big for the canal and we were knocking boats left and right, so we came down and cruised in slowly the rest of the way. We cruised into Canyon Club marina and were lucky to get a T-head to tie up to. That’s a lot easier than docking in a slip, especially because they only had finger piers with pilings, and with this new boat, I felt relieved to have an easy docking experience. I’m sure before long, I’ll have to conquer my fear of docking in an unfamiliar marina with a fixed-pier slip, but for now, floating T-head is the bomb!

So happy to dock Sababa on a floating T-head

This marina has in-slip fueling, and we filled up, putting 307 gallons of fresh diesel (capacity is 581) in the tanks, which took about 25 minutes and was not great for my always sore back. Ann took the kids to the pool, and I stayed behind and washed the boat down for about 20 more minutes.

After the pool, quick shower, and we went into town for dinner taking advantage of the free marina shuttle. Cape May is a typical ocean-front East Coast town full of salt water toffee shops, fudge stores, and unhealthy, overpriced restaurants. Fortunately, we had Yelp, and despite the eating habits of my immediate family (carnivorous me and my 3 vegans), we found a nice Mexican restaurant, where we were all happy.

After dinner, we walked around the quaint town area and along the beach. The teenagers again doing what teenagers do (although this time it was staged).

We listened to the Cape May County String Band that was playing in a park in town. Benny observed that the minimum age for being in the band must have been about 80. I got into it and started dancing!

We found a trolley in town, and since we were planning on Ubering back to the marina anyway, we figured we would just see where the trolley took us. It seemed to go in the direction of our marina, and google maps on my phone confirmed that, so we took a ride, and then walked the 1.2 miles back to our marina. Totally exhausted when we got back.

Tomorrow, we have a 38 mile ride to Atlantic City. It will be my first time piloting a boat on the open ocean. Forecast calls for 80 degrees and 10-15 knot winds. Waves around 2 feet. That sounds pretty good, and Sababa should give us a pretty smooth ride. Looking forward to playing some poker at the Borgata and having dinner with our friends Alia and Dan! The kids and I are going to skip the morning run, as we are pretty sore from today’s adventures.

So far, the trip is off to a great start! Can’t believe it’s only been one day. Feels like eternity since we were home in Pikesville, Maryland.

This blog written by Avi Rubin chronicles the boating adventure of the Rubin family in July, 2017. Casting off in Baltimore with Boston as the destination and many stops along the way.

Sea & Shore and So Much More

Question: What do you get when you gather a group of enthusiastic boat owners and potential boat owners, plant them under the warm Florida sun for two days, wine and dine them, dance the night away to a great live band, and take numerous rides across the waters of Sarasota Bay on million dollar yachts? Answer: One outstanding good time!

The inaugural Sea & Shore event took place this past weekend in lovely Sarasota, Florida. The idea behind the event says Margriet Mitchell, Director of Marketing for Prestige, was to bring together current Prestige owners along with potential Prestige owners to give them the opportunity to test out our 2017 models, share stories and ideas with the Prestige staff, and meet some of the designers responsible for bringing our boats to life.

15392755_10154852365349559_8987883598478055643_o — Amy Port (owner, Prestige 560) and Desiree Van Welsum (owner, Prestige 550 S) kick back during a boat ride across Sarasota Bay aboard the NC 11 (photo by Jonathan Murray)

“A FANTASTIC weekend in Sarasota for Prestige Yachts, Sea & Shore event. Many sea-trials, the new 630, great food and entertainment. Good friends, old and new!” Brad Heil, Chesapeake Yacht Center

img_3957-copy — A great shot taken from the helicopter featuring the Prestige 750 in the foreground along with the Jeanneau NC11, Leader 46, Prestige 450, 500, 560, and new 630 behind

So often, events such as these can end up being so large that it’s difficult for people to get to know one another and spend any real quality time experiencing the boats in detail. This was not the case with this year’s Sea & Shore event. “The idea was to keep the event relatively small and intimate so our customers felt like true VIPs” says Margriet. And this is exactly what it was. Space was limited to just 100 people with the agenda designed to be fun, relaxed, and informative. Designers Camillo Garroni of Garroni Design and Jean-Francois de Premorel of JF de Premorel Concepts were on hand throughout the weekend to interact with clients and answer questions.

“I’ve been fortunate to both attend and run many high-end events. Sea & Shore 2016 was up there with the best of them. Thanks for delivering such an outstanding customer experience. Already looking forward to next year” Jonathan Murray, Synergy lll (Prestige 550 S)

15380803_10154120375962405_5761958426050313837_n — Good times underway aboard the all-new Prestige 630 (photo by Jonathan Murray)

“Had a great morning, sea-trialing the Prestige Yachts 630. Cruise speed: 23.5 knots. Top end: 29.5 knots. Stay tuned for a full review in an upcoming issue of Yachting.” Patrick Sciacca, Yachting Magazine

And of course a great event deserves great press coverage which is why representatives of Yachting Magazine, Boating Magazine, and Power and MotorYacht were on hand to join in the fun and experience the boats firsthand.

When all was said and done and the boats had taken their last run on Sarasota Bay, there was definitely a feeling of closeness among all who were there along with an appreciation for having attended such a fun and entertaining event.

Prestige, a whole lot more than just an elegant motor yacht!