Blue Angels May 20 & 22

In the spirit of alternating messages from each of the shows, here goes...

Todd, I've never been either, but I've got a feeling we'll know when we get there. My understanding is that a lot of boats go out for the day to see this. After the show, we're leaning on heading to St. Michaels until Saturday morning and then hooking up with some folks at Mears, Kent Island. You're welcome to join us or keep heading South to hook up with the Solomon's contingency.
 
You're right Larry, and I am looking forward to it. I am hoping we see a cool show and have some fun. We are figuring out our Memorial Day weekend plans. Looks like Lauren wants to go to Solomons. We'll see if they want us...
 
Todd, the Solomon's gang will probably take you in ;)

Are you going to spend the night on the hook or head to Solomon's right after the show? I'm open to suggestions for Wednesday night, but heading up the Severn a little further and spending the night on the hook is sounding good, right now.
 
This was from last year's show in Pensacola, FL which is the home of the Blue Angels. My marina is is only a mile the base and I boat with a lot of the pilots. We get to see these planes a lot, and I love it.

Truly the best show. They fly so low you can see their faces. The photo below has a zoom, but it's modest - they were only at a few hundred feet.

BlueAngelsBelly05_Small.jpg
 
It will be a day trip for us. We have some friends that are supposed to be coming with us and we will have to take them home.
 
Todd, if you are going to head to Solomons for the long weekend, I recommend you get your reservation made, somewhere. Sounds like a few folks are heading to Spring Cove. Just FYI.

Whoever thought this up (I think it was Josh) now has a cigar coming. I'm going to be taking a bunch of work associates on Tuesday for a "teambuilding" event and then start a getaway with the Mrs. on Wednesday. This is working out quite nicely for me.

Boating season is actually here.
 
Todd-

Are you joining us at Solomons? I just reserved at Solomons Yachting Center - they have some openings. There is a two night minimum stay.

Let me know your plans -
 
FYI - just to confirm that the Blue Angels website shows the dates for Annapolis are the 20th and 22nd. I floated the wrong dates when I posted earlier in the string...sorry. I think we are going to the practice on the 20th then heading off to another location.
 
RiverGalsMan said:
Check out:

http://www.usna.edu/SpecialEvents/CommWeeksked.pdf

Looks like on Tuesday they do a show rehearsal and Wednesday they do the show for the graduation. From what I hear, the rehearsal is as good as the show. I'll be there for both.
Click to expand...


Ok so I was right in the first post....Tuesday and Wednesday (same as last year). I was rewriting our float plans tonight until I saw your post and the agenda. Very odd...the Blue Angels Website has the 20 and 22 dates. I think I would trust the schedule from the Naval Acad though. This is soo much better for my scheduled cruise!! Thanks!
 
Yes, you should go with the USNA schedule. It is the same every year, tuesday practice, wednesday show. The Angels site just lists "performances" is my understanding. Hope the weather is better this year than last...

Lots of kids will get signed out of school early for "doctors appts" those two days I bet!
 
Just got back from the practice. What a beautiful day. The Blue Angels were awesome, as usual. They were flying almost directly over the boat. There's basically no bad view from the designated anchorage. I've seen the Blue Angels a bunch of times, but this is by far the best way to see them. Can't wait for tomorrow.

The Coast Guard has the anchorage marked by buoys and there are a ton of police, Coast Guard, and Auxiliary vessels to help let you know if you're in the right place or not.
 
Another beautiful day! Frankly, I enjoyed the practice more than I did the actual show. The show lasted a little over an hour, but yesterday's practice started around 1000 and went on/off until after 1600. There were about twice as many boats today, too. What a zoo!

Anyway, it was awesome. The Admiral was calling her sisters and telling them all about it while it was happening. Now they want to do this next year. Nobody asked me!
 
OK, checking in from the Patuxent show...

We got there around 10:00 and my friend Ken in his 400DB and I set the hooks for the raft. Stan soon joined in his 48, and these "big boats" formed the core of our raft:
3565215126_070379e2a4.jpg


Stan's friend Jim in a classic 300DA was hanging off his starboard and you can't see him in the above picture, But scanning then to the rest of the crew: CJ was next to Ken in his 330DA, Calvin was next to CJ in his 290 Amberjack and a friend of theirs joined later on a sailboat. You can see them all here:
3564367363_25152c7c59.jpg


Although we were not, by a long shot, the most unusual raft-up...
3564399385_abf473c391.jpg


... we did catch the attention of our old friends...
3564402751_73c84f5fe0.jpg


who boarded us all for a safety inspection. I didn't see anyone get hauled away, so I'm assuming we all passed. They were actually quite friendly and respectful, and we now all have our one-year get-out-of-jail papers.

Waiting for the show, the kids went swimming to pass the time:
3564400709_c4d0db1a21.jpg

3565209340_7439cff384.jpg


Before the main event, we saw some nice old school "Red Baron" type planes:
3565211346_74389c37ee.jpg


But the main event was definitely the Blue Angels:

3565188062_542d7dd740.jpg

3565201700_16f3023f0d.jpg

3565183086_d9a1124ea7.jpg


Who were even kind enough to do a fly by for Stan:
3564365199_ca58e1fba7.jpg


... much to his delight...

3565203720_f68f2cb9e2.jpg


We were right at the end of the runway (thanks to CJ for the hookup on the location), so they would fly right over us on each pass:

3564385263_6ebbc5061f.jpg


It was a really great show!!!! I was prepared for the noise, but it was the smell of burnt jet fuel that I thought was the coolest, as Stan and I joked: "Smells like.... Victory". The wind had shifted during the show so Ken and my anchor rodes had crossed over, but hey, we're professional rafters, so it was no big deal.

I was also very impressed with Solomon's. I haven't been there since I was a kid, I wish we could have stayed longer. But, we had to get over to Cambridge where we met Ryan, Todd (trebbel) and Josh (overextended) and their families for some good ol' fashion Hyatt-style fun. So much fun, so little time. It was great to see everyone and to meet some new friends.

God Bless America!
 
Last edited:
Cool show, did you do any video? Need to hear/feel the power!
 
It was a great day on the water, nice pics Tim! Next time you are down this way we'd be happy to show you even more up the Patuxent. On Sunday, we picked up Stan, Jim (300WE) and their respective better halves over in Solomons and ran up to St Leonards Creek for lunch at Vera's. Honestly, I had NO IDEA there was a bikini contest going on up there...Gary you would have loved it.

-CJ
 
festivus 44 - what type of dog is in the raft with the child??

We just got a Autralian Terrier puppy and that dog appears to be one also. Hope we can get our new dog in water soon - will be taking out on boat first time this weekend - probably be on island by YMCA Camp Letts so dog can enter from beach.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,247
Messages
1,429,230
Members
61,125
Latest member
Bassinbradw
Back
Top