Trawlerfest Baltimore Recap – September 2024

The JMYS team was actively spread out between our two listings, our sponsor tent, and the seminar rooms. Broker Eric Bescoby flew out from San Diego to help staff the Ocean Alexander 50 Gratitude, and also present his lecture on cruising the Big U. The Selene 55 Finish Grade was staffed by JMYS broker Rob Piwowarczyk and his wife Deanna. Rob and Deanna have been Selene 55 owners, so they were great representatives of the brand and could testify to the quality craftmanship of Selene trawlers. We were also very fortunate to have the owners of both trawlers on hand and onboard to help give tours and share their knowledge of these two wonderful trawlers.

Our on the dock tent was staffed by Pam Merrill and her father, Jon Ingebrigsten.

We also had our good friend, Captain Kevin McCarthy from Captn4Hire.com join us to help on the boats and in the tent.

The attendees of the show were all very interested in getting aboard, learning more about each boat, and figuring out a way to take off on their own adventures.  There are many different ways to enjoy trawler living – you can live aboard full time, part time, or just start out weekend cruising when time allows. We believe it’s important for people to get aboard trawlers of all sizes to really find out what works for them and their cruising goals. We also believe there is no better chance to do this than by attending Trawlerfest!

Up the street from the docks at the Marriott hotel, Jeff was involved in several presentations. Jeff also sat in on some great talks by Scott Richard Berg (surveyor), Bob Sweet (author and instructor) and Wayne Goldman (Selene Americas).  The panel sessions for Trawler Buying Tips and the Experts Roundtable were lively and entertaining.

If you were in one of Jeff or Eric’s classes and would like to download a PDF of the PowerPoint and have access to the editable documents, those are linked at the bottom of this article and will be available until the end of 2024.

The Selene Americas team was on the docks showing off the Selene 59 Blue Phoenix. Jeff enjoyed spending time with many of the Selene owners as well as the managing team including Howard Chen, Michael Chen, Wayne Goldman, and Paul Cifka.  We had many interactions with the wonderful Selene owners around (many stayed after the Selene East Coast Rendezvous) and Howard Chen was everywhere!

Jeff filmed another Dock, Walk and Talk video in Baltimore.  The final cut is still in our system getting finalized, but we hope to have it published on YouTube in November.

As we approach the end of the year and look back on the three Trawlerfest events held in 2024, we are extremely optimistic that the interest in buying and selling trawlers continues to grow and that there are opportunities for all interested in pursuing this activity.

Special thanks to the Passagemaker team for another wonderful event. JMYS is happy to support the Trawlerfest events as a national sponsor and we intend to continue promoting the series in 2025.

We hope you can join us in Florida for the first Trawlerfest of 2025… Exact date and location have not yet been announced, but we will let you know and look forward to seeing you there!