Anchors Away ~ Boat Launch Event

Last night I paused to think about what I was doing exactly a week ago at that same time. I was rushing to and fro getting the last minute touches on my sailboat, racing against the clock. For some reason, the clock seemed to reach midnight in a flash. There I was running around the garage doing last minute painting and poly coats. Plus, I was trying to get as many “final” pics of my boat before I bid von boyage to seeing the sailboat in the garage. As I was in the midst of the hustle and bustle,  I also longed for a full nights rest that I hadn’t gotten for the last few nights. Regardless of the lack of sleep and the stress, I did enjoy the excitement of reaching a deadline. It is stressful, but there’s energy and excitement sandwiched in among the stress and I miss that.

Christine's boat loaded up in car

After all of the ups and downs during the last two months, my sailboat was carefully packed up in the car, ready to make its two hour journey to the Abbey Resort for the Anchors Away boat launch event. My boat arrived safely with no damages. We had to drop off the boat at a tented pavilion on the resort grounds. The following day there was going to be a wine and cheese tasting as part of the event. A couple of event helpers wheeled my sailboat on a cart into the pavilion. It was exciting to see my boat “out and about.” And it was so rewarding to hear people’s reactions to seeing my boat inside the tent. After the boats were wheeled into the tent, they were set up at a photo booth for a photographer to take pictures. Next they were wheeled into an area where some men bolted each of the boats onto a wheeled cart. After that they were arranged on the tables ready for people to view. I went around taking pictures of the variety of boats. And I noticed people taking pics of my boat. How exciting!

Sailboat sculptures at boat launch weekend

Wow! It was overwhelming to see so many sailboats in one location. For the event, there are 75 sailboats and 25 Chris Craft boats. How delightful it was to see the creativity of the other artists shown on their own boats!

Sailboat sculptures at the boat launch weekend

The silver mosaic sailboat is named “Heigh Ho Silver!” Wouldn’t that boat look perfect reflecting some beautiful flowers in a flower garden? I didn’t catch all of the names on the sailboats, but I’d like to go back to see them on display over the summer. Maybe then I can get the names of the other boats.

Sailboat sculptures at boat launch weekend

While at the boat exhibit, I heard that the boat covered in sand was done by a local school. What a clever idea! The black boat in the middle is painted with chalkboard paint and I think the name of it is “Wave Writer.” I think it would be cool to have the chalkboard boat at a restaurant where they could write the specials of the day on it. The next boat pictured is made with coiled pieces of string. The artist also sculpted faces onto the boat. I think it is such an awesome idea! The name of that boat is “Old Man of the Sea.” It reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Sailboat sculptures at the boat launch weekend

The first boat pictured above is one done in glass mosaic. The boat in the middle with the Koi fish has a working water fountain that falls through the fishes mouths and lands at the base of the boat. Unfortunately when we were there it was not set up with the fountain part running, but what a terrific idea! I also liked the boat with the dragon on it. Such neat ideas all around the place.

A night and day sailboat

Here’s a boat that had a night and day theme to it.

Banana Split sailboat

The first boat with the large sun on it has adorable gecko characters painted on it. And look at that one with the huge banana split! I loved the collaged look of the third boat.

Summer & Winter sailboat

The boat above is very intricate and shows a winter at the lake side and a summer at the lake side view on it.

Pat's Glass Mosaic boat

Okay, now the boat shown above is my all time favorite from the event. The photos of it don’t do it justice. It is so beautiful to see it in person. When I first got into the tent, I met the artist of this stunning mosaic boat. The artist’s name is Pat and she saw my boat get wheeled into the tent. Pat walked over by my boat and mentioned that she found my blog showing my work-in-progress sailboat updates. She told me that she enjoyed seeing the process of how I made my boat and she loved my boat. Then I asked her if she made a boat and she walked me over to her gorgeous work of art.

Close-ups of Pat's boat

She told me that she spent 500 hours of work time on her boat. The scenes on her boat feature landmarks in the Lake Geneva area and she included a variety of found objects to include on her boat. I think her boat is just marvelous and I wish I had enough money to bid on her boat to win her boat at the auction in September.

Boat sculptures at boat launch weekend

Here a few pics of some of the Chris Craft boats. They are a lot smaller in size than the sailboats, but they aren’t lacking in creativity or craftsmanship. One of my favorites from the Chris Craft designs is the banana shaped boat named, “Day-O.” On the back of the banana boat, the artist made an image that looks like the Chiquita banana sticker and instead of  it saying “Chiquita” it says “Day-O” on it. That banana boat just made me smile and it is so creative.

Christine working on adding net boy to boat

There I am working on permanently attaching the net boy to the boat with some Apoxie Sculpt that I brought along. For the ride down to the event, I left the net boy off of the boat otherwise I don’ t know how we would have gotten it into the car without damage. Leaving the net boy off worked out perfectly. When I dropped off my sailboat I found out that my boat will be on display at the Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark in Lake Geneva. Sometime before September, I’d like to go back and see my boat on display at Timber Ridge. That was my day of dropping off my boat. It was quite a journey from the day I picked up the boat til the day I dropped it off. Thank you for joining me in my adventures!

Take a peek at previous sailboat updates by clicking on any image below!

Sailboat "Before"

Sculpted face and sketch for boy sculpture

Children Sculptures

Painting the sun and moon sculptures

Sun Moon Stars

About christine

A watercolor and sculpture artist and avid crafter/designer. Working creatively with my hands is what gives me joy and contentment and makes me want to get up in the morning.
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6 Responses to Anchors Away ~ Boat Launch Event

  1. Ginny Diezel says:

    Simply breathtaking! What a wonderful exhibit, and your sailboat is outstanding!

  2. Terrielee says:

    Amazing! Thanks for sharing, Christine! What an incredibly interesting event and how special you must feel to have taken a role in it! Your sailboat is awesome and I imagine the viewers *love* it! All of the boats that you photographed are so special! I really enjoyed reading about each and every one! Thanks again for sharing!
    Terrielee

  3. Laurie says:

    I’m glad you gave me a link to your blog, love love love the sailboats. Your watercolors are great…

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