First Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium

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First Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium
Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director

Monday, 17-Mar-2008 by Donald MacPherson - HydroComp Technical Director

I love symposia and conferences. I've been to a lot of them, and some are better than others. Over March 7th and 8th, I was in Annapolis for the inaugural Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium (CPBS), hosted by the Chesapeake Section of SNAME (with assistance from others). Many of you may know of the Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium (CSYS) that has become a bi-annual fixture in the sailing yacht design community. Well, CPBS is not CSYS - at least not yet. But there was some evidence that it, too, may become a notable event.

Let me say right up front that putting on a symposium is not easy (I've been involved in my share), and the organizing committee did a fabulous job creating an event of very good value. The price was very reasonable as symposia go. (The registration fee of $90 is contrary to many publication-sponsored symposia where it seems the first order of business is revenue-generation.) Travel to Annapolis through Baltimore was convenient, and relatively painless. (Really, how painless is any travel these days? What's up with the BWI car rental facility a 15 minute drive from the airport?)

I was somewhat less impressed by the content of the symposia, but I can overlook this as the CPBS has not yet had a chance to develop its own personality. So, it was not a surprise to find a broad range of quality and focus in the presentations. Some of the presentations smacked a little too much like advertising, some I had heard many times before, and one presenter even had me wondering if his "aluminum foil hat was on too tight" (to steal a phrase from HydroComp-alum Bill Cook that I particularly love). However, I was very pleased that there was a practical side to the presentations. Even those that talked about highly theoretical brainy stuff put it in the context of real boats and applications. It is my understanding that a CD-ROM of the presentations can be purchased from the organizers (www.powerboatsymposium.com).

The social side of the trip may have been as valuable as the presentations - which is often the case at any symposia. Saturday night I attended a Webb Alumni dinner and got the scoop on what is happening in the Webb-i-sphere. (It seemed like this trip was very Webb-centric for me, with opportunity to do business and spend time with many old school-mates. I found that this blog has a bit of a following among Webbies, so to another ex-HydroComp Webb grad, Mat Bird - here's your RSS hello!)

Would I do it again? In an instant. Will I attend in two years? You can count on it. The prospects are very good for the CPBS.