Right now I’m in Annapolis, Maryland for my favourite boat show, the US Sailboat Show. It’s five days of sailing boats only before a grand all change when the powerboats take over the city docks. The sun is shining, it’s warm, the natives are very friendly and the seafood, especially crab, is wonderful.

The boat pictured here is Elf, built in 1888 and recently restored and the owner claims that she is the oldest racing boat in the world, unless as they say, you know differently. She is at the Show to promote the Annapolis Hall of Fame which is being developed by the old city docks but surrounded by controversy as it means that an historic but semi derelict waterside house will have to be incorporated in the development. And by old I mean just over 100 years old.

I was discussing this with a retired US Navy Admiral who had been in submarines. I commented that I had a friend who had been a submariner and he replied that in the US Navy they called themselves ‘submarinas’ as they were not under mariners.