I used to give lectures at Trawler Fest before it was bought out by Passagemaker magazine. They mostly use their writers for the lectures now. There have not been any C Dories at the Stuart gathering when I was there. I took my C Dory to one in the PNW (Poulsbro)--and it was the only one there at that time, I believe that was 3 or 4 years ago--but more recently there have been C Dory gatherings co-incidental with Trawler fest in the PNW.
I don't know how many trawlers there will be this year at Stuart--According to the Trawler Fest web site--the 77 slip marina where it is being held, will only have room for exibitors boats--no room for folks arriving by boat. In the past, there were few people who came by boat--most came by car.
Our impression (which includes my friends who have businesses which depend on transcient yachts along our part of the ICW) is that the number of vessels coming south is less than normal for this time of the year. I suspect that there will be less boats coming to Florida this winter--but maybe cheaper fuel will help?
