Event Recap: H2o International 2010

For everyone who knows the grind of H2oi weekend, here in my home state of Maryland (Ocean City), you understand what it is; light on sleep, heavy on socializing & meeting people, seeing old friends & out of state associates, eating out, a six pack or three and excessive car cleaning...well maybe that was just me (ahem). To address the show(s), Saturday's Big Ass BBQ was a hint of what was to come on Sunday; cars as far as the eyes could see, a new arrangement on the show grounds for vendors, showcars and patrons, as well as a dusty landscape. The good news was this past weekend was like summer all over again. Friday was hot and in the low 90s, Saturday was in the high 80s with a nice breeze, sunny as all hell, and Sunday was intermittent rain showers and people running to their cars for shelter.

I wasn't sure what this years H2oi show was going to bring, given the new construction of the Ocean Downs 'races and slots' facility as I mentioned in previous posts. Since the vendors couldn't be on the parking lot of the facility, they moved all of them to the main drag into the showgrounds, much like Dubs on the Beach (2010) this past May (if you attended). The difference between DOTB and H2oi this year was about 1000+ cars and about 2000+ people. It was a sight to behold looking back to where this show came from in 1999 or so. It's probably odd for me to say it, but I think there were actually too many cars. I made the effort to walk around plenty to see all of the show field Sunday, over 4hrs, and still missed plenty. The good news was many others' online pictures filled in the gaps of cars I didn't see, but of course I always enjoy capturing a cool car with my own lens.

Nighttime out was great as usual. I forgot how much I missed seeing OC loaded for bear with modified German Cars as far as the eye could see. Some interesting imports popped up as well. There were CCW and Rota Grids as far as the eye could see too, but that's another story all together. Some good friends didn't make it down to the show this year, but there's always next time and for those that did, hell yea.

I took too many shots to put into one place, so I'll be posting them and non-show content randomly over the next several days. In the meantime, you can see all of my showground shots from Saturday and Sunday here (click on saturday or sunday on the left). I even followed up on my previous notion and got a small HD digital video camera...that was a bit of a learning experience since I was without a steadicam. I'll make a post once I whip up a short video, but that will take much longer than picture editing, especially since I haven't even installed the editing software yet ha.

As usual, share my albums with your friends and use my pics of your cars in your threads on forums around the web; just use my links so I can track the stats. Watermarks will be a 2011 thing me thinks.