Cruisin'... on a summer day...

Summer in Portsmouth means a lot of things, from the ceremonial opening of the decks (Poco's grande margaritas are the best on the planet) to tall ship visits (although this past one was a dud by all reports I've heard) to cruising on the MV Thomas Laighton for a variety of themed "booze cruises."  Pull up the Isle of Shoals Steamship Company schedule here and you'll see that there are plenty of opportunities for boozin' and cruisin' -- we call it the "Tipsy Thomas" for a couple reasons.  ;-) 

We've already done cruise so far this year: A fun night was had by all with Granite State sensation The Super Secret Project last month.

The next one is later this month: The NH Tweet-Up's CruiseUp.  This will be the 2nd annual.  I missed last year's as I was on the Cape that weekend, but I heard it was a great time and a great networking opportunity.   

Then in July will be the much-anticipated return of the eCruise.  They took a year off last summer to concentrate on TechWorld conference and trade show, but now eCruise is back! 

The eCoast board committee, on which I serve in an advisory ex-officio type manner, released the notice to the press yesterday, which our local daily dutifully reprinted. More details on the EventBrite page (link below). 


Here's my recap of the last eCruise in July 2009.  (Scandalous pictures from the infamous after-party have been omitted to protect the innocent.)  

So mark your calendars and reserve your spot on the boat! 

• Thursday, June 23: Get your tix for the NH Tweet-Up on EventBrite.  (In a tweet, I dubbed the CruiseUp 2 the "pre-Cruise."  Because it comes before the e-Cruise.  Heh-heh.)  
• Thursday, July 14: Get your tix for eCoast Mobile Tech Summit & eCruise on EventBrite. 

Buy Local, Cruise Local

Kudos to SeacoastLocal, Portsmouth's BuyLocal group, for organizing a business networking cruise onboard the MV Thomas Laighton. Personally, I'm excited about it, because it fills the gaping gap created by the demise of the eCruise, which had been the can't-miss local networking event so far this century... until the Chamber effectively abandoned it this year. (Although a quick check of the eCoast section of their web site shows they still plan to have eBrews starting next month. Hmm...) Anyway, this new free event is an opportunity for owners of locally owned, independent businesses to celebrate a successful first year of SeacoastLocal.

SeacoastLocal's mission is laudable, and the main sponsors are two of my favorite local businesses: River Run Bookstore and Piscataqua Savings Bank. Piscataqua, BTW, has a great new web site, as of like 2 days ago, designed by an under-the-radar local development firm called Lightfin Studios.

Event Scoop: Tuesday, Aug. 19, 6-8:30PM. (Boat leaves @ 6:25PM sharp.) More event details here. RSVP before tomorrow, Aug. 12, to Mollie Mulligan at SeacoastLocal@gmail.com
with your name, the name of your company and number of years in business on the Seacoast. If you're local, you should check it out.