Photos by Castro

People often ask “What’s the difference between Waterfest and H2Oi (besides location)?  In 2010 I decided to make the trip to Ocean City, Maryland for the first time to answer that question.

I’ve been a devoted Waterfest guy since I first went back in 2007.  Truth be told, 2010 was the first time I went along for the ride to H2Oi so I didn’t really know what to expect.  With that being said, H2Oi is without say a smaller car show than Waterfest in terms of both the number of vendors and attending visitors.  But what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality.

Taking a drive down Coastal Highway is what separates Waterfest from H2Oi for me.  All the show cars that would normally be on display in vendor booths fill up the small strip of road all night long with the hundreds of cars of all those attending the show to make a truly awesome sight.  I remember sitting outside on our condo balcony overlooking the main strip and thinking to myself: “How long can I possibly stay outside looking at all these cars driving by?”  The answer was: pretty damn long!

The drivers did not let up the whole night long.  They took to the streets in fleets of 3-6 and cruised up and down the strip checking out all the random get togethers popping up anywhere and everywhere they could all the while providing an awesome show for the hundreds that lined the sidewalks trying to get a peek at what was driving down next.

Photo from StanceWorks

Most of the more memorable drivers were the bagged ones dropping their cars’ back ends to the ground while driving and leaving a trail of sparks behind them.

H2Oi isn’t limited to just European cars as some seriously stanced JDM cars came out to play for the weekend with us.

The car show itself was loaded with most of the same vendors as Waterfest like Forge Motorsport, Unitronic, APR, and VWoA.  However this year Rotiform made the long drive from California and set up shop next to Dubkorps to provide a seriously unique booth setup.

All in all, H2Oi is definitely what it advertises itself to be: a laid back VW/Audi car show.  The warm weather and miles of beaches make the event more of a mini vacation with a car show happening in the background than an in your face VW event.  The only question worth asking is which event is better, Waterfest or H2Oi?

The answer is a bit more complicated than a simple choice.  Waterfest is the mother of North American VW/Audi events that needs the full 2 day weekend to soak in everything there is to do and see.  H2Oi on the other hand is a more condensed show that for the most part can be observed in under 4 hours.  In terms of after hours activity, Waterfest has the insane frat boy partying atmosphere of a college dorm party on steroids but suffers from a limited quantity of quality cars, whereas H2Oi brings out the big boys (and girls) of the VW/Audi scene and showcases them everywhere and anywhere possible.

H2Oi is definitely a show worth visiting for any VW/Audi enthusiast, it was and always will be an awesome laid back car show, but it will never and should never be the same event as Waterfest.  H2Oi is definitely an event of its own.

Check out the rest of the pictures taken by Castro HERE. Here’s a sample of the set…