Got back from Mystic late last night (must work today). I'll try to post more comments later, but I had a great time. Gibb, in response to your question, the Northern Neck Chantey Singers did the net hauling demo on Sunday morning, which included a demo of splicing and net repair. It was on shore.

Also of interest to you if you remember Bob Walser's presentation on oyster dredging songs last year, he's figured out more! Using a rowboat in the Mystic River, he conducted an experiment of actually using one of the songs while dredging. Totally cool.
This year I was able to participate in more of the demos-- pulling on a halyard to a chantey was incredibly informative. I'd tried it before in Chicago on the tall ship Windy, but it isn't the right sort of rig for that to work right. Trying the capstan again was also good, and I do wish I could have done more of that sort of thing. Some year I'm going to get there a day early and have time to really do them all.

The concerts were great; the pub sings were great-- though Thursday night, perhaps due to all the rain, was comparatively low key (at least based on my limited experience).

I believe the female half of the swing-dancing couple ChantyLass mentions was Nicole Singer.

I did get some video of a number of things, but haven't had the chance yet to see how well any of it came out. Fingers crossed!