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Annual Boat Show to Start Today in Palm Beach, Fla.

Posted on: Thursday, 23 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Glenn Singer, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Mar. 23--If you were to spend just five minutes looking at each boat in the 21st Annual Palm Beach Boat Show, it would take you 92 hours to see everything.

The show, which opens at noon today and runs through Sunday in downtown West Palm Beach, will be open for a collective 33 hours. So it's probably a good idea to hone in on specific types of vessels or wear comfortable shoes for fast-paced viewing of the 1,100 models on display.

"This has really become a major regional show that draws people from Vero Beach to Fort Lauderdale and beyond," said Dane Graziano, vice president of Yachting Promotions Inc. of Fort Lauderdale. His firm puts on the show each year for the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County.

Yachting Promotions announced Wednesday that owner Kaye Pearson sold the business last week to Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, head of Active Interest Media Inc., a publishing and consumer-event production company in El Segundo, Calif.

There's something very special about this year's event, which is expected to draw 50,000 visitors, Graziano said. Much of the road construction in the downtown area has been completed "and traffic is flowing." He said he kissed Mayor Lois Frankel to thank her for pushing the state Department of Transportation to get the years-long job done.

Thanks to that turn of fate, Graziano said he leased 54 buses to transport patrons for free to and from parking lots, the waterfront and the Palm Beach County Convention Center. At last count, 621 boats were docked in slips along the Intracoastal Waterway, while 500 were to be on display at the convention center.

Parking will be reasonably priced, Graziano said. Daily parking at the convention center is $5; the maximum fee at the CityPlace shopping complex across the street is $6. During the weekend, county garages near the Palm Beach County Courthouse will charge $10 a day.

In contrast to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in October and its bevy of mega-yachts, the Palm Beach version features a greater number of smaller craft -- though there is a 157-foot pre-owned yacht for sale. Some boats feature hulls painted silver or gold -- a departure from what some think is a boring white finish.

Throughout South Florida, the boat industry has been strong for the last couple of years, said Joe Moretti, a broker who runs Moretti Yachts and has a close working relationship with Rodriquez Yachts of Italy, one of the exhibitors in the Palm Beach show.

"A few years ago, people were leaving the United States and buying boats in Europe. Now Europeans are coming here," he said, noting the market shifts depending on currency exchange rates.

In addition to seeing boats ranging from catamarans to trawlers to super-yachts, visitors can purchase accessories from hundreds of exhibitors. There will be GPS systems, satellite TVs and phones, autopilots, radar, fishing equipment and a vast array of other items.

It's really a fun day for the whole family -- the kids love it," Graziano said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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