Fort Lauderdale Boat Show starts today

[Serious News]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the "Yachting Capital of the World" will host the 54th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show on October 31-Nov 4, 2013. Show exhibits range from yacht builders and designers to exotic cars and brokerage yachts. A wide variety of boats and sea vessels will be on display including runabouts, sportfishers, high performance boats, center consoles, cabin cruisers, flats boats, skiffs, express cruisers, sailing yachts, motor yachts, bowriders, catamarans, ski boats, jet boats, trawlers, inflatables, canoes, and extraordinary superyachts. Covering six locations and over 3 million square feet of space, the show's transportation network of bus shuttles, water taxis, and riverboats ensures attendees can easily navigate the boat show and its expansive waterways system.Added attractions include The Blue Wild Dive Show, IGFA's School of Sportfishing and Hook the Future's Kids Fishing Clinics. -

See more at: http://www.showmanagement.com/fort_lauderdale/event/#sthash.s38W7TCm.dpuf

[Serious News]

By Steve WatersSun Sentinel
3:28 p.m. EDT, October 31, 2013

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show opened under partly cloudy skies Thursday as the biggest show yet in the event's 54-year history.

Howard Blitstein timed his visit from Costa Rica to see his mother in Fort Lauderdale with the boat show. "It's very busy for the first day," he said. "I've seen a lot of new center console-type boats that I never heard of. I'm impressed with the boats."

"I think it's awesome," said Rick Hauser, a boat show regular who came here from Thousand Oaks, Calif. "I think there's a better energy this year. The weather's better."

The show spreads over 3 million square feet at six sites.

"We've expanded the footprint quite a bit," said Skip Zimbalist of Show Management, which produces the boat show.

To make navigating the show easier, there are lots of new signs directing people where to go, as well as 20 "You are here" signs.

New this year: You have to show i.d., like a driver's license, to enter because of Port Everglades security concerns, so expect a longer wait to get in.

There was a long, but fast-moving line to enter Bahia Mar when the show opened at 10 a.m., but thereafter people were simply walking in the new show entrance on State Road A1A and getting right into the site.

There is about 70,000 more square feet of exhibit space outside the convention center at the new Sailfish Pavilion. The shuttle buses now drop off people at the pavilions' entrance.

There was a nice crowd inside the convention center, but the most people were at the Bahia Mar Yachting Center, which is the heart of the show.

Jim Mathie, of Deerfield Beach, has a 29-foot SeaVee, but was checking out the new SeaVees at the convention center, where he ran into former Dolphins great Jason Taylor, who owns two SeaVees.

"Great guy," said Mathie. "He actually was standing right next to me and we started talking. We talked about SeaVee and what a good quality boat it is."

It was the type of opening day that has Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler singing the praises of the show and its $500 million economic impact to the city.

"I wake up on a day like today and it might be the best day ever made," Seiler said. "[The boat show] is the Super Bowl, it's your birthday, it's Christmas, it's Easter all rolled into one."

Among the new items on display inside the convention center are two big boats from SeaVee. The Miami company's 43 Walk Around was described as a really big center console with a house in the middle of it. The boat was designed for fishing in destinations such as the Marquesas or Dry Tortugas, west of Key West, according to marketing director John Caballero.

"At the end of the day, you can take a shower, cook a meal in the galley, sit down and eat at a table and then retire to the state room," Caballero said.

SeaVee also introduced its first stepped hull boat, the 390Z.


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/outdoors/sfl-fort-lauderdale-boat-show-new-twists-20131031,0,7213371.story

[Serious News]

Destination New Zealand - as a brand, as a physical destination for cruising and as the home of several hundred New Zealand marine industry companies known for their superyacht refit and maintenance capabilities - will feature at this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

As the 54th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show opens today, 31 October, 16 members of the New Zealand Marine Export Group are ready to capitalise on the heightened awareness of New Zealand and the country’s innovative marine sector organisations following Emirates Team New Zealand’s massive profile as the challenger for the 34th America’s Cup in September.

"With three of the four America’s Cup teams - defenders Team Oracle USA and two challengers, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge - electing to have most or all of their AC72 catamarans built in New Zealand, it’s a testament to the skilled workmanship and design capabilities of the country’s marine sector," says Peter Busfield, executive director of the NZ Marine Industry and CEO of the NZ Marine Export Group. "When you also consider that all three largely-New Zealand built AC72s held together to the end in those incredibly challenging sailing conditions in San Francisco, it speaks volumes about the thoroughness and attention to detail of the workmanship."

Busfield is also pleased by evidence of the increased awareness of New Zealand as a cruising destination and as a location for yacht refits and maintenance.

"While the America’s Cup and race yachts, from Grand Prix race yachts to Olympic class dinghies, form an important race yacht-focused sector for the New Zealand marine industry, this level of technological development and design skills flow throughout New Zealand’s boat building, refit and maintenance, and associated product supply companies.

"A number of NZ Marine member companies joined together in San Francisco during the Louis Vuitton Cup finals to tell this ‘New Zealand story’ and we continue to share this message with the tens of thousands of people we’ll speak with in Fort Lauderdale.

Two central government agencies - New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and Tourism New Zealand - have joined forces to promote ‘Destination New Zealand’ among the group of NZ Marine Export Group members exhibiting together in the show’s Yachting Tent.

Busfield adds: "With assistance from NZ Marine Export Group representatives, show visitors can talk to the Destination New Zealand team to find out a wealth of information and resources for those thinking of bringing their vessel to New Zealand to cruise the scenic delights of the country’s 15,000 kilometres of coastline and/or make the most of the many award-winning service and refit facilities around the country.

"We’ll have free print and electronic copies of our recently-published book called Destination New Zealand available. It combines tourist and travel resources, detailed up-to-date information on the regulatory requirements for vessels when visiting New Zealand, and a directory of over 100 NZ Marine member companies providing design, boat building, engineering, maintenance and refit services."

Currently over 600 smaller cruising craft (10-24 metres) and 35 superyachts (24-90 metres) visit New Zealand and these numbers continue to increase each year.

"Many NZ Marine member companies are well-known for their talents as refit providers and we see increasing numbers of yacht owners combining cruising to and around New Zealand with scheduled maintenance and refit work on their vessel," says Busfield. "The world-class standards of workmanship and design of numerous yachts refitted in New Zealand have been recognised through international awards presented to the yachts’ owners and the companies involved."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/19623608/nz-features-at-fort-lauderdale-international-boat-show/