Fort Lauderdale Boat Show

[tomcat]

Flew into West Palm Beach last week to visit our daughter and made it perfectly clear we had no plans for the week and just wanted to have a little R&R and some beach time. She then informed me of some sort of a boat show in Ft. Lauderdale and wanted to know if we were interested. Holy smokes! I never put two and two together when reading my boating mags that I would actually be there for the show. Wow! That show is overwhelming, to say the least. Our first time and it was pretty awesome. I'd never thought that i would ever be able to get a tour of a $20 million megayacht. Just mind boggling. Did not plan the day very well though. I should have looked at the program a little better to see just what I wanted to look at. I wasted a lot of time just roaming and gawking. We were able to tour 14 different vessels and I think our favorite was the Cheoy Lee 68' Trawler. What a sweet ride that would be...for a cool 2 million.

Any way, if you've never been and would like to be blown away by the amount of boats in one place, check it out sometime. It's quite the experience.
Back to reality...which means work...

[loubennett]

My boss went to the Ft. Lauderdale show for 3 days. He still didn't see everything but had a great time. It sounds fantastic. I'll have to try to get there sometime.

[tomcat]

Doesn't Annapolis have a pretty good size show?

[loubennett]

Yes, but not, apperently like Ft. Lauderdale. No mega yachts and not nearly as many exhibitors.

[Pitou]

Lauderdale is the premier boat show in the country. I have a buddy who attends each year to visit his insureds who are displaying. Some of the yachts are insane. I swear, I just want to tag along and be his valet. I'd even shine his boat shoes for some of the opportunities. This past show he got to go for a spin and run an 86 ft Merritt sportfish with twin 2400 hp powereplants. For sale for a cool 9.8 million .... here's a link http://merrittboat.com/Merritt%20Brokerage/index.html

[tomcat]

Nice, real nice. The day after the boat show, we went to Jupiter Beach and I hung out right at the inlet and watch boats going and coming. Pretty rough that day, and a couple of show boats came cruising in that were heading north. The first one was a Back Cove 37..a nice looking ride... and the second one was similar to the Merritt with a light blue hull, a real sharp looking vessel. Probably 65' or so. They came in and then took a right up the ICW . Don't know if they were from the area or not.

I would love to be a deck hand on one of those megayachts...just to see if that's what I want to do when I grow up!!

Oh, and no sign of a new Albin