New York Boat Show: Keeping the Dream Alive by Peter A. Janssen
Even when I was living on my Grand Banks at Norwalk Cove, Connecticut, in the middle of winter, I always looked forward to the New York Boat Show each January. It’s easy to get a bit discouraged when the dock lines are covered with ice and the side decks are under a few inches of snow, but then I’d dig out my boat shoes and head for the show. It was, of course, an opportunity to see a lot of new boats and boating stuff, but what was much more important was that it was my chance to get a mid-winter cruising fix, to dream, to remember that winter, even in New England, does not last forever.
You don’t have to be a full-time liveaboard, of course, to understand the dream, to get the itch. In fact, tens of thousands of people leave their apartments and houses to go to the New York show each year. In New York, the mid-winter show is an institution, now in its 112th year, opening next Wednesday, January 25, and running through Sunday, January 29, at the Javits Center on 11th Avenue, over by the Hudson, between 34th and 35th Streets. Officially, the show is the Progressive Insurance New York Boat Show, run by the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
What I’ve always liked is the variety of boats there. This year the show will have more than 400 boats, from a motorized surfboard to a 51-foot Beneteau Gran Turismo, the queen of the show. There are always strong showings by Sea Ray, Sabre and Back Cove, Tiara, Chris-Craft, Azimut, Formula, Pursuit and Grady-White in the main hall. I personally just like to wander around like a kid in the candy store. It is all about the dream. Last year I was walking down an aisle behind a father with a five- or six-year old son, when the little boy suddenly exclaimed, “Look Dad, there’s a Boston Whaler.”
For more about the show, go to:http://www.nyboatshow.com
