The day is gray and foggy for the opening of the 41st annual Naples Boat Show, but the boats had all been washed and waxed and they sparkled despite the dreary weather.
Hi gang, Rick here again from Used Pontoon Boats with an update from the Naples Boat Show. The 41st annual Naples Boat Show opened 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 24 and ran through the 27th.
Hundreds of boats of various sizes and types stood on blocks and trailers in the open yard where Naples Depot formerly stood. Center consoles, flats boats, pontoons, deck boats, cruisers, inboards, outboards, single hulls, cats, fiberglass moderns and wooden classics.
Marco residents John and Kay Krapf already own several boats, but they were looking at cruisers. They both liked the boats they saw and proclaimed this year's boat show, "a very good show."
"The new seating arrangements in the cruisers and the tables caught my eye," said John Krapf.
Kay Krapf noted, "What's most important is a fly bridge."
John Krapf added, "and large bathrooms."
They both laughed.
Inside a white circus- type tent, the vendors and organizations set up their booths. They offered boat lifts, boat lift covers, boat kitchen utensils and organizers, marine electronics, boating safety equipment and fishing tackle.
Law enforcement was well represented by the Collier Sheriff's Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Auxiliary also represented boater education, as did the U.S. Sail and Power Squadron.
Of course, there is always something new in electronics.
For larger boats, Raymarine, Furuno and others have recently begun to integrate everything - radar, chart plotting, GPS, depth sounding, Sirius Weather as well as monitoring the engine room.
Underwater heat sensing
A relatively new and safety-oriented feature is heat sensing with screen imaging.
Since many hard-to-see things that float on or under the water, such as crab traps, have a different heat signature than the surrounding water, this feature makes finding and avoiding them easier, especially at night.
All of this was pretty normal and expected of a boat show. But this year's Naples Boat Show also had a softer, gentler side.
Mike Croft, a resident of Marco Island, set up and manned the table for Team Ocean, an environmental education and advocacy organization peopled by volunteers.
"Today we're doing education," he explained. "But we're going to have a couple of boats and we'll be doing work on the water also. We going to have people stationed at Keewaydin Island. That's a big use area. There's a lot of garbage left behind there. They'll have a display and things to hand out. On Keewaydin, one of the things we're stressing is Leave No Trace."
The Freedom Waters Foundation, also peopled by volunteers in South Florida, offers a person-centered mission. Their purpose is to provide boating opportunities and marine-related education for people with disabilities and youth at risk.
They were looking for volunteers to offer their time and their boats for yacht outings for children with cancer and special needs, and sailing and fishing designed specifically to include those with disabilities.
Cedar Bay auction
Cedar Bay Yacht Club held an auction benefiting the American Cancer Society of Marco Island and Freedom Waters Foundation.
On the block were a Kayot V200 deck boat with a Mercury 150 Verado outboard and an equity membership in Cedar Bay Yacht Club, including a 24 x 9 foot dry storage boat slip.
Altogether, it was, as John Krapf said, "a very good show."
Captain's notes
All vessels are required to proceed at a safe speed at all times. Maximum speed is posted in many channels, but the maximum speed may not be the same as a safe speed.
Safe speed is dependent on many factors - visibility, the amount of vessel traffic, maneuverability of your vessel, wind, currents, local hazards, weather. Generally, traveling at a safe speed is understood to mean that you are able to take proper and effective action to avoid a collision and to stop within a distance appropriate to the prevailing conditions.
That is, you must be going slow enough to avoid a collision.
If you are involved in a collision, it will be assumed that you have violated the safe speed rule, as you were obviously not going slow enough to avoid the collision.
Thanks to Capt. Carl Kelly, Marco Island Sun Times for this.
Capt. Carl has held his USCG captain's license since 1994. If you have questions or would like to make suggestions for this column, contact Carl
marcocaptain@comcast.net.
Used Pontoon Boats, By Rick Ostler
Used Pontoon Boats-North American Waterway
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