If you caught yesterday’s recap of the Miami International Boat Show, you know I don’t exactly love the large boat-show formats. Nothing has changed since then, but I have no need to belabor the point.
Yet there were five elements of last week’s event I did enjoy. Here they are:
The Nor-Tech 42-Eleven Center Console
The only all-new high-performance model unveiled in Miami, Nor-Tech’s 42-foot-long center console with an 11-foot beam is a stunning model that fits nicely between the Cape Coral, Fla., company’s 40 SS and 450 Sport models. Gorgeous doesn’t begin to describe the 42-footer, and the company took a slew of orders for the new beauty during five-day event. Plus, it was the talk of the annual Wednesday night Nor-Tech Boat Show Opening Celebration.
Mercury Racing Demo Days At Grove Harbour
The worst part about Coconut Grove is its distance from the show’s South Beach headquarters. Unescapable for all but a few early morning hours each day, South Florida traffic is savage. But if you depart South Beach early enough in the morning, the drive to Grove Harbour, the site of the by-appointment-only Mercury Racing Demo Days affair in Coconut Grove, isn’t miserable. I made it there in less than 30 minutes by ride-share last Wednesday. The 11-boat fleet that greeted me was pretty spectacular. Though I’d experienced all but two of the boats on hand several times, I scratched two more—the Performance Powerboats P420 catamaran and the Nor-Tech 4000 Roadster catamaran—off my list. And both were spectacular.
The Florida Powerboat Club/Speed On The Water South Beach Bash
The Florida Powerboat Club has been throwing killer parties during the Miami Boat Show for more than 30 years. But for the past four years, the club has joined forces with Speedonthewater.com to reinvent the Friday night celebration. Now the South Beach affair, which is presented by Nor-Tech and counted DCB Marine Performance and Deep Impact Custom Boats as new backers this time around, is the social event of the show. The happening attracts a robust collection of industry types, high-profile pleasure-boat owners, offshore powerboat racers, rogues and generally colorful characters.
The Cigarette Racing Team Display
I had it on good authority, from an inside source no less, that Cigarette Racing Team was going introduce a new model during this year’s show. But that didn’t happen—so much for good authority from inside sources. Still, the iconic Opa-Locka, Fla., company did have an updated version of its once-coveted 42 Huntress and several other center consoles for visitors to ogle after running the booth-representative gauntlet. Cigarette is doing some neat stuff with “naturalistic” paint colors on its models, and that helps keep the brand fresh. As for whatever something new was supposed to be, it will have to keep until next year.
Deep Impact Demos At Miami Beach Marina
Depending on South Beach gridlock, Miami Beach Marina can be anything from five to 25 minutes from the Miami Beach Convention. Regardless, it’s the closest place to catch a demo-ride during the show, and Deep Impact Custom Boats made the most of that proximity by having its 499 and 449 center-console models available to would-be clients by appointment throughout the show. And that kept Deep Impact captains Kyle Heidecker and John Wittenberger hopping all week.