| USA. Super Boat show changes dates to avoid offshore racing clash |
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| Thursday, 12 January 2006 | |
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Exhibtion: Super Boat Expo, the new boat show featuring high-performance speedboats as well as fast fishboats carrying at least 500 horsepower, has changed its dates from late May to March 31-April 2. The announcement came from Bob Black, Super Boat Expo president, who said, “We set the dates for our show early last September. Late in December SBI/APBA scheduled a race in Marathon, FL on our May dates. Then the Offshore Super Series (OSS) also scheduled a race for the same May dates—this one in Fort Myers, practically in Sarasota’s back yard.” “We had some exhibitors tell us they couldn’t come because they were going racing that weekend,” he added. Black said his team looked at the calendar and found a high-performance Poker Run had been scheduled for Sarasota March 31-April 2. “These are exactly the people we’re looking for…both the participants and the people who come to look at these boats. We jumped on the dates and the 95,000 square foot Sarasota/Bradenton Convention Center was able to switch months for us,” he said. “We queried our exhibitors about the date change and they approved the new dates.” The show’s managers are continuing the idea of giving any boat manufacturer that makes military, police or fire boats free space out in front of the Convention Center. A ceremony honoring the military, police or Homeland Security officers who operate these high speed craft is planned for April 1. In addition, exhibitors have the opportunity to put “demonstration” boats in the water at a downtown Sarasota marina where prospective buyers can experience the boat’s potential. The new high-performance fishing boats that will be on display mostly carry outboard engines and some of them sport triple 300 horsepower rigs for a total of 900 hp. Buyers of high-performance speedboats and fishing machines spend a lot of money not only on their boats and engines, but on campaigning them. Poker Runs for the speedboats and the fishing tournament circuit for the big-powered fishboats are usually the norm. “There probably won’t be a boat in the Expo under $150,000 and most of them will top $250,000,” Black says. “Speed is a niche market, is our mantra,” he maintains, “and it’s a rich niche.” |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 January 2006 ) |
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