I visited the AC Powerboat Show with some friends yesterday (the Admiral could not make it due to work committments). Great show, as always! The hall was virtually empty of visitors but being a Thursday that didn't surprise us. Boats, boats and more boats!! Silverton, Carver, Formula, Sea Ray, Cobalt, GW... I actually can't think of any relevant manufacturer that wasn't there. The largest boat in the hall that I saw was a 50' Egg Harbor but we never made it to the Viking display so they may have had a larger boat.
Vendors!! Wow, there seems to be more vendors each year. Found some deals on "stuff" but I won't tempt yanking the tail of the GexTBC by posting details here... you'll just have to look around for yourself[:-magnify]. I was shopping for some new boat shoes but, alas, the only shoes I saw were some gaudy, rubber clog things that no self-respecting RO would get caught it[:-yuck]. Spent some time yacking with Captain Russ Cohen in his Boatboy Marine Training booth. Always good to see Captain Russ and remind him of the dinner he owes us (I know you're reading this Russ!!
) Of course, Vic was absent from the Raritan booth but I did leave my mark there for him when he appears on Saturday.
Highlight was that the couple I went with (dockmates from SJC) signed the papers for a Yamaha Jetski. It was fun watching him bounce between the SeaDoo display to the Yamaha display (which were directly across the isle from each other) trying to resolve the confusion between the features of each make and model. He finally decided on the top of the line Yamaha and made a sweet deal on it.
Afterwards we made our way over to Caesar's and had an excellent dinner at Mia's.
Great day overall and I recommend anyone within drive time make it to the AC show for a little mid-winter boating excitement.
Oh, one more thing! On the way in they gave each of us a ticket for an "hourly door prize drawing". We were told to put one of the numbered tickets in the drawing box and hold on to the other. We never found the box and never once heard any announcements about winning numbers and we were there for over 5 hours!! If anyone else goes and solves this little mystery (scam?) let us know.
Vendors!! Wow, there seems to be more vendors each year. Found some deals on "stuff" but I won't tempt yanking the tail of the GexTBC by posting details here... you'll just have to look around for yourself[:-magnify]. I was shopping for some new boat shoes but, alas, the only shoes I saw were some gaudy, rubber clog things that no self-respecting RO would get caught it[:-yuck]. Spent some time yacking with Captain Russ Cohen in his Boatboy Marine Training booth. Always good to see Captain Russ and remind him of the dinner he owes us (I know you're reading this Russ!!
) Of course, Vic was absent from the Raritan booth but I did leave my mark there for him when he appears on Saturday.Highlight was that the couple I went with (dockmates from SJC) signed the papers for a Yamaha Jetski. It was fun watching him bounce between the SeaDoo display to the Yamaha display (which were directly across the isle from each other) trying to resolve the confusion between the features of each make and model. He finally decided on the top of the line Yamaha and made a sweet deal on it.
Afterwards we made our way over to Caesar's and had an excellent dinner at Mia's.
Great day overall and I recommend anyone within drive time make it to the AC show for a little mid-winter boating excitement.
Oh, one more thing! On the way in they gave each of us a ticket for an "hourly door prize drawing". We were told to put one of the numbered tickets in the drawing box and hold on to the other. We never found the box and never once heard any announcements about winning numbers and we were there for over 5 hours!! If anyone else goes and solves this little mystery (scam?) let us know.