The Fort Lauderdale International Boat show draws crowds amid economic anxiety [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Howard Parker, 56, was looking for an upgrade.

“I have a boat,” the Jacksonville-based fisherman explained. “I want a bigger one.”

He had come to the right place: the 63rd Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the largest in-water boat show in the world, which reached a peak Saturday at its six different venues, including the Broward County Convention Center and the Bahia Mar Yachting Center.

A devastating hurricane, uncertain economy, and global political upheaval did not deter the crowds from flocking to downtown Fort Lauderdale for the penultimate day of the affair, from the ultra wealthy touring multi-million dollar yachts to mobile home dwellers looking for their first dinghy.

At the docks, attendees slipped off their shoes and boarded an endless series of glossy vessels, cocktails in hand. And in giant white tents, they moved quickly past display after display of products for every kind of boating need imaginable, from yacht security systems to boat-specific plates cocktail platters.

But with rising economic challenges confronting both boat sellers and boat lovers, some say the show didn’t reach the same level of excitement as last year. Many see the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show as a kind of boat sales weather vane, indicating how the rest of the year will fare.

Parker traveled down to the boat show from Jacksonville to find a fishing boat that will suit both him and his wife, who also fishes.

“We came because it’s the biggest,” he said. “All the boats are here.”

This year, The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show hosted an estimated 800 vendors and debuted 30 new vessels. The show is a huge driver of wealth on a local and state level. A recent study suggested that the 2021 show pumped $1.79 billion into Florida’s economy, with $24.5 million in sales taxes going to Broward County alone.

Industry experts said they expected sales to hold up this year, despite inflation and the war in Ukraine. Has the boat show met those expectations?

The numbers aren’t in yet, but so far, some of the boat dealers said that this year’s show felt a bit tempered compared to recent years, when many newcomers developed an interest in boating and the outdoors during the pandemic.

“The past couple years were booming,” said Alvaro Lobos, 30, a salesperson for Bob Hewes Boats, one of the oldest boat dealerships in Miami. “It seems like this year is a return to normalcy.”

Fuel is expensive and interest rights are high, Lobos said, adding, “People are hesitant to pull the trigger on buying a boat.”

The demand for boats, many said, is at an all-time high. The question is whether the supply can meet it.

“The boats are getting bigger,” said Chad Armstrong, 43, a boat dealer for World Cat. “That’s what our customers want.”

One thing everyone could agree on is that there simply isn’t a lot of product due to rising costs and labor shortages.

“Inflation on everything is out of control,” said Raymond Klappert, 38, another salesperson at Bob Hewes Boats. “From nuts and bolts and screws to fiberglass. It’s double the price now to build a boat than it was pre-pandemic.”

The effects of inflation and a possible looming recession weren’t necessarily weighing equally on Saturday’s attendees.

“It’s going to affect the low-, middle-income type boat owners,” said Rick Gibbs, who owns Lauderdale Marine Underwriters, a Fort Lauderdale-based boat insurance company. He said he saw many people buy their first boat during the pandemic. Now, they’re starting to sell them.

Boat insurance rates are high, and Hurricane Ian made it worse, Gibbs said. Marine insurance is the most expensive in South Florida in all of the U.S.

Hints of the recent hurricane which devastated Florida’s southwest coast and killed over 100 people, appeared at the show. The proceeds from a “yacht fashion show” Saturday evening will go towards restoration efforts. Some businesses had put out donation jars; Bradford Marine gave out tote bags in exchange for donations, and pledged to match those donations. One boat lifting company displayed brochures with testimonials from residents whose boats survived Hurricane Ian.

Some came to the show to replace what they had lost. Julian McCarthy, who works in the boat loans business, said he’d seen a few different people whose boats were destroyed come looking for loans.

Many preferred to window gaze and mingle with others who share their passion than to buy anything.

“I come to look at everything I can’t afford,” said Wendy Awes, 66, a boat owner and Dania Beach resident who works in the contracts and compliance office for Fort Lauderdale International Airport. “They’re just really expensive. It’s a rich man’s sport.”

On the shuttle heading from the convention center to the docks, one woman pointed out the church where she got married.

“We haven’t seen each other since the bachelor party, right?” one man said as he greeted a friend on the docks.

The show offered plenty of entertainment to those who didn’t want to make a purchase. In the center of the convention center, Carly Marchigiano, 21, paddle boarded effortlessly across a giant inflatable swimming pool, fully clothed. Her job for the past four days has been to demonstrate a wide array of water-based contraptions for Nautical Ventures, a boat dealer based in Fort Lauderdale.

“I just do that all day,” Marchigiano, a senior at FIU, said.

Other displays included an amphibious vehicle that drives straight into the water, and a table full of tridents and spears that Manny Puig, 68, crafts himself and once used to hunt tilapia and boar before he realized he needed both his hands in order to make drawings and weapons.

Outside the convention center, a singer named Mango performed a live reggae-style rendition of “Billionaire” by Bruno Mars.

“I wanna be a billionaire,” he sang. Then he added his own lyric: “I wanna buy a 40-foot yacht.”