Miami Boat Show.....used to be

[CYQK]

Well....
Went to the Miami Boat Show this week and here is what i saw

Gone are the days of Strictly Sail and of course the cruisers bash only a couple of sailboats
Vendors with cool boat stuff
The areas by the old Miami Herald building Mariott Hotel
Its just not the same anymore
The Brightline experience is awesome wish they had it back in the day
Went Sunday and there was hardly anyone there told my wife that it was the first time wandering through that i didnt bumped into

Might be my last time....sad

 

[Project_Mayhem]

The Chicago boat show was very similar. They got rid of all the sailboats and virtually all sailboat vendors

 

[jssailem]

I explored the Seattle Boat Show on the first of the month. Met the new Regional Catalina Dealer sitting on a 2024 Catalina 355. He shared optimistic concern about the present challenges for the line.

There were sailboats in the water, including a new Island Packet that looked like a cross between the traditional line and a cabin cruiser with an in-cabin pilot helm controls for power and AP steering. They envision a market among Pacific NW Boaters who want to be out on the water even if the conditions are dreadful.

The show is evidence that Power boats are what they believe boaters desire. Big multiple outboards 450 to 600 hp each, were fastened to the stern of all sizes and designs of boats. Nothing Electric. It is like the locals drive their electric cars, not the muscle cars of the former years, to work, but when it is time to play on the water - VROOOM

The Annapolis Sailboat Show may be one of the last bastions of Sailing shows. I remember the experiences from the October 2018 event.

SBO members gathered for breakfast and lunch that week. Sailing was the focus with lessons, boats, and Pain Killers.


and Varnished bright work on a daysailer.

 

[capta]

She's a pretty girl, but what are the two large self tailing winches for in the cockpit. Really, not so much for what, but how are the sheets run to those winches?
I think I gave up when there were more large corporations unabashedly trying to sell, with girls and glitter a vessel or a product that was more expensive than most who were visiting could ever afford. When booths became too expensive for those little, but great, products that made life so much easier, as professional yacht crew.
I suppose the whole of America was going through similar changes, but I was lucky enough to be limited to a mile or two inland, before I was back out on the deep blue, the color, not the depth, of the water.

 

[jssailem]

I think that the winches are there to serve the main sheet. They are positioned vertically under the near end boom attachment for the main sheets. There are two because the main sheet rigging is a V design with sheeting on both port and starboard sides.

 

[Foswick]

I can take or leave boat shows, in general. They represent what people want to sell, not what people want to buy. Ideally those would be in alignment, but they are frequently not.

I think a problem with the sailboat market is that sailors have, as a group, self-sabotaged. The shift toward prioritizing spacious layouts, modern conveniences, etc. has shrunken the differentiation with powerboats. With that shift comes a growing awareness that these goals can be more easily accomplished on a powerboat.

There are still plenty of sailboat manufacturers and the sailboat market continues to grow, despite the intuition that it is shrinking. But, the powerboat market is growing faster - making sailboats increasingly niche in the marketplace.

So, I think that sailboat manufacturers just aren't seeing much benefit in attending boat shows that are dominated by powerboaters or wannabe powerboaters. It is just the wrong crowd. When faced with dreamers who have never owned a boat before, they aren't convincing many people to take the sailboat option, when they are side-by-side with roomier and more comfortable powerboats.

I think many regions that support a boat show could also support a sailboat-specific show. But, unfortunately, not many cities try.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

While speculation over how boat shows have changed, ask yourself how many of us have bought their boat at a boat show.

Obviously, some view boat shows as a car dealership to compare models but, other than “kicking the tires”, shows don’t generally generate sales of sail boats.

 

[jssailem]

The trouble with never is the outlier that does. I was not looking for a new boat.

The Beneteau Dealer told us he sold one of the new First 30's to a guy in a wheelchair on the opening day. He had been looking for a boat that could be configured for his needs. The Dealer said we can do that. The deal was done.

The boat was brand new. Arrived two days before the show. They cleaned it up and delivered it to the show without the keel. Very convenient.

On the water, there were a variety of boats displayed. 65/35 power to sail.

 

[Stu Jackson]

There used to be sailboats at boat shows, but that trend has changed over the past decade.

The difference between sailboats and powerboats remains:

Do you prioritize the Journey or the Destination?

On another forum, I did some research on Catalina Yachts. It was near the turn of the century that CY started making large boats, beyond their ubiquitous 22 to 36 footers (save the way early C38 Sparkman & Stephens design), when they introduced the C42 (a very successful design) and the huge C470. That was followed by the not-so-successful ) series of C320 and C350, which were very different designs, and the later C375, C380 and C387. The 5 series were just improved C30 and C34 models (C315, C355) with identical layouts and stronger hulls.

Interestingly enough, their smaller to mid-30s designs sold the most:

Summary Table (All Sizes)
20-25 45-50,000
26-30 22-26,000
31-36 8-10,000
37-42 4- 4,500
42+ 1 – 1,500

You can read my contributions here:

Catalina shuttered - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Closed due to financial reasons. The end or temporary? https://sailmagazine.com/sail-extras...vZaDUS2NHjjSOg

www.cruisersforum.com

 

[Davidasailor26]

There used to be sailboats at boat shows, but that trend has changed over the past decade.

The difference between sailboats and powerboats remains:

Do you prioritize the Journey or the Destination?

On another forum, I did some research on Catalina Yachts. It was near the turn of the century that CY started making large boats, beyond their ubiquitous 22 to 36 footers (save the way early C38 Sparkman & Stephens design), when they introduced the C42 (a very successful design) and the huge C470. That was followed by the not-so-successful ) series of C320 and C350, which were very different designs, and the later C375, C380 and C387. The 5 series were just improved C30 and C34 models (C315, C355) with identical layouts and stronger hulls.

Interestingly enough, their smaller to mid-30s designs sold the most:

Summary Table (All Sizes)
20-25 45-50,000
26-30 22-26,000
31-36 8-10,000
37-42 4- 4,500
42+ 1 – 1,500

You can read my contributions here:

Catalina shuttered - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Closed due to financial reasons. The end or temporary? https://sailmagazine.com/sail-extras...vZaDUS2NHjjSOg

www.cruisersforum.com

Interesting breakdown. I don’t know if the numbers mean the bigger boats aren’t a success though. For one thing they’ve been sold for a lot less years so it makes sense that less would be sold. But maybe more importantly the profit margin on the bigger boats is probably many times what it is on the smaller ones, so 1,500 42’+ boats could make a company as much as 15,000 22 footers.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Interesting breakdown. I don’t know if the numbers mean the bigger boats aren’t a success though. For one thing they’ve been sold for a lot less years so it makes sense that less would be sold. But maybe more importantly the profit margin on the bigger boats is probably many times what it is on the smaller ones, so 1,500 42’+ boats could make a company as much as 15,000 22 footers.

Good points, although my impressions and conclusions differ. Sure, one would think capitalistically that bigger means more profit. But what actually happened was that those of us who literally grew up sailing started on smaller boats and built up, over the decades, to larger boats. Catalina built sailing families. While it was one of their "mottoes" it was also true. While I publicly admit (see, Don, I went to lots of boat shows but never bought one there! ) I never bought a new Catalina, I bought three: a 1981 C22 in 1983; a 1981 C25 in 1987; our 1986 C34 in 1998.

People who did this eventually realized that going from 22 to 25 doubled the volume and stability, and going 25 to 30 made little sense for just a bigger identical layout. But going 25 or 27 into a 34 or 36 was a vast change: pressure hot water, inboard diesel, standing headroom, a true yacht. Going 34 to 42 didn't make sense financially to do the same things in a newer but slightly larger model, although I gotta admit that the C42 would have been "my next boat." But it just couldn't be justified 15 years ago, and I've owned my C34 for 27 1/2 years,

Nowadays we hear posts on this and other boating forums that go like this: "I just bought my first boat. It's a beautiful 40 footer. How do I..............?"

For goodness sake, it would have been safer for those skippers and the rest of us on the water if they'd learned to sail first.

I don't think many of us learned to drive, either stick or automatic, on 18-wheelers.

 

[marcham]

Well....
Went to the Miami Boat Show this week and here is what i saw...
Vendors with cool boat stuff...

That's my favorite part! I can spend 2 days looking at "stuff", speaking to venders and planning out future purchases.

Vancouver boat show was disappointing this year. They had a change of venue (thank you Fifa 2026 World Cup) and the footprint was about 1/5 of the usual.... very few vendors and those that were there didn't bring much. Attendance seemed down.

 

[jssailem]

I can spend 2 days looking at "stuff", speaking to fenders

I do that too, usually on the marina dock. Very zen and soothing.

 

[marcham]

I do that too, usually on the marina dock. Very zen and soothing.

LOL.... I was shopping for fenders 2 minutes before that post !

 

[Rick D]

There isn't much of a market for new sail boats in SoCal. My 1994 Hunter 40.5 is worth (inflation adjusted) 25% of what I paid for it, used five years old. A replacement new today would top $300K. One could do a lot of updating for the difference!

 

[Stu Jackson]

There isn't much of a market for new sail boats in SoCal. My 1994 Hunter 40.5 is worth (inflation adjusted) 25% of what I paid for it, used five years old. A replacement new today would top $300K. One could do a lot of updating for the difference!

Did you mean "...five years AGO...?
I just did a DDG search for new sailboats 2026. Except for two or three 23 footers, all of them were 40+ feet! Of course they're expensive.
As I wrote in my Reply #11, few now are able to "grow up in sailing" from smaller boats because they are not being made anymore. Perhaps the only source for sailboats "in the 'starter' range" for some time to come will be "previously owned." There are a ton of 22 to 36 footers out there.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Did you mean "...five years AGO...?
I just did a DDG search for new sailboats 2026. Except for two or three 23 footers, all of them were 40+ feet! Of course they're expensive.
As I wrote in my Reply #11, few now are able to "grow up in sailing" from smaller boats because they are not being made anymore. Perhaps the only source for sailboats "in the 'starter' range" for some time to come will be "previously owned." There are a ton of 22 to 36 footers out there.

Ironically that was Catalina's bread and butter. They sold more 20-30' than anything else

 

[jssailem]

few now are able to "grow up in sailing" from smaller boats because they are not being made anymore.

Perceptions that learning to sail takes a 22ft or bigger sailboat.

What happened to the 8-foot boat (I remember ElToro's in Alameda Bay), or the 14-20-foot boats, both keel and trailable? They taught the art of sailing. provided

Jerry Montgomery developed the Sage boats. The design was built by Sage Marine in Golden, Colorado, United States, beginning in 2011, and production ceased after being suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.