PHOTOS/LUCY REED
Wilma gives boat show black eye
! a r t ! x a e r t x e By Lucy Chabot Reed
Whether tossed against trees or each other, boats across South Florida suffered damage. Several sank. TOP PHOTO/STEPHEN REED, LEFT PHOTO/CAPT. RAY GRENIER
The 46th annual Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show opens Nov. 3, one week later and one day shorter than originally planned, thanks to the strongest storm to hit Ft. Lauderdale in more than 50 years. But Hurricane Wilma’s hardest punch may yet strike as Ft. Lauderdale struggles to heal from what many perceive as a black eye on the industry. “I can’t fathom how they’re going to get a couple hundred thousand people down there to buy boats,” said Rick Thomas, sales and operations vice president for Nautical Structures of Tampa Bay. “Shame on them for doing it. It’s pure, lustful greed.” Nautical Structures was planning to introduce three items at the show this year and could ink a $600,000 deal at the show, Thomas said.
“Nobody wanted this show more than I did,” he said. “I’m not blind to the reasons to put on the show. I just think it’s ill-timed and ill-advised.” Show Management, producers of the show, met with leaders of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (which owns the show) and city officials several times before and after the storm to decide how to proceed. About 36 hours after the storm, they announced the show was on. “We had no choice,” said Frank Herhold, executive director of the MIASF. “We only had two options: no show or push it off 10 days.” Key sites for the show, including Bahia Mar Yachting Center and the Broward County Convention Center, were not available for a later fall date, Herhold said. And pushing the show
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Hurricane Wilma’s 100 mph winds tossed temporary floating docks and tents at Bahia Mar, seen below and inset left two hours after the storm.