Palm Beach International Boat Show
offers boats, yachts and accessories,
along with seminars for kids and adults
Last year’s Palm Beach International Boat Show displayed hundreds of boats
moored at temporary floating docks and sitting on trailers along Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.
Photos provided
This year’s boat show will have a pool for public tests of paddleboards and kayaks, as well as demonstrations of water toys such as water bikes, hovercrafts, power surfboards and underwater scooters.
By Willie Howard
Boat lovers will be able to see more than $1.2 billion worth of yachts, boats and accessories during the 31st annual Palm Beach International Boat Show, set for March 17-20 in downtown West Palm Beach.
The floating stock at this year’s boat show will range from superyachts over 250 feet long to trailerable center consoles, shallow-running flat boats, sportfishers, comfortable long-distance trawlers, yacht tenders and kayaks.
Smaller than the mammoth Fort Lauderdale boat show held in the fall, the Palm Beach County show has built a reputation as a venue that’s easy to navigate, with boats in the water and on land concentrated along Flagler Drive.
“The show’s ease of access and walkability, along with some great local attractions, make this a highly desirable, yacht-shopping destination,” said Andrew Doole, vice president of Show Management, the company that produces the boat show.
The show is expanding this year to include slips for big yachts at Palm Harbor Marina — along Flagler Drive near the northern show entrance on North Clematis Street. Organizers also added valet parking at this entrance.
Even if you’re not shopping for a boat, there are plenty of fishing, diving and boating accessories to see at the show, along with educational seminars for adults and children.
Special events at this year’s boat show include:
• Hook the Future kids fishing clinics, free with show admission, will be presented by Capt. Don Dingman, host of the Hook the Future television show. Instruction includes casting, fish fighting, tackle selection and fishing ethics. The kids fishing clinics will be offered at noon and 2 p.m. March 19-20 only. The first 50 participants will receive a free rod/reel combination and a T-shirt.
• CruiserPort, a display of cruisers and trawlers ranging from 35 to 90 feet along with seminars for boaters interested in the long-distance cruising lifestyle.
• Adult fishing seminars presented by the IGFA School of Sportfishing. South Florida fishing captains and professional anglers will deliver 14 seminars on a variety of topics at the Meyer Amphitheatre. Fishing seminars begin at 12:30 p.m. on the first two days of the boat show and at 11 a.m. on the final two days.
• AquaZone is a 40,000-gallon, freshwater pool operated by Nautical Ventures where the public can try out kayaks and paddleboards. Nautical Ventures also will use the pool to demonstrate hovercrafts, power surfboards, jetpack flyboards, water bikes and underwater scooters.
Boat show hours are noon to 7 p.m. March 17; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 18-19; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 20.
Show entrances are on Flagler Drive at Evernia Street and North Clematis Street.
Parking is available near the show in downtown West Palm Beach. Follow boat show signs from Okeechobee Boulevard to municipal parking lots within walking distance of the show entrances.
Attendees who arrive by boat can dock for free at the come-by-boat docks, located at the south end of the in-water display boats.
Adult admission is $21 at the show or $19 online. Tickets for youths 6-15 are $11 at the show or $9 online. Children younger than 6 will be admitted free.
For more details, visit www.showmanagement.com or call 800-940-7642.
Club plans catch-and-snap fishing tournament
The Boynton Beach Fishing Club is planning a phone-based fishing tournament April 8-9 that allows anglers to photograph and release their fish.
Snook, tarpon, kingfish, dolphinfish (mahi mahi), cobia, grouper, blackfin tuna and sailfish are eligible in the tournament.
Anglers can keep legal fish or release them. Prizes will be awarded in several categories.
The club is hosting the tournament with the Snook & Gamefish Foundation. To participate, anglers must pay the $25 entry fee and download the free “iTournament” phone app, available for Android and Apple phones. (Find it in the app store or go to www.ianglertournament.com.)
Tournament anglers will photograph their fish against a ruler to show size and report their catches using the iTournament app. Raffle points will be awarded for each fish logged.
Tournament rules are posted on the fishing club’s website, www.bifc.org.
For details, call Ken Sorensen of the fishing club, at 703-5638; or Brett Fitzgerald of the Snook & Gamefish Foundation, at 707-8923.
Coming events
March 12: Volunteers wanted for beach cleanup, 8 to 10:30 a.m., Ocean Inlet Park. Organized by Sea2Shore Alliance (www.sea2shore.org/h20).
March 12: Bass fishing tournament for kids, Smythe Pavilion, John Prince Park, 2700 Sixth Ave. S., Lake Worth. Fish from the bank with artificial lures. Bass will be released alive. Register online at www.bassfishingkids.com, or call 954-306-3441.
March 19: Basic boating safety class offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary in Boca Raton. Class is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd. $35. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
March 22: Social meeting of Boynton Beach Fishing Club, 7:30 p.m. in clubhouse building next to boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2210 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Bring in reels to replace old line. Call 703-5638 or visit www.bifc.org.
March 23: “Baits, Rigs and Tackle,” a presentation on essential fishing methods by Capt. Rick Ryals, 7 p.m., West Palm Beach Fishing Club, 201 Fifth St., West Palm Beach. Capt. Eden White will lead a “Rigging It Right” workshop at 6 p.m. before Ryals’ presentation. Free. Call 832-6780.
March 26: Basic boating safety class offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. in the meeting room at Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, Boynton Beach. $40. Call Sandy Meridy at 734-2244.
The Delray Beach Historical Society is looking for local fishing photos for its upcoming fishing history exhibit.
Here, Jimmy Johnson poses with a 377-pound shark caught in the surf at Delray Beach in 1955.
Photo provided by Delray Beach Historical Society
Photos, memorabilia needed for exhibit
The Delray Beach Historical Society’s fishing history exhibit, “Fish Tales!”, is tentatively scheduled to open April 30 and will run through September.
“This exhibit is going to be really neat,” said Winnie Edwards, executive director of the historical society. “We’re going all the way back to the early 1800s. It’s a real community celebration of our heritage.”
Edwards said the historical society is looking for South Florida fishing stories, newspaper clippings and fishing photos (especially vintage fishing photos from the Delray Beach area).
The historical society also hopes to borrow mounts of locally caught trophy fish, rods, reels and fishing memorabilia for display in the exhibit.
Anyone with information, photos or a possible display item for the fishing history exhibit should contact Edwards or Janet DeVries at 274-9578 or email: Info@Delraybeachhistory.org.
Cliff Albertson of Briny Breezes shows off a 47-pound, 58-inch bull dolphin he caught in 200 feet of water
while fishing off the Boynton Inlet on Feb. 12. Albertson was trolling ballyhoo when he landed the fish after a 50-minute fight.
Photo provided
Tip of the month
If you enjoy boating or simply live near the water, you should have the Wildlife Alert Hotline number saved in your cellphone.
It’s 888-404-3922.
The hotline is the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s contact number for violations of fishing, wildlife and boating laws.
See someone operating a boat after drinking too much? Notice someone stealing sea turtle eggs or disturbing sea turtles? Find a sick or injured manatee? Call the Wildlife Alert Hotline.
The hotline is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tipsters can remain anonymous and could be eligible for rewards up to $1,000. Those who choose to remain anonymous will be given a confidential code number.
Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.
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