2014 Miami International Boat Show: Day 1

Hunter 18 blue hull and two tone deck

The 2014 Miami International Boat Show is here! and what a show it is shaping to be. There is an air of excitement in the air and everyone we have talked to has the feeling that this show will be unlike any shows that we have seen in the past.  Certainly it was a pleasure to see the folks we knew from prior shows but it was also nice to meet new people and to talk to them about their products and services.

The first day of the show, the price of the ticket is higher.  Yesterday it was $35.00 to get in.  The reason behind this is to allow the industry professionals to network with each other and also allow the serious buyers to have a better look at the boats and access to the sales force.  Yesterday Tiki Water Sports was pleased to meet Roberto from Guatemala who had an interest in the 2014 Catalina 14.2 Expo.  This boat is simple to set up and simple to sail and is great for the person who is just starting to learn how to sail.  After crunching the numbers with him, we were able to offer him this boat at at boat show special of $8,865.00 plus a reasonable shipping cost to Guatemala.  We at Tiki Water Sports have extensive experience at selling our high quality products and shipping them all over the world because people around the world recognize the high quality of American made and American crafted sailing products.

We got to see our great friend Mr. Rich Hutchins from Com-Pac Yachts who was their with us presenting the line of quality Com-Pac boats that are out there.  Not only did we have the usual boats out there like the popular Picnic Cat and Sunday Cat but, Mr. Hutchins brought with him a boat which promises to turn lots of heads at the show and certainly attracted a lot of attention yesterday on the first day of the show.  Tiki Water Sports in conjunction with Com-Pac Yachts is proud to present the Horizon  Day Cat.  Like its older sibling this boat is big, 20 feet and has a wide beam but it built for people who are not interested in a weekend overnight boat and just want a big day sailor.  It has a nice cuddy cabin to store things and a large open cockpit to accomodate alot of family and freinds.  We had a chance to chat with Rich and he has told us, I I think we can agree with him that he has designed and built boats for every different age group out there and that it is not just limited to one particular type of individual.

This year as always we had the Hunter 22 at the strictly sail venue and on its trailer and as always there were some people that were impressed by its design, particularly the open transom concept which we think is a neat feature in the small Hunter sail boats.  People can't seem to understand how it works and how water doesn't get into the cockpit but if you look closely at the design, the boat is bult so that the stern is lighter and while under sail lifts out of the water, hence the excellent performance features of the Hunter design.  We had a chance to speak to Greg Emerson, Sales Manage for Marlow Hunter who showed us the Hunter 337 and the Hunter 40, not something that is generally in our product line but we do have a large network of Hunter dealers that we work with that han help our customers get into these larger boats.  Marlow-Hunter is doing a lot of amazing things with the design of their sailboats and we are expecting them to have more spectacular things in the years to come.  We received a lot of positive response to the Hunter 18 which was at the Sea Isle venue, especially the blue colored hull and the two toned deck.  It gave a real classic look to the boat and added an attractive feature to its already enhanced performance.  Additionally, the Hunter 15 was there as well which is a very popular boat for people who are just learning how to sail.

It was our pleasure to meet Mr. David Marlow, the owner of Marlow Hunter who had a lot of good things to say about Tiki's sales presentation and style.  We hope that it is a good sign of things to come and that this will bode well for an excellent boat show.  

We will as always keep you informed of everything that is going on this weekend and the great hot deals that you can expect from Tiki Water Sports.  Again if you are serious about buying a boat and wish to find out how you can get discounted tickets to the boat show, please call 786-897-8600.  Thank you once again for making Tiki Water Sports the best provider of marine products and services in the Florida Keys and South Florida since 1963 and we look forward to continuing our great service well into the future.