Outdoors

Boats, expanded coverage on horizon

By Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor
Published March 7, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Times are tough for the boating industry. The number of powerboats, including outboards, stern drives and inboards shipped by manufacturers dropped 14 percent last year.

Industry insiders predict 2008 will be challenging for retailers as well. Some blame fuel prices. Others, point to a depressed housing market.

Despite the grim economic news, Florida's boating numbers remain strong. The Sunshine State led the nation again in 2006 with 988,652 registered boats, bucking the national downward trend by rising 1.5 percent over the previous year.

At last month's Miami Boat Show, the largest event of its kind in the world, boat sellers were glum, but buyers appeared tickled with all the bargains.

Dealers, hawking everything from fishing boats to cabin cruisers, were ready to bargain. If you are in the market for a boat, new or used, there is no shortage of great deals. In fact, this could be the best time in more than a decade to buy a boat.

But before you buy a boat, shop around. Make a list of the options you are looking for, then visit as many dealers as possible. Better yet, swing by the Tampa Bay Boat Sale later this month at Tropicana Field and find them all in one place.

Scheduled for March 14-16 and sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times, the Tampa Bay Boat Sale will also feature the Gulf & Bay Fishing School and seminars by our Captain's Corner correspondents and other special guests. Admission is $2. For information, go to www.tampabayboatsale.com.

More sailing news

The Tampa Bay area has an international reputation as one of the top sailing destinations in the world. We have produced our share of world champions, including America's Cup champion Ed Baird and Olympic gold medalist Allison Jolly.

A new crop of world-class competitors, including Beijing-bound sailors Ben Barger and Zach Railey are poised to continue the tradition.

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club's youth sailing team routinely produces some of the best collegiate sailors in the nation. The yacht club's joint partnership with the City of St. Petersburg has helped make the St. Petersburg Sailing Center a model for other programs around the country.

When it comes to collegiate sailing, Tampa Bay has two of the best teams in the sport. USF-St. Petersburg and Eckerd College have both produced numerous All-Americans.

And fleet racers - be they in Melges 24s or Sonars - flock to Tampa Bay each year for the annual NOOD National Offshore One Design Regatta. So do the Lasers, Thistles, Lightnings and Flying Scots. The list goes on.

So to better serve both veteran and novice sailors alike, we are adding a feature called Sailor's Corner to Gulf & Bay. Send us your news, and we'll share it with our readers.

New times, new look

There is great discussion in the tight-knit world of outdoor writers about the future of our craft. Across the country, newspapers are cutting back on outdoor coverage, and in some cases, even stopping it all together.

At the St. Petersburg Times, we are moving in another direction. We continue to increase the amount of space dedicated to the great outdoors.

When I moved to Sports in 1990, most outdoors editors produced "hook and bullet" sections for the fishing and hunting enthusiasts. We, however, took another route, covering everything from scuba diving to sea kayaking.

Outdoor sports continue to evolve. In 2007, "wildlife watching" was considered the fastest growing outdoors sport. People are more active than ever before, doing everything from Nordic walking to adventure racing.

With this in mind, we will soon expand our coverage to include fitness sports such as running, cycling and swimming here on the pages of Gulf & Bay. Look for a regular column called "Swim, Bike, Run" here and in the local sections of the newspaper.

Terry Tomalin can be reached at (727) 893-8808.

[Last modified March 6, 2008, 18:26:16]