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The Austin Boat Show came to Austin's Convention Center again this year on
January 11-15, 2001. I attended the show on Sunday, January 14.
The bad news is that the Beneteau was the only sailboat on display at the show this year. Unless they were hiding in a place I couldn't find, the Sailboat Shop (dealer for Catalina, Laser, Sunfish, and Hobie, among others) was absent. And, what about the Hunter line carried by Sail & Ski in the past? Well, I was told by the salesman in the Sail & Ski booth that they do, in fact, still sell Hunters. If you are interested in purchasing a Hunter, they'd still be happy to work with you. I met a gentleman at the show a bit later that told me Sail & Ski had sold only two Hunters in the last year. Is that a result of or the cause of no advertising on their part? Even their website fails to mention they are a Hunter dealer. The Corpus Christi Sailing Center and Texas Sailing Academy, both of which are sailing schools, were in attendance again this year. Boater's World and West Marine also had small booths. Unless you are excited about fishing, skiing or consuming vast quantities of gasoline in a large powerboat, this year's Austin Boat Show was a disappointment. [Final Note: If you think all those large powerboats being sold are outfitted with diesels, you are mistaken. Every large cabin cruiser represented at the show is sold with gasoline engines . . . diesels are an option. All the dealers agreed that diesel is not readily available on Travis and the fuel that is available has serious water problems.. So, don't expect diesel to be easier to find because of increased demand.] [MTM - 01/15/01]
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© 1998-2003 by
Mark T. Melchior -- All Rights Reserved - Revised:
20 Dec 2007 16:28:43 -0500
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I
was pleasantly surprised to see a Beneteau 311 on display by the Texas
Sailing Academy. The nice folks at their booth told me they are
now and have been a dealer for Beneteau. It is so good to see a larger
sailboat at the show!