Outdoors

<< Previous   of   Next >> Herald file photos  (click to enlarge) Jennifer Ray (left) and Jamie Grenz look at boats at the 2006 Everett Boat Show. (click to enlarge) Ali Jorgenson (left) and Morgan Snodgrass prepare for the championship duck race at the '06 boat show. Morgan's duck won.   ADVERTISEMENT   Everett Boat Show When: Today through Sunday Hours: noon to 8 p.m. today and Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Where: Comcast Arena, Everett Events Center, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett Admission: Tickets are $7 for adults; $3.50 for youth 11 to 17; free for children 10 and under. Advanced tickets online at www.everettboatshow.com. Free parking: At the Snohomish County Parking Garage with the purchase of advance tickets. Information: www.everettboatshow.com Duck race hours: 2:30, 4, 5:30, 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 12:30, 2, 3:30, 5, 6:30 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. and 12:30, 2, 3:30, 5 p.m. Sunday.   Related Stories • Arena becomes a boating wonderland for Everett Boat Show 3/7/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, March 6, 2008 All you need to go boating -- safely By Wayne Kruse Herald Writer If you've been interested in staying current with the Northwest boating lifestyle but didn't feel like bucking downtown metro traffic for the recent Seattle Boat Show, the Northwest Marine Trade Association -- obliging group that it is -- has decided once again to bring much the same event right to your back yard. The Everett Boat Show runs today through Sunday in Comcast Arena at the Everett Events Center, offering an all-in-one-place look at a comprehensive display of affordable family-oriented boats, motors, electronics and other boating equipment. More than 6,000 folks attended the show in 2007, and whether your taste runs to fishing, cruising or skiing, you can't miss finding something in this stable of more than 50 different brands to make your day. Another reason for attending the show: While most of us weren't paying any particular attention, the state Legislature imposed a new law requiring successful completion of an approved boater education course to get the card required to legally operate a pleasure craft. Those 20 and younger are required to comply this year, but older age groups will also be phased in over the next few years. The Everett show will feature a Boater Education Center, staffed by state Parks and Recreation, the Coast Guard and other groups, where you can talk to experts and find out exactly what the new law requires, what constitutes an approved course, what it costs and where they're offered. The law is here, the law is now, and dealing with it is a lot less frustrating if you don't have to do it piecemeal. To draw more folks to the Boater Education Center, as well as to promote general water safety, Allstate Insurance will give away a free life jacket to the first 250 kids to show up each weekend day at the center. Helpers will be on hand to fit each youngster with the jacket of the correct size. For more information on the Boater Education Center or the life jacket giveaway, go to www.everettboatshow.com. The racing mallards of the Great American Duck Race in New Mexico are flying in again this year, a sort of feathered version of the famous Evergreen Fair racing pigs, to delight showgoers of all ages. A few kids will be picked out of the crowd at each heat and paired with a webfoot racer. And, for the fifth straight year, anyone purchasing a new watercraft at the show ($2,500 minimum) will receive a $200 gift card to Boater's World and a family fun pack from the Everett AquaSox. Promotions such as that one, and the fact that you can check out the competition in one place without spending time and money driving around Western Washington, comprise the major reasons that those seriously thinking about buying a boat should attend the Everett event. While attendance has varied widely during the Everett show's five-year run, boat sales at the event have remained relatively strong and steady. Show director George Harris said 91 boats were reported sold at the show in 2007, 97 in 2006, 138 in 2005, and 108 in 2004. Last year's sales averaged about $30,000 each, Harris said. One of the more interesting new items being displayed at this year's boat shows is a line of two-stroke outboards called E-Tec, manufactured by the Canadian firm Bombardier. The back story is that relatively recent tightening of outboard emission standards by the feds meant either substantial re- engineering of two-cycle engines, or abandonment of the field to four-cycles. There's nothing wrong with modern four-stroke outboards, but the nature of the beast -- at least so far -- dictates larger, heavier and more expensive engines than their two-stroke counterparts. Bombardier, with a background in making snowmobiles, among other things, is the first to come out with what it claims are completely redesigned two-stroke engines, which will both satisfy recreationists' demands and meet the emission standards. Others aren't so sure. And even if they do, the fact that four-strokes burn 40 percent less fuel than a standard two-stroke, and don't burn any oil at $20 a gallon for a high-grade marine product, presents an argument with some weight in this time of high -- and getting higher -- gas prices. But the discussion is ongoing, and if you're interested in learning the facts, you can find experts at the show to explain both sides of the issue. Wayne Kruse is The Herald's Outdoor writer. E-mail him at kruse@heraldnet.com.

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