Seahawks' success hurt boat sales

While Islands Marine Center's Ron Meng rooted for the Seahawks last Sunday, the local football team's playoff run may have cost him some sales. That's because it shortened the length of the Seattle Boat Show which, Meng said, has accounted in past years for 30 to 40 percent of his company's annul sales.

The event, the biggest boat show in the Pacific Northwest, had been originally scheduled to run Jan. 13-22, or 10 days, including two weekends. It took place in the Qwest Field Event Center, which is alongside Qwest Field, home of the Seahawks.

But when the Seahawks earned home field advantage during the playoffs, with their first game on Saturday, Jan. 14, the dates of the Boat Show had to be changed, and shortened to Jan. 6 - 13, meaning it would contain just one weekend. This was a big blow to boat dealers, because weekends are typically the busiest days of the show.

The changes hurt both buyers and sellers. A group of prospective boat buyers from Anachorage, Alaska flew down to Seattle the night of Friday, Jan. 13 in anticipation of being able to check out the more than a thousand boats at the show. But they never even got to see any of them, because that night the dealers had to take down their booths and remove the boats. Meng, who has been selling boats at the Seattle Boat Show for the past 31 years, noted that in past years his company was given several days to take down the booth. This year they got a few hours.

Not surprisingly, Islands Marine Center's sales were down from past years. But sales manager Brian Kratz expressed optimism while waving about 50 sheets of paper in the air, each containing the name of someone who expressed interest in buying a boat at the show. "There were a lot of serious buyers," Krantz said, adding that there is reason to feel that 2006 will still be a good year for the boating industry.

IMC is now in the process of contacting these prospects, and Meng and his staff will make regular trips to the Seattle area over the next few months, where they'll conduct demonstrations of their boats on the water.

IMC is banking on its boat, the Ocean Sport, to win over buyers. Meng contends that it's the most environmentally friendly, and that it has the best fuel economy.

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