EDITORIAL By Kevin Falvey10 | BOATINGMAG.COM | APRIL 2018
I
just returned from the Miami International Boat Show, where I underwent an
epiphany.
My position at this magazine affords me both a backstage pass to the latest boat and
marine-engine projects in development as well as a front-row seat once those projects
hit the water. For a boat nut and motorhead, it’s a dream job, but one that comes with some
not-so-expected consequences.
One of these consequences, apparently, is that the future can creep up on me while I
watch it coming. Call it not seeing the fleet for the vessels, but boats now
display a level of technical sophistication, design and build refinement,
and systems integration that I did not envision even five years ago. In the
same way that solar panels on residential roofs overnight (seemingly)
went from notable because of their scarcity to ubiquitous and hardly worth
mentioning, recreational boats went and got sophisticated in every aspect
by which one might assess them.
I mean, one can certainly still find boats where seams and screws
show prominently, and aboard which the gauges remain dials instead
of touchscreens. Boaters can still choose to take shade under hardtops
supported by bare or anodized pipework rather than composite supports
and take respite from the wind behind windshields lacking the optical
clarity to be of use during nighttime navigation. Plain fiberglass countertops, monkey-fur
cabin overheads and incandescent light fixtures still exist. One can forego seating and
upholstery comprised of an eye-catching variety of materials and pleasing textures and
colors for squishy foam covered in piped white vinyl. All these things can be found, but they
no longer represent the norm.
You won’t find an internal-combustion marine power plant that isn’t quiet, emits smoke
and vibrations in offensive quantities, and requires technique and special knowledge
to start reliably. Nor will you find electric marine motors that serve merely as proofs
of concept. You can purchase viable electric marine power. These boat-propulsion
characteristics now represent the norm.
In fact, the new generation of boats represent a quantum change in user-friendliness,
reliability and style. If you haven’t been to a boat show to see where state-of-the-art
currently resides, I suggest you do so soon. You owe it to yourself as a boat nut to see what
there is to see, lest, like me, routine hides the future from view till it arrives.
Enjoy the issue.Kevin Falvey, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]MOMENT
OF INSIGHT
See the new boatsPlain fiberglass
countertops,
monkey-fur cabin
overheads and in-
candescent light
fixtures still exist.
SPRING IS
HERE!
Pitchers and
catchers reporting
coincides with many
boaters stirring from
winter’s torpor. See
Pete McDonald’s
interview with
star pitcher and
crazy-avid boater
and angler
Jacob deGrom
of the New York
Mets on page 13.