First ever boat show opens this weekend

Those Belizeans who live away from the coast may not have noticed, but ever since cruise ships began arriving in large numbers, the business of building and outfitting local boats has taken off. Where once craftsmen labour months to turn out a single sixteen foot wooden fisherman’s skiff, today companies employing scores of workers turn out high quality fibreglass vessels that can carry over a hundred cruise visitors between their ship and the shore. This weekend all the advances in the marine transport industry will be on display at the nation’s inaugural boat show. It’s a fund raising event organised by the Rotary Club, and according to its fundraising chairman, Francis Woods, the event is a must for anyone attracted to the water.

Francis Woods, Fundraising Chairman, Rotary
?We?ll have outboard suppliers here; we?ll have inboard/outboard diesel engines, the marine ones that fit into the new boats that they are building now. We have boat manufacturers; we?ll have jet ski dealers, sailboat dealers and other marine related equipment like portable generators, safety equipment, fire extinguishers, that kind of stuff.?

Stewart Krohn
?For people who want to bring their families and see this as something of a social event, what will there be for those people on the weekend??

Francis Woods
?Well certainly, the show will be interesting. There?s be lots of fun sporting equipment like jet skis, smaller four by four motorcycles, we?ll have a jet ski race on Saturday something after midday, then a boat race on Sunday some time after midday. So those two events will be very fun to watch.?

The boat show will be held at the Cucumber Beach Marina next to Old Belize on the Western Highway from nine to five on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is four dollars for adults, children under twelve enter free. Proceeds from the event go toward Rotary’s Gift of Life Programme, which enables Belizean children to receive advanced lifesaving medical care abroad.