Avast ye, mateys! The 21st annual San Diego Boat Show sails into town today, Jan. 8, and will dock through Jan. 11 at the San Diego Convention Center. Show manager Jeff Hancock declared that the event is for everybody and anybody \u2014 “people who own boats, people who want to own boats and people who just want to look at boats.” And this year, like no other, it\u2019s also for the eco-minded. The show, largest of its kind on the West Coast, features hundreds of vendors and local dealers, showcasing the latest in boats, gear and accessories \u2014 at the best deals \u2014 from kayaks to mega-yachts and everything that goes with them, Hancock said. “Think of the show like a supermarket,” he said. “If you went to all these dealers individually, it would take a month of Sundays to see everything [offered in the show]. It would be impossible.” The show takes place at the convention center and behind it at the Marriott Marina, featuring outdoor events, including free sailboat rides and the Big Bay Kids Area (sponsored by the Port of San Diego). This area features interactive boating safety puppet shows, boat painting and a chance to meet Skipper, the show\u2019s dolphin mascot.\u00a0 Among the new features is the sure-to-be-popular Wakeboard Stunt Show, from Florida. “It\u2019s a spectacular show of professional wakeboarders and wakeskaters doing tricks on an impressive indoor set\u2013up featuring a pool, rails and ramps,” Hancock said, adding that “they perform jumps, flips, nose-presses. And there\u2019s something called the Kicker, a jump that launches riders 20 feet and propelling them up to 40 feet across the pool.” The Green Boating Zone, another first for the show, promises to help water enthusiasts discover eco-friendly boating.\u00a0Featured are the latest eco-friendly boats and engines to hit the market; West Marine\u2019s “Go Green” display, outlining the best eco-friendly practices; and the Green Accessory Center, previewing the newest green boating accessories. Former mega-yacht captain Russ Grandinetti \u2014 in his new role as Knight & Carver Yacht Center\u2019s “eco-detective” \u2014 will hold a seminar titled “Trends Toward Greener Boating.” The seminar will address what\u2019s new in green marine products and highlight the most effective and useful procedures that make the boating experience more environmentally friendly. Knight & Carver, based in National City, invited Grandinetti to shift careers and help form a new division of the company called Eco Solutions, the first green division in the shipyard industry. “I used to bring yachts in there all the time,” Grandinetti said. “When they asked me to come work for them, they asked what I would like to do \u2014 what I was passionate about. “I went to school for marine science and oceanography, but I kind of got away from the research part, and I said that I\u2019d be interested in bringing awareness to people about the environment.” As a captain, Grandinetti was all too familiar with the toxic materials and practices used by boaters. His own concern prompted him to test products and integrate the things that work, slowly changing out toxic products and systems. “Often when you take the toxic ingredients out of products to make them green, a lot of times they don\u2019t work as well,” Grandinetti explained. “So I test them to see how well they work, and if they do, I put them on my recommendation list.” Grandinetti also offers his findings and advice in a regular column for the blueskynews.com, an online newsletter geared toward boating enthusiasts at San Diego County marinas. Admittedly, making major changes to a boat can be quite costly. However, Grandinetti explained that every little bit helps. “Take a look at systems on a yacht: wastewater management, bottom paint, cleaning products, how you dispose of things, exhaust emissions,” he said. “You switch those out \u2014 and there\u2019s plenty of technology to replace these things \u2014 then you\u2019re working in that environment as best you can. It\u2019s a practical approach.” The best and perhaps easiest issue to deal with in a more environmentally friendly manner is wastewater. “This is the most important thing because that can be the most toxic,” Grandinetti emphasized. “If everyone pumped out at the dock, it would not be an issue.” He added that the law currently requires boaters to go out three miles to dump into the ocean; in 2010 that distance will increase to 12 miles out. Grandinetti\u2019s concern is that people will have to go farther and use more fuel \u2014 if they bother to follow the law at all. “To take care of the smells on board, chemicals are used that contain formaldehyde, so you\u2019re not only dumping raw sewage into the ocean, you\u2019re dumping the chemicals,” he said. “If people get tuned in to using different, more eco-friendly chemicals and different systems \u2014 or, better yet, pump out at the dock \u2014 that\u2019s really a great way to start. Another important issue is bottom paint. Copper-free paint is becoming more affordable.” Grandinetti will be available throughout the show at the Green Zone display as well as at the Knight & Carver booth. For more information, check out the boat show Web site, or Eco Solutions, www.knightandcarver.com\/eco solutions. Also premiering at this year\u2019s San Diego show is the new Affordability Pavilion, highlighting pricing options and showcasing boats that can be financed for $250 or less. The Discover Boating Center & Information Seminars resource center features seminars for the experienced boater or the new enthusiast looking to learn more about the sport and lifestyle. Topics include cruising (both local and Mexican waters), sail handling, fishing and navigation.\u00a0 The show takes place at the San Diego Convention Center and Marriott Marina, 111 West Harbor Drive,\u00a0Thursday through Sunday. It\u2019s open Thursday and Friday from noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday from\u00a010 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each night, the marina portion of the show closes at 6 p.m. Adults (ages 16 and above) are admitted for $10; youth (13-15) for $5; and children (12 and under) for free. Tickets can be purchased online at SanDiego BoatShow.com. For more information, visit the Web site or call (858) 274-9924.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Avast ye, mateys! The 21st annual San Diego Boat Show sails into town today, Jan. 8, and will dock through Jan. 11 at the San Diego Convention Center. Show manager Jeff Hancock declared that the event is for everybody and anybody \u2014 “people who own boats, people who want to own boats and people who […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":272375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"San Diego Boat Show drops anchor","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}