Anchors aweigh, sailors: boat show makes watercraft owners think spring.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: Alaska This Month

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For the past 27 years, the annual Anchors Aweigh Boat Show has stirred the hearts of Alaska boating enthusiasts during the lull of deep winter, and this winter the show will run Jan. 27-30 at the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center and the Northway Mall in Anchorage. Up to 6,000 people attend the boat show annually, with vendors coming from Fairbanks and the Kenai Peninsula, as well as Anchorage.

Visitors can troop through dozens of boats perched indoors at the Dena'ina Center and the mall. The centerpiece of this year's show will be a new sailboat displayed at the convention center by Sailing Inc. of Seward. The boat show has not featured a sailboat for several years.

"It's kind of a kickoff to beat the winter doldrums by thinking about spring," said Tom Anderson, executive director of the Alaska Marine Dealers Association. Anderson's job includes promoting and coordinating the annual boat show.

Each boat show features seminars, and this year's agenda includes safety classes from the U.S. Coast Guard and repair clinics for inflatable vessels, among others. A cedar-strip canoe maker will be a guest speaker, and representatives from the Wasilla-based Alaska Transportation Museum will display vintage marine engines, some dating back to the 1920s, Anderson said.

INCREASING WINTER SALES

The annual event provides marine dealers with an economic boost from winter sales at the show, and dealers are willing to offer discounts for orders at the show because they don't have to keep the vessel in stock, he noted. Boat-show vendors generate interest in products, and attendees can order customized vessels at a typically lower rate than they can get during summer, Anderson said.

"It's a real win-win for the customer and the dealer," he said.

The Northway Mall venue offers new boats from previous years, for "real bargains," Anderson added.

Marine dealers have seen a jump in boat-show sales of larger ocean-going vessels in the...