Boating’s Greatest Thingamabob

PHOTO COURTESY DISCOVER BOATING

With the industry’s largest major-market shows having chalked up successes from New York to Cleveland and Detroit to Atlanta, all eyes this week will turn to the opening of the biggest annual show in the Pacific Northwest, the 76th annual Seattle Boat Show, produced by the Northwest Marine Trade Association.

This show, presented by Union Marine and the Port of Seattle, is held at Lumen Field Event Center and nearby Bell Harbor Marina. The show will feature nearly 300 exhibitors displaying more than 800 new boats.

The Seattle show historically has been an industry leader in creating special boating events and attractions that consistently draw in the crowds. Perhaps the most unique attention-grabber yet will be its creation of “Boating’s Greatest Thingamabob.”

Over the nine-day show, two-time Guinness World Record holder Zach Umperovitch, co-host of Discovery Channel’s “Contraption Masters” and the world’s leading authority on chain reaction machines, will invent and construct a Rube Goldberg-inspired machine for boaters. The machine will measure more than 100 feet in length and employ audience participation to help string, couple and join boat parts, fishing rods, reels, crab pots, life jackets and other boating-related items to launch a kooky succession of chain reactions, culminating in the launch of a boat!

A “Women’s Day” event recognizes the ever-increasing participation of women in boating, and includes a full slate of seminars designed specifically for women and presented by women boaters. Moreover, during Women’s Day, all women attend the show free at both locations.

All boaters and anglers will have plenty of other seminars and programs to attend at Boat Show University. This year, 110 hours of seminars are slated, with 25% featuring all-new subjects. In another unique program, boating and fishing seminars attended in person will also be available to view online for three months after the show with the purchase of a special seminar package.

Young sailors and their families won’t be left out. They’ll be invited to stop by the Youth Boating Center to start their boating adventures. Offering an introduction to sailing, STEM and the marine world, the staff at the Youth Boating Center will educate kids and families on the wind and weather, propulsion, local sailing opportunities, knot tying and more through daily hands-on activities.

Still another popular promotion first undertaken at the Seattle show is “Dogs on Deck.” Dogs accompanied by owners can stroll the red carpets, meet and greet with featured dog trainers, get photos in a special photo booth, have a custom dog tag made, and sniff out their favorite boats. One lucky pooch will also be chosen to participate in the launch of the Rube Goldberg thingamabob machine.

Meanwhile, over at the in-water section at Bell Harbor, an “On-Water Rescue Dog Demo Day” is set. It will feature water rescue dogs from the American Academy of Canine Water Rescue, a nonprofit organization that breeds and trains dogs to perform water rescues. The stars will be Oakley and Angel, two dogs who will travel all the way from Newfoundland, Canada, to demonstrate their impressive cold-water rescue skills.

NMTA successfully set up the in-water portion at Bell Harbor for the first time last year. Free show shuttles run continuously between the Lumen Field Events Center and the Bell Harbor Marine. The show opens Friday and runs 9 days, Feb. 3 – 11.