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Highlights of the Miami Boat Show —Strictly Sail MiamiBy Roy LaughlinThe retail market has beenthe pits for many a boatbuilderand marine equipment retailerduring the past year. The MiamiBoat Show was a welcomebreak from the general economicmalaise. It was the usualblend of the established withintroduction of new boats andproducts for boaters. Thefollowing are a few notes fromthe Strictly Sail show at Bayside.The rudders on the Seaward 26 and 32 movevertically for better shallow water conditions.BoatsThe Seaward 26 and 32, two newmonohulls at the show, haveretractable center boards and ruddersthat make them ideal forFlorida’s shallow coastal waters. Therudder moves vertically in a cassette.Unlike swinging rudders, thisone will always give steering control.Besides shallow water functionality,these monohulls have a pleasingappearance.Major monohull builders broughtnew under-40-foot models to theshow. These included the Beneteau37, the Catalina 37.5, and SunOdyssey 36i. This adoption of modestlength suggests that a significantcomponent of the monohulls marketconsists of regional cruisers. Thenext few boat shows will revealwhether multihull builders shouldtake notice of this size trend in theAmerican market.The Jeanneau 45 DS had to be on the list of sailorslooking for a blue water cruiser at this show. Its uncluttered,level deck, chic interior styling, and burgundy redgelcoat made it attractive. With a base price of $250,000,thoughts of ownership could start a normal persondreaming instead of scheming.Multihull builders presented new boats, too. TheSeawinds 1000XL is an update of the highly successfulSeawind 1000, with the addition of a few extra feet in theform of sugar scoops. This catamaran now has a self-tackingjib, forward-opening windows and a few other newamenities. It is still, however, a fundamentally simple, andeasily maintained catamaran for coastal cruising.The South African Tribe catamaran is another exampleof a smaller, simpler day sailer or coastal cruising catamaranthat was at the show.The Royal Cape catamaran is a new blue water cruisingcat from South Africa. The comments from several boatshow attendees were highly positive.Weka, a New Zealand-based builder, showed its new16-foot racing trimaran. Notably, the hull is shaped like asmall dinghy. The sailor sits in it rather than on it as is thecase with a catamaran of similar length. Everything aboutthe sailing rig is high tech. And the base price is just$10,000. For those who want performance sailing, and asmall multihull, this may be the boat for you.Boat StuffIstec Sailing Technologies was talking up its Parasailorspinnaker. This is a combination of a spinnaker with a44 April 2008 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com