Sitting here in the Marlin booth waiting for our 30^th Anniversary party to start. …. I feel a rum front coming. Unfortunately, our AC unit just crapped the bed, so we might have to endure some heat for the party – no worries; we still have ice.

Saw a bunch of cool stuff at the show today – some of which will wind up in our next issue. Release Marine has a cool combination rocket launcher fighting chair called the Battle Saddle which is sure to be a big hit on smaller boats that don’t have room for a full fighting chair. Murray Brothers is also coming out with neat harness system that everybody is going to want to have – check in out in our December/January issue!

Job’s getting pretty tough today – just spent a couple of hours walking the show and trying to get some good shots of the pretty ladies who flock to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. I hope I can do the scenery justice.

As usual the boats on display here are something to behold. I watched John Bayliss showing off one of his beauties today to a group of potential clients. He wowed them every time he pushed a button! A push here and the drop down screen over the mezzanine pops out, push another button there and the under-gunwale gaff storage door slides back. And oh, by the way, do you like a cool breeze blowing on your neck? Bayliss pipes air conditioning right to the top of the cushions on the mezzanine, hitting the hot anglers right where it does the most good, right in the back of the head! No more fogging glasses or dripping condensation! Really neat stuff. Folks are starting to show up for the party so I better get up and go shake some hands … and maybe have a drink or two … why not? It’s my birthday!