In Our Wake: Boat Show Rewind

A glimpse into boating circa 1973—things sure have changed a lot since then … or have they?

It’s only when looking back that we can truly appreciate how far we’ve come. This past year’s New York Boat Show at the Javits Center was filled with gleaming center consoles and outboard cruisers that promise to get their owners to their favorite destination or fishing spot and back again at 40-plus knots. Since this photo was taken, to quote Brooks from Shawshank Redemption, “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”

This snapshot of a cabin cruiser and a runabout outside of the 1973 New York Boat Show speaks to just that. Towed by a single Chevy, the boats of the day were vastly simpler and smaller. It’s amazing to think about all the technology these boats didn’t have 50 years ago. There were no joysticks, no AC vents that cooled your lumbar as you drove. There were no lithium-ion batteries, or USB ports for your devices. Digital switching and gyros weren’t even a distant dream of designers and builders.

What they had, however, and what our sport always strives to deliver, was the means for a family to escape the land-based stresses of the day. When on the hook beneath the stars, parents could forget about the effects of the content their kids were watching (namely, American Graffiti and The Exorcist, which debuted that summer), the music they were listening to—oh, hello, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon—or that inflation had sent the cost of a dozen eggs soaring to 25 cents and a gallon of gas to 40 cents.

Funny, I guess, maybe things haven’t changed all that much after all.

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This article originally appeared in the May 2023 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/column/in-our-wake-boat-show-rewind