Among 850 exhibitors with more than 700 boats to be docked and ashore along 15 acres of Newport’s waterfront this week for the 37th Newport International Boat Show will be Ted Fontaine’s newest sailboat – the Friendship 53.
The 53-foot yacht, designed in Newport and built in New Zealand, arrived in the city just after last year’s show, said Jenni Caiazza, sales manager of The Friendship Yacht Co. The owner spent all year on it – cruising the Caribbean last winter and spending the summer on the coast of Maine.
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For the show, the Friendship 53 will be on display in front of The Mooring Restaurant.
The sailboat will be one of 40 new boats and products debuting at the show, which runs from this Thursday, Sept. 13, to Sunday, Sept. 16, and is put on by the Newport Harbor Corp. On Friday morning, for the first year, a Newport for New Products competition will recognize the best new sailboat, powerboat and boating product that are debuting in the United States.
“It can’t just be that the cushions are new. It has to be that something is new and is part of the navigation of the boat,” said show director Nancy Piffard.
Over the years, the show has evolved from a sailboat-only show to a sail and powerboat show. It has been expanded three times during the last eight years.
“We bring in additional docks and we add on to what already exists at the [Newport] Yachting Center, and this year we’ve added the entire south side of the yachting center, and formula boats will be displayed there,” said Piffard.
Each year, the show draws thousands of visitors – sometimes as many as 40,000, said Piffard. With the influx of visitors, it’s one of the busiest weeks each year in Newport.
“They also spend time in town, and I think the economic impact of that has been great for Newport County,” Piffard said of the visitors, many of whom arrive days before the show. “We haven’t done a study since 1996, but certainly back then, it was over $13 million brought in during the days of the show. … I would almost maybe triple or double that now.”
Newport County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Keith W. Stokes said the show has grown to be one of the largest on the Eastern seaboard, adding that boating events bring in quality visitors and act as boosters for the local hospitality industry.
Regionally, the largest share of displayed boats made in the United States were built in the Southeast – Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas are the largest producers, said Piffard. But shipbuilders and product manufacturers from around the world will be represented – among those countries to be represented are France, Finland, Poland, Australia, Italy and Spain.
Overall, Stokes said, the show represents the positive and healthy marine manufacturing industry and tourism business in Rhode Island.
“As we’ve lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs here in Rhode Island over the years, the marine trade industries – the boat building and marine service industries – have been strong,” said Stokes. “That’s largely due to Narragansett Bay. That’s one asset we have here that very few states or countries could offer.” •
