Boat Lust At Full Throttle During Show

A sleepy-looking dad walked through the boat show with his wide-awake little girl Sunday afternoon.

“Well, how big a boat do you need?” he asked her.

The girl, who had blond pigtails and looked about 5, didn’t hesitate. She pointed to the white Bayliner next to her. “Maybe about this big,” she said.

The purchase details - “$23,497 Boat Show Special” - would be left to the father.

He smiled.

OK, chances are, the kid was living in a fantasy world. But that’s one of the things you do at the boat show, which continues this week at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds.

You imagine.

You stand next to one of the gleaming streamlined beauties and wonder: What would my life be like if I owned this?

It’s an Inland Northwest thing.

“It’s my job to make that dream come true,” a salesman said to a guy all but drooling as he ogled one huge powerboat that looked like it could easily travel to other galaxies.

For boat people, this is nothing new. But for the uninitiated, the show offers the possibility of a few splashy surprises.

For one thing, someone who hasn’t spent time around boats might not be ready for the simple fact that, viewed just as objects/toys, many of these shiny new watercraft are nothing short of gorgeous. The colors, the lines — you name it.

The people who draw these things up on computer screens know what they are doing.

Sunday afternoon, some of the show-goers sitting in the dozens of boats on display appeared as if they just wanted somewhere to rest. But others had that look in their eyes.

You could tell. They were picturing it.

Summer was here. The sunglasses were on. They were out on the lake with the wind in their faces, the sun on their backs. And they were throttling up toward a moment of bliss. Get that sucker roaring and all of life’s little annoyances just disappear back into the plume of spray.

A sign at the show summed it up: “Life is Pretty Dry Without a Boat.”

Then there are the Jet Skis. “Ride Free Untill July 1st 1999” a sign on one said.

Talk about looking like “Star Wars” vehicles. Except most rigs capable of space travel probably come with briefer warning labels.

From multiple TVs, the sound of Cher singing the national anthem could be heard. And a smiling young man with a goatee approached an older guy.

“Uncle Jim, I found one you can get me,” he said.

Uncle Jim didn’t reach for his checkbook. But his knowing smirk suggested boat lust was something he understood.