Women set sail for L.B. show

`Women on Water Day,' free admission, witness an expanding role.

By Don Jergler, Staff writer

Article Launched:10/05/2006 10:58:17 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - Misty Dawn is a third-generation sailor, and she's come a long way, baby.

"My dad's been a sailor all of his life," she said. "My grandfather was too."

Dawn, who has a 28-foot Newport sailboat docked at the Long Beach Marina and is teaching her 3-year-old daughter to sail, was checking things out at the International Sail & Power Boat Show.

The annual four-day show runs through Sunday. Women can get in free to today's show.

The show, hosted by the Southern California Marine Association, is featuring this year for the first time "Women on the Water Day."

Nordstrom's Spa representatives will give tips for taking care of skin on the water, Orange Coast College School of Seamanship will introduce its women-only and couples courses and experience women will offer demonstrations.

Organizations represented include the Long Beach and Los Angeles Women's Sailing Association, the National Women's Sailing Association and the Women's Ocean Racing Sailing Association.

"When I first got here, I didn't know of a single woman who owned a boat," said Dawn, who moved to downtown Long Beach a few years ago from Phoenix. "Now, I have several female friends who own boats and sail boats."

More women are becoming interested in boating, said Commodore Annette Cook, with the Women's Ocean Racing Sailing Association.

"Years ago the only way that a woman could get on a boat would be to be the pretty thing that went down to the dock and she would be allowed to sit on the boat and sip wine," Cook said.

The show features more than 500 boats at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center and at Shoreline Village's marina.

Visitors can see, and purchase, boats of all sizes, with prices ranging from $10,000 to millions of dollars.

The boat from the newest James Bond installment, "Casino Royale," is on display, and it's selling for $525,000.

One of the latest trends in boat buying is fractional ownership.

A 2006 Sunseeker 68 Predator, for example, has a fractional ownership opportunity for $849,000 - the full price is $2.5 million.

Fractional ownership entitles the buyer to one-third interest in the ship. The buyer gets the boat nine days per month, and 108 days per years.

An interesting new type of watercraft being introduced at this year's show is the X-Board.

It's essentially a flattened out version of a Jet Ski, almost like a long surfboard, and it's powered by a Wankel engine that can propel the craft up to 45 mph - add another 20 mph for the racing version.

The board can go for up to two hours on a tank of gas, said Daniela Carter, a sales representative for Las Vegas-based tahitipetey, www.tahitipetey.com.

Don Jergler can be reached at don.jergler@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1281.