The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says that a new survey it commissioned shows widespread support for proposed mandatory boater education requirements and PFD usage by children.

The FWC says it will propose to the Florida legislature “during this year’s session” requirements that all boaters take a boating safety course over an 11-year phase-in period and children less than 13 years old wear life jackets while on vessels under 26 feet in length. These proposals will require approval by the legislature and governor.

A typical marine diesel discussion will toss around the familiar names of Cummins, Yanmar, Detroit Diesel, Caterpillar but sometimes leaves out one of the more successful, albeit less well-recognized names – John Deere. John Deere engines have been at sea for more than 30 years in both commercial and recreational applications, and are used both for main propulsion and in generator and auxiliary functions.

I chatted recently with Wayne Goldman, VP-Sales for Glacier Bay, one of the preeminent companies in the growing diesel-electric propulsion market for recreational boats. We talked about current projects, boats soon to come down the ways and had a look ahead to some new technology headed in our direction.

More news this week as manufacturers continue to roll out mid-season models and make announcements for 2009 and beyond. Sea Ray this week announced two new models; the 210 Sundeck and the 300 Select EX. Glacier Bay announced it will be providing a diesel-electric system for Perry Catamaran’s 43 Sailcat, more evidence that diesel-electric is continuing to expand its foothold in the recreational market.

Hello everyone. If you've stopped by this blog before you saw only boat show-related entries. Mad Mariner has asked me to expand on this blog to include more news items and boating technology stories.

I've spent nearly 30 years in very high-tech industries and I love communicating all the amazing new developments to public audiences. I'm admittedly somewhat of a tech-geek (is that redundant?) and the bridge of our boat looks more appropriate for the starship Enterprise than a pleasure craft, but I don't care. I love it.

Tom Tripp

Plan on going all out for Christmas? Check it out: a full-blown, two-person submarine that flies through the water with airplane-like controls and can dive to 2,000 feet.

The Fort Lauderdale Show is known for its mega-yachts and this year’s collection was no less than breathtaking with the mega-yacht dock itself extending beyond line-of-sight along the Bahia Mar Yachting Center, a distance of about one mile.

Among the highlights of the indoor displays this year was Furuno’s demonstrations of its latest NavNet networked marine electronics systems, called NavNet 3D.

Raymarine debuted its new G-Series navigation systems at the show.

Simrad was showing off new autopilots in Lauderdale, but it was the new AIS system that caught my eye.