ABSTRACT:

The New York National Boat show makes grown men dizzy and weak. It makes them want to spend the rent money. They come inside the Javits Center from the January Manhattan cold and go immediately into a far-away trance. They have boat fever. Like pilgrims, they come here to find a cure.

This boat show is an overwhelmingly masculine scene. A quick demographic appraisal puts the ratio of women to men at approximately 5 to 100. The approximate age is about 30 for women and 40 for men.