Off-Season Soundings

There was the familiar forest of sails fluttering from aluminum masts, the spinnakers billowing out with the help of nearby fans, and the dinghies bobbing in pools of water as gangs of urchins swarmed over the luxury yachts to ogle the bulkhead-to-bulkhead carpeting and built-in barbecue grills. But potential buyers at Manhattan's 56th National Boat Show were most interested in the small boats, the fastest-selling items in a sport that has 8,000,000 devotees and annual sales of $2.6 billion.

Stability, light weight and low cost are the small boatman's criteria. In dinghies, Chapman Yates leads the fleet with its new 8-ft. 3-in. Hydro-Pram, available for either sail ($465) or outboard ($250). Because of a thick bottom layer of polyurethane foam, it will not capsize with a 145-lb. boy standing on its gunwale, nor sink when filled with water and two beefy men. Total weight: 90 lbs. Lighter still is the 10-ft. 4-in. Swift, George O'Day's bid for a slice of the sailboard market. Only 80 lbs., the Swift costs $250, features a self-bailing cockpit and toeholds for hiking out.

For those who want to go right over the side, there are water skis and more than enough power to pull them. Even River Queen's houseboat is equipped with twin engines, which push the poky hull up to 30 m.p.h. Buehler Corp. exhibits its Bolero with water-jet propulsion that can make 44 m.p.h. Even closer to being airborne is Water Spyder Marine Ltd.'s first hydrofoil pleasure craft. Twelve feet overall and priced at $970, it can ride up onto its foils in seconds, tow a skier at close to 40 m.p.h.

Most fascinating innovation is the water skier's first do-it-yourselfer, Roto-motive Industries' Ski-Craft ($795). It consists of a 24-h.p. engine mounted on a streamlined flotation raft that pulls along the skier at the end of 8-ft.-long handles. The skier controls the speed with a hand throttle; if he takes a spill, this releases the throttle, stopping the engine and bringing the craft to a halt within a few feet.

The industry is even going under water to find new sales. Evinrude recently introduced the $279 Aquanaut, a gasoline engine that floats in its own air-filled life ring, pumps compressed, filtered air through two 25-ft. hoses down to masks worn by aquanauts below. Not only does it free the serious diver from cumbersome, expensive scuba tanks but, plopped over the side of a boat, it lets the yachtsman get to the bottom of any problem he might have--even if it's only barnacles.

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