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Marina showboating

Dane Grace

Swanky yachts that often boast entertainment centers and other bells

and whistles -- which rival many landlocked family rooms -- are not

unfamiliar in Newport Beach’s Lido Marina Village.

They’ll be even more familiar the next four days.

The 26th Lido Marina Village Yacht Expo began in the marina

Thursday, featuring fancy yachts complete with flat-screen plasma

televisions to smaller jet-propelled dinghies.

The four-day event will showcase more than 250 boats, some of

which cost more than $500,000. Yachts sometimes cost several million

dollars. The expo serves as a floating boat mall as the Lido Marina

docks are lined with immaculate vessels aimed at enticing potential

buyers like Penny Dreyfus of Marina Del Rey.

“We have a boat, but we’re looking for another,” Dreyfus said. “We

found one that we like.”

While Dreyfus and her husband already own the other boat, they’re

looking for something larger to accommodate their many grandchildren.

This is their first time at the Lido Expo, but they’ve been to the

much larger Miami Boat Show. Dreyfus said its Newport Beach

counterpart is small but has a good variety of boats.

“I have 11 grandchildren,” Dreyfus said. “So I’d like to find

something to bring some aboard.”

Wedged between two luxury yachts, an 18-foot-long, 11-foot-tall

replica of the U.S. battleship Indiana caught the eye of attendees.

The original battleship sailed from 1942 to 1963 and saw extensive

action during World War II. On Wednesday, several surviving crew

members visited the replica and were saluted for their tours of duty

aboard the original ship.

Herb Crabtree of Newhaven, Mich., is overseeing the replica while

it is in Lido and described the reactions of the veterans to the

miniature battleship.

“I think, at first they didn’t know, and all of a sudden it hit

them,” Crabtree said. “They really enjoyed it.”

Crabtree is a friend to Cecil Gates, who built the replica

Indiana. Jack Handberry of Long Beach stopped for a moment while

chuckling to himself over the replica. “That was cool,” Handberry

said. “I spent 25 years in the Navy, so I can appreciate that.”

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