CASTING OFF maritime news
Aaahh … the ‘island’ life
By Abi Nicholas
Provided
The local marine retail sector got a little more crowded this year with the opening of Sportsman's Island on Daniel Island.
Owners of Scout Boats, Hanckel Marine pair up to open Sportsman’s Island retail center
In the wake of tough economic times, the number of registered recreation boats nationwide has been drifting downward.
But South Carolina is swimming against the tide.
The Palmetto state ranks No. 8 in the country for the number of registered recreation vessels, logging 436,075 stickers in 2006. That’s up more than 19,000 from the previous year, based on the most recent figures available from the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
This comes as good — make that great — news for Steve Potts and Milo Hanckel, commercial development partners for Sportman’s Island, a new boating and outdoor-sports retail center on Clements Ferry Road on Daniel Island.
Not that they ever were worried.
“The Charleston area is ready for an operation like this,” said Potts, owner of Scout Boats in Summerville. “There are so many different types of boating and fishing in the area. I think this will make the buying experience that much more pleasurable.”
Docked at a 7.7-acre property on Daniel Island, Sportman’s Island is a “one-stop shop for the boating public,” said Hanckel, owner of Charleston-based Hanckel Marine.
Coming in at 38,000 square feet, the canary-yellow building with a tin roof, ground-floor parking and lush landscaping looks more like a beach resort than a retail center. But inside, you’ll find multiple stores selling a variety of boating, fishing, camping and water-sports gear.
Hanckel Marine serves as one of the anchor tenants for the development, with the sales department currently up and running and the service department expected to be open by May. The 7,000-square-foot service building is as big as Hanckel Marine’s entire dealership West of the Ashley, which will remain open.
Other tenants at the Daniel Island center include Boater’s World and Bradham-Hamilton Advertising, which manages advertising and publicity for the South Carolina In-Water Boat Show.
Boater’s World, a well-known national water-sports retailer, leased a nearly 14,000-square-foot space in the three-level building, which will make it the largest Boater’s World in the nation when it opens around June 1.
“We got tenants we didn’t expect,” Hanckel said. “We went around to different local businesses trying to sell this concept, and Boater’s World, a national chain, bought into the concept, which is incredible. It’ll be a huge shot in the arm for our traffic.”
Potts and Hanckel believe the success of Sportman’s Island will be synergic.
“We’ll feed off of each other, pulling traffic and supporting the whole development,” Hanckel said.
Hanckel Marine will handle the boats, motors, trailers and service needs, he said, and Boater’s World will cover the outfitting.
Rather than fishermen going to different places for boats, fishing tackle, skis and wake boards, everything will be “under one roof,” making it especially easy for boaters and outdoorsmen just getting started, Potts said.
Plans also exist to open a restaurant on the property in about a year, which will attract even more patrons, Hanckel said.
Factor location into the equation, and Sportman’s Island is slated to become a big fish in our moderately sized pond.
The avid fisherman that he is, Potts knew the piece of land that butts against Interstate 526 was a honey hole, so he dropped his line in 2002, purchasing the property from Yom Tov LLC, owned by Eli and Aaron Hyman.
By late spring, the finishing touches were still being put on the development. But even then, Hanckel said traffic was steadily increasing.
That could have been due to the warming weather and clear days, but Hanckel believed it had more to do with the outdoor display of new power boats — the ultimate lure for Lowcountry sportsmen.
“There are no signs yet and no advertising, just boats and a ton of cars going by each day,” Hanckel said this spring. “So we fully expect that once the facility matures and the Boater’s World and service department open, the amount of traffic will be tremendous.”
Abi Nicholas is a reporter for The Post and Courier. Reach her at 937-5524 or anicholas@postandcourier.com.
GillznFinz.com launches new television series
By Matt Winter
Capt. Adam Paul, a Charleston angler and founder of the online fishing networking site GillznFinz.com, is launching a new syndicated television series showcasing the fun, rough-and-tumble and always interesting world of fishing.
The 28-year-old College of Charleston graduate started his Web site last year with the hopes of giving anglers the world over an online venue to mingle, share fishing stories and maintain their own angling blogs.
From the beginning, the site focused heavily on video, as well. Paul and his team produced a variety of short episodes featuring a mix of Lowcountry personalities, music and angling action.
The effort quickly morphed into the “GillznFinz Show,” a fast-paced angling reality series produced through a partnership with Leverage Sports, a Charlotte, N.C., production company.
Cameras follow Paul and his pro staff members as they head offshore after big-game species, both here in Charleston and at international fishing hot spots. Back on shore, the cameras sometimes follow them to local watering holes and restaurants, where cooks prepare their catch.
“I love absolutely everything about the lifestyle of fishing,” Paul said in a release announcing the show’s debut. “I want to fish 24/7.
“The fishing in Charleston is phenomenal. The culture, the people — it was the perfect place to start the Web site. And an even better place to produce the GillznFinz Show.”
What sets the series apart is its “rock-n-roll fishing” vibe, according to Chip Harwood of Princeton Media Group, the show’s distribution company.
Harwood said in late April that 13 episodes are already completed, with up to 30 planned for 2008.
The show has already been picked up by cable companies in a number of markets in the Northeast and Midwest and the entire Gulf Coast, and Paul and his associates hope to secure a deal for release in the Charleston area soon. The show, which is often packaged with a Nascar reality show called “3 Wide Life,” already reaches about 50 million households, Paul said.
“We expect that by October or November of this year, we should be in about 85 percent of North American market,” Paul said.
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