Note: The following article about Fenwick Float-ors® has been reprinted from the April 28, 1997 issue of the Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal.

FENWICK ISLAND -- Buoys, those colorful floating devices that usually identify ship channels or mark the locations of lobster pots, are moving into the home.

And with warmer weather on the way, they're just in time for the crab-eating season.

A Sussex County man was recently awarded Design Patent No. 377,586 for his "buoy utensil holder", a smaller version of the maritime variety designed for the kitchen, dining room or outdoor deck.

"It can be used to hold crab mallets, barecue and bar tools, wooden spoons and all kinds of kitchen utensils," said inventor Jason McBride, 27.

The Wilmington native moved to Fenwick about four years ago to help run the family's nautical gift shop, Fenwick Float-ors®, on Delaware 54 about three miles west of Delaware 1.

The business, which the McBrides started from scratch on their back porch, has a workshop, a retail area and a mail-order catalog.

"We have paintings, collectors' sculptures, handmade kids' toys, fish carvings, gourmet foods and a lot of nautical things," said McBride, who grew up in Wilmington's Forty Acres neighborhood.

McBride majored in marketing at the University of Delaware and spent summers in Fenwick before becoming a permanent resident.

He said his parents, Hugh J. and Tina McBride, and associate Jim Wright, helped come up with the basic idea behind the patent after examining some broken buoys.

"We just got to talking one day and figured you could use them to put things in, especially crab mallets, and it would be nice if it was smaller," said McBride. "I just grabbed some of our smaller buoys and came up with this design."

It took him a little over a year to get his patent. An assortment of the composite, rubber-coated buoys is already in stock.

"It's about 9 inches wide and 8 inches tall. It has six holes to hold six mallets or other things," McBride said.

"A lot of people put them in their kitchen. And you can use them on the deck. We can personalize them, too, with 'McBride's Crab House', or something painted on. I do the painting. They come in a variety of colors -- red, white and blue, yellow and blue ... There are about 20 or 30 colors," he said. "We paint lighthouses on them, ducks, crabs, and they can be made into lamps."