Boat Show 2025

I'm certainly one of those 'boomers' and I've owned a handful of sailyboats over the years. Experiences with some builders, some pro tradesfolk, and certainly some sailmakers lead me to ask myself if I should head to La Rochelle to spend my ill-gotten property gains, before I'm too old and decrepit to enjoy the benefits.

....the last of the boomers and the first of the Gen Xs start to retire and spend their wealth.
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Of course, a few years later and the realities of boat owning, plus the boom in motor homes and a few poor summers, and a lot of people have been trying to offload these boats.
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Am I likely to get rather more 'bang for my buck' by visiting boatbuilders based in France, Germany and the Baltic? What about foreign sailmakers - are they likely to be more reliable? We already know that sails ordered here but built in Thailand are cheaper to buy and are delivered mostly when they are promised.....

:cool:
 
newtothis said:
But it also has departments in the Pacific and Caribbean, which add significantly to its sailing regions.
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That's a difference between France and the UK. Our overseas territories are all independent nations (even South Georgia and British Antarctic Territory!), while France's are all regarded as part of France and elect representatives to their parliament. If you counted the coastlines of British Overseas Territories, it would vastly exceed that of France and its overseas territories quite easily. BAT would EASILY exceed either Britain or France!

But of course, you all know that the "length of a coastline" is meaningless unless you state the scale at which it is being measured? The length of a coastline increases as the length of the ruler used to measure it decreases. SO the length of coastline measured on the first map of Antarctica I was involved with (at a scale of 1:3,000,000) would be a LOT less than that in my latest coastline (www.add.scar.org) at scales of around 1:100,000 or less.
 
I don't suppose there are any significant 'bragging rights' which attach to the length of coastline. I suspect most of us would be rather more interested in the 'days of sunshine', the 'quality and number of beaches', and last but not least the 'availability and price of cool pints/jugs of sangria/pichets of decent local red'....

Oh, and the girls....

On that measure, France and its departements wins hands-down!
 
AntarcticPilot said:
That's a difference between France and the UK. Our overseas territories are all independent nations (even South Georgia and British Antarctic Territory!), while France's are all regarded as part of France and elect representatives to their parliament.
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And is the source of the favourite pub quiz fact - that France is the nation in the world that has the most timezones.
 
Time Out said:
And the world longest internal flight …..
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If we regarded Overseas Territories the same way as France does, then I think that the flight to the Falklands from Brize Norton might come close. It's the only scheduled flight I know of that goes past the point where there are no alternatives; in fact, it may do so twice, once on the approach to Ascension Island and again on the approach to the Falklands.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
If we regarded Overseas Territories the same way as France does, then I think that the flight to the Falklands from Brize Norton might come close. It's the only scheduled flight I know of that goes past the point where there are no alternatives; in fact, it may do so twice, once on the approach to Ascension Island and again on the approach to the Falklands.
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Known in the trade as Last Point of Diversion, and Point of No Return....
 
zoidberg said:
Known in the trade as Last Point of Diversion, and Point of No Return....
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The flight from the Falklands to Rothera also passes that point; it only leaves either end on a good weather report at both ends (@franksingleton will forgive me for saying that forecasting in Antarctica is a bit hit and miss!). But landing strips for a wheeled aircraft (Dash-7) are few and far between in Antarctica! But that isn't a scheduled flight.
 
zoidberg said:
I'm certainly one of those 'boomers' and I've owned a handful of sailyboats over the years. Experiences with some builders, some pro tradesfolk, and certainly some sailmakers lead me to ask myself if I should head to La Rochelle to spend my ill-gotten property gains, before I'm too old and decrepit to enjoy the benefits.




Am I likely to get rather more 'bang for my buck' by visiting boatbuilders based in France, Germany and the Baltic? What about foreign sailmakers - are they likely to be more reliable? We already know that sails ordered here but built in Thailand are cheaper to buy and are delivered mostly when they are promised.....

:cool:
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I think that you would be amazed by the choice and the range of offerings from many smaller builders unknown here.
 
zoidberg said:
I'm certainly one of those 'boomers' and I've owned a handful of sailyboats over the years. Experiences with some builders, some pro tradesfolk, and certainly some sailmakers lead me to ask myself if I should head to La Rochelle to spend my ill-gotten property gains, before I'm too old and decrepit to enjoy the benefits.




Am I likely to get rather more 'bang for my buck' by visiting boatbuilders based in France, Germany and the Baltic? What about foreign sailmakers - are they likely to be more reliable? We already know that sails ordered here but built in Thailand are cheaper to buy and are delivered mostly when they are promised.....

:cool:
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I used to work with a well known, darevI say respected, south coast sailmaker. He used to put the phone down and say ‘oh look, there goes another one’ whilst looking out of the window. ‘Another one’ was a flying pig. He’s well known enough that some of you may know who he is.
 
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