KTL at the boat show

[dylanwinter]

on the back of being a columnist for the illustrious and majestic US magazine Small Craft Advisor and one feature in PBO I have persuaded the boat show organisers that I am a proper sailing hack

so I was going to take my camera and microphone to the Boat Show

any suggestions about who I should speak to

and more importantly

what should I ask them

I am very willing to talk to anyone about anchors, keels or seahorses.

So chaps....

any suggestions

serious or otherwise

Dylan

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Dylan

I would be more than happy to pop down to London and be interviewed by you, but unfortunately I'll be stuck offshore somewhere warm and sunny, and dry (in every sense of the word).

I suggest you inveigle people into supplying you with as much free stuff as you (or the slug) can carry. Things like telescopic depth sounding boathooks, fenders-come-bunk cushions, self adjusting anchor warps, fully gimballed camera mounts and other multi-function, Swiss Army type devices no self-respecting thin water sailor would be without.

Failing that, locate the stand serving the most free booze and just have a blast.

 

[dylanwinter]

not a bad idea

go find complicated gadgets and get the sales people to describe how to use them

what is the most difficult to explain bit of kit you own

or even better

never want to own

Dylan

 

[rotrax]

Dylan



I suggest you inveigle people into supplying you with as much free stuff as you (or the slug) can carry. Things like telescopic depth sounding boathooks, fenders-come-bunk cushions, self adjusting anchor warps, fully gimballed camera mounts and other multi-function, Swiss Army type devices no self-respecting thin water sailor would be without.

Failing that, locate the stand serving the most free booze and just have a blast.

Dylan might then turn into what Motorcycle Journalists were known as-Liggers. The art of getting free stuff was ligging. Best example I came across was a hack from a Scooter mag who "ligged" a dinner ticket at the Lois Viuton Classic Concour for motorbikes and cars at the Hurlinham Club in Fulham. A ticket was £300.00 and obtained unlimited fizz (Verve Cliquot) and a 13 course Anton Mossiman dinner! What a player!

 

[Porthandbuoy]

"a 13 course Anton Mossiman dinner!"

What in the name of all the gods comprises a 13 course dinner?

 

[dylanwinter]

not the point

Dylan might then turn into what Motorcycle Journalists were known as-Liggers. The art of getting free stuff was ligging. Best example I came across was a hack from a Scooter mag who "ligged" a dinner ticket at the Lois Viuton Classic Concour for motorbikes and cars at the Hurlinham Club in Fulham. A ticket was £300.00 and obtained unlimited fizz (Verve Cliquot) and a 13 course Anton Mossiman dinner! What a player!

I have been a hack for a long time

and probably have the liver damage to prove it

anyway, one thing will be to find out a bit more about Mr Tullet Prebon

I understand he is only 45 years old yet is a former Enterprise National Champion, designed the yacht that won the 2001 Fastnet, was a winch monkey in the successful 1987 Americas cup campaign.

It will be a real experience to get to talk to such an illustrious sailor. He should have some great stories to tell

Dylan

 

[Twister_Ken]

If the UK Bo(a)rders Agency is there asking them to explain in words of no more than three syllabubs how the proposed voyage information collection system is gonna work should raise a few laughs.

 

[VicS]

So chaps....

any suggestions

serious or otherwise

Well

I notice from elsewhere on the forums that the show is being opened by Tamara Ecclestone...... the face and body of Ultimo according to the boat show website.

We will expect some photos that put Lakesailor's best efforts to shame!

 

[prv]

go find complicated gadgets and get the sales people to describe how to use them

In that case, go and find the guy with the £250 overgrown buoyant bog-brush (hull scrubber thingy as derided here recently) and ask him to justify it. Bonus points for starting out keen and interested, but slowly dropping in obstacles like the fact you can walk round your boat and polish it whenever you stop on a sandbank, that you actually like weed as it attracts the birds to your boat, or that the slug is in fact worth less than what he wants for his washing-up brush.

(I don't really have anything against the product, its target market seems to be racers, who we all know are bonkers anyway )

Pete

 

[snooks]

I would be good to get your reaction to seeing the Crash Test Boat lying on her side next to the Guinness bar

 

[shaunksb]

I would be good to get your reaction to seeing the Crash Test Boat lying on her side next to the Guinness bar

I thought the video of the crash test boat was brilliant.

The running aground

The hole below the waterline

The entire rig comming down

and then IPC media come along and repeat the whole thing..........



___________

 

[Poignard]

Dylan

It's a pity there isn't some provision at LIBS for you to be able to show [and sell!] your films, give talks etc.

I guess renting a stand of you own would be way beyond your means but perhaps a communal stand could be provided for 'characters' like you, and others such as Roger Taylor, Charles Stock, James Wharram, the Pardeys etc., ie people who manage to achieve interesting and adventurous sailing without spending a fortune doing it.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Dylan

It's a pity there isn't some provision at LIBS for you to be able to show [and sell!] your films, give talks etc.

I guess renting a stand of you own would be way beyond your means but perhaps a communal stand could be provided for 'characters' like you, and others such as Roger Taylor, Charles Stock, James Wharram, the Pardeys etc., ie people who manage to achieve interesting and adventurous sailing without spending a fortune doing it.

The 'usual' way is to get into bed with an exhibitor in that line of business - say Stanfords or Imray. But you have to give them about 50% of the revenue.

 

[dylanwinter]

very happy

The 'usual' way is to get into bed with an exhibitor in that line of business - say Stanfords or Imray. But you have to give them about 50% of the revenue.

very happy to let them have 50 per cent of the cover price

the bloke who sends them out in America gets 50 per cent - but then he presses the disks, prints the covers, puts them into cases and puts them in the post as the orders come through.

The conventional outlets would also ask me to make up hundreds of copies for stock and might charge for storing them as well


at five sets a day.... not worth it for them

Interviewing gadget men is certainly a winner - I will also try to get a few race tactict hints from Prebon if I run into him

Dylan

 

[Sandy]

any suggestions about who I should speak to

I've love an indepth interview with Prebon Tullet and his life at sea.

 

[Lakesailor]

Take on the persona of a "Dennis Pennis" hack and ask awkward and offensive questions.

"So, these Sunseekers then? Aren't they a bit sh*te? Don't they just appeal to rich w**kers?"

That should get you off to a good start.

 

[Searush]

Take on the persona of a "Dennis Pennis" hack and ask awkward and offensive questions.

"So, these Sunseekers then? Aren't they a bit sh*te? Don't they just appeal to rich w**kers?"

That should get you off to a good start.

Trouble with that is that it shows the people who make & market the stuff in a good light against the obnoxious presenter. It does the reverse of what he seems to want to do.

Dylan, go review a few MoBo's enthusiastically & get the salesmen to over sell the concepts with statements like "It's just like driving a car", "No, it doesn't use much fuel & boat fuel is half the price of road diesel anyway" "These are so hard to get that it will sell for more than you paid for it in 5 years time" you now the sort of stuff. Just act a bit gullible. It would probably work just as well with some of the mass produced yots too.

 

[dylanwinter]

I agree

Trouble with that is that it shows the people who make & market the stuff in a good light against the obnoxious presenter. It does the reverse of what he seems to want to do.

Dylan, go review a few MoBo's enthusiastically & get the salesmen to over sell the concepts with statements like "It's just like driving a car", "No, it doesn't use much fuel & boat fuel is half the price of road diesel anyway" "These are so hard to get that it will sell for more than you paid for it in 5 years time" you now the sort of stuff. Just act a bit gullible. It would probably work just as well with some of the mass produced yots too.

I think that being rude to people is just that - being rude

however, I think that it would be good to ask a few open questions about the costs of boat ownership - sail or power

Dylan

 

[snooks]

You'll have to find the saily boats first

 

[dylanwinter]

boat show

You'll have to find the saily boats first

I have to say that I have not been to a boat show for at least two decades

I used to go every year - but at the time I thought I was going to grow up to be a rich person

now I have accepted that the slug is the finest and most expensiive boat I shall ever own I look at boat shows differently

It still frightens/depresses me when I see a 20 footer and look at the price tag and realise that it is so far out of my price bracket that I would have to sell my wife and children into slavery just for the downpayment

however, I shall treat this boat show as a job of journalism - so I shall see the event through fresh eyes

Dylan