SBS 2018

FWIW, I think I might have done a sale for you on the visitors’ pontoon in Dartmouth earlier this month. Had to go up the mast to change the wind transducer and the guy moored opposite in a Bav 40 came over as he was staggered at how quickly I got up there with the Mastaclimba. He took the details from the label and said he’d be in touch with you to arrange purchase. Hope it works out.

Actually, I think I’ve ‘sold’ a few over the years! Should have been on commission. :cool:
 
KAL said:
FWIW, I think I might have done a sale for you on the visitors’ pontoon in Dartmouth earlier this month. Had to go up the mast to change the wind transducer and the guy moored opposite in a Bav 40 came over as he was staggered at how quickly I got up there with the Mastaclimba. He took the details from the label and said he’d be in touch with you to arrange purchase. Hope it works out.

Actually, I think I’ve ‘sold’ a few over the years! Should have been on commission. :cool:
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Well - thanks for that (but careful - the mods watch for "promoting"!).

I will miss the show. Day to day, I don't meet a lot of people so it's an opportunity to chat. The stories we hear and the range of conversation topics are fascinating.

Strangely, after a day's worth of chatting, something happens to my nasal passages and, if I hum at the right frequency, I can produce a passing imitation of the cruise liners departing whistles.

I probably know more about climbing safety than most but convincing the H&S duo at SBS that every conceivable danger has been predicted and catered for seems an impossible task.
 
Couldn't you exhibit without the climbing? I get that demonstrating it is a big part, but at least you are there and can show people the basics from the ground. (this is all assuming the problem is actually with going to height)
 
CLB said:
Couldn't you exhibit without the climbing? I get that demonstrating it is a big part, but at least you are there and can show people the basics from the ground. (this is all assuming the problem is actually with going to height)
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We are teetering on the brink of "promoting" now and I approve strongly of not permitting that.

I have always assumed that "try before by" is essential. We have two requirements for our stand in which we have invested heavily. One is a space 4X3 metres as the stand weighs around 3/4 tonne for strength and stability. The other is height for the mast which is 3 metres high. We were offered a 3X3 stand in the "eaves" of the marquee.

I have a strong suspicion that H&S "encouraged" lack of cooperation from the other members of the BMF team.

I will happily enter into discussions on provisions of safety and back-ups as long as it is divorced from the product. I would also welcome input from others if they spot any gaps in our safety provisions.

But no promoting please!
 
Seven Spades said:
Why not look for an external stand?
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An external pitch has been offered. Our stand is slick and impressive (we think!) but it is not weather proof. We do have a primitive structure that is weather proof and we have used that at SBS in the past when the BMF staff screwed up on a previous occasion. The weather that year was not bad but, on the last day of the show, I managed to raise a few smiles sitting in the bosun's chair under an umbrella eating my lunch.

We have moved on from that and the computer equipment and AV kit really is not suitable for the outdoors.

I remain convinced that the failure to offer a suitable situation was contrived to dodge the H&S issues.

The staff at the top of the BMF tree seem to have held transients posts due, perhaps, to the EXCEL debacle but I have traced the CEO, Lesley Robinson, with whom I will lodge my complaints.
 
Shame you will not be there, and for that reason above any other.

Once tried to make an interesting installation of upturned bow thruster gearboxes running at very slow speed in a water tank for a stand at the large trade show in Europe.

Would have been permitted, but insisted on Legionnaire's disease checks TWICE-DAILY to be allowed......ridiculous. In the end we ran installation with the tank empty.
 
Are they looking for a risk assessment? Fairly easy to do? Shame not to be there iif so. Great product. No promotion, just the truth.
 
KAL said:
Are they looking for a risk assessment? Fairly easy to do? Shame not to be there iif so. Great product. No promotion, just the truth.
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Believe me - I have done the lot. A full risk assessment including probabilities and consequences. We have obeyed the rules where others have not - flammability of stand coverings and partition heights for example. Out of interest, I tried to ignite the walkway coverings. They flared and took a bit of putting out. Ours pass the standard test.

We have a bosun's chair tended by us, a fall arrest harness separately suspended tended by us, an automatic fall arrester and contingency plans for every believable problem. There has never been any sort of injury - not even a broken finger nail in our nine years of demonstrations.

The worst case scenario is disability at the top of the mast. That has never happened but there is even a procedure to cope that we regularly practise. Single handed ascents (easy) and descents (not) are only demonstrated by me.

The only problem we have ever been unable to solve is "We don't think it is safe" - but they can't explain why.:grey:
 
bedouin said:
That bit made me smile - so it is easier to go up that to come back down again :)
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There is a simple way to come down quickly but it hurts!

Without someone to take up the slack on the chair halyard, I use an ascender. The doesn't work on the way down. I have found abseiling down on a separate line works well but the risk is obviously higher without practice and not something I would allow a visitor to do.
 
Unfortunately its the nature of life in the 21st century where everyone is looking to blame someone when things go wrong and therefore anyone that could possibly get blamed is doing all they can to avoid being in that position. I exhibit a simple 3x3 stand at various shows and the paperwork to do with Risk Assessment and H&S at some of them is ridiculous. Its just a simple stand with a desk and very little else. I can see how someone sitting in an office somewhere would baulk at having anything that they can perceive as being even slightly risky at 'their' show. Sometimes I am surprised that the pontoons are not completely enclosed in rails at SIBs, after all, the risk of someone falling in and drowning has got to be quite real.
 
Graham_Wright said:
Out of interest, I tried to ignite the walkway coverings. They flared and took a bit of putting out.
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Ahhh! That must be it! They’ve probably got you down as some sort of aspiring arsonist. Mind you, I’m sure that could be added to a risk assessment somewhere! :encouragement:
 
Graham_Wright said:
The only problem we have ever been unable to solve is "We don't think it is safe" - but they can't explain why.:grey:
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That is amusing as you are selling a product that will take you to the top of a much higher mast than 3m and it is on a moving platform. So I feel for you in not being able to show your product of in this sanitised stable situation compared to being on a yacht. Maybe you should encourage the H&S people to come and test it in the real environment on a boat.

It reminds me of a H&S assessment an insurance company made when I was working. They complained about an air compressor that was used for 1 to 2 hours a week, but could not advise if a sign should be placed on a wooden step down between 2 rooms. The latter was more likely to cause injury than the former.
 
Graham_Wright said:
There is a simple way to come down quickly but it hurts!

Without someone to take up the slack on the chair halyard, I use an ascender. The doesn't work on the way down. I have found abseiling down on a separate line works well but the risk is obviously higher without practice and not something I would allow a visitor to do.
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I do not have your product, but a Prussac loop on the ascending line, connected to the harness can be slid down with one hand whilst the other hand controls the decent via the figure of 8, if you lose control the prussac will stop you, and would render things failsafe
 
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