tigr
Well-Known Member
My children always want to look at the Princess boats, I must admit it's worth doing as they are amazing inside.
After a bad neal in the RYA syand a few years ago we now take sandwiches! Also a lot cheaper.
SIBS 17
- Thread starter zoidberg
- Start date
My children always want to look at the Princess boats, I must admit it's worth doing as they are amazing inside.
After a bad neal in the RYA syand a few years ago we now take sandwiches! Also a lot cheaper.
maby
Well-Known Member
Well, the Swallows I mentioned above look like very cute little entry-level boats - I could have been very happy with one of them 30 years ago. The boat that took my eye this year was the Sirius 40DS - a very homely boat with a lovely interior and excellent accommodation. Fortunately, my wife considered it "a bit too small" - otherwise I might be sitting here this morning working out how I was going to pay off close to half a million!
We got in on Saturday with free RYA tickets and did the research that we had planned. Opening the post this morning, my wife found a pair of free tickets from the dealer who sold us our current boat, so we may be going back next week for a more relaxed look round.
It certainly seemed quiet compared with previous years and less on display. Dare we hope that in future years they will bring it all over to the main site - the need to enter on one island, cross the road by bridge to the next and then a second bridge to get to the main show ground is a real pain! I assume that the RYA, once again, had their lounge in the middle island? I used to enjoy lunch from them, but I'm not hiking all that way to eat it - we made do with a bag of chips from one of the trailers.
RichardS
N/A
You might want to edit that before some sensitive soul presses the Red Button.
Richard
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I'm not disagreeing. But ...
(a) Traditionally dinghy sailing has been a route into cruising ("a route", not "the route"). We all comment on the ageing profile of leisure sailors, and a lack of dinghy presence at a boat show may be a cause, or a symptom, of this route in diminishing. It's a Boat Show, not a Yacht Show ...
(b) In my experience, people who do anything with any degree of commitment over time - sailing, playing the clarinet, learning Spanish, woodwork - generally want to get better at it. So yes, for that afternoon on a Fun Boat on a local pond or that week drifting round Greece in a chartered Bavaria, sail trim doesn't really matter. But for many of those who do it more often, and extra 10% of speed is not to be sneered at, nor is the satisfaction of doing something well.
The trouble with this "the world has moved on, let's not do anything about it" cynicism is that it misses opportunities to improve things, and as leisure sailing in the UK slowly dies, it might be worth promoting dinghy sailing alongside cruising again. After all, both you and Seajet have said that the dinghy sections of your clubs are booming and neither of you - I presume - thinks that the people in dinghies are wasting their time.
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JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Last time I went to SIBS I looked around to find things I wanted, then used my phone to check on line prices. I bought very little at the show.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
For you, maybe, and that's fine. Other people use different boats in different ways, and I am pretty sure that it's not the Southampton International Pottering Around Poole Harbour Before Returning To The Yacht Club For Drinkies And Maybe Sometimes Visiting Another Marina Show.
BelleSerene
Well-Known Member
What a disappointment. SIBS (and LIBS) is very clever at disguising the shrinkage, but there's markedly less on show than last year and so much less than there used to be. Remember when the Benes and some others used to be in the middle section, on boat trestles beside the marquees? Now they are in the water, filling some of the space liberated by some of the brands that no longer bother to attend.
Remember when there were more marquees and more floor area? Remember when there were more of the small boutique outlets and products? Remember when it was a boat show, not a lifestyle/ home and garden show?
I had a productive time, researching a couple of technical things I want to do. But really, SIBS continues to shrink and decline.
And don't get me started on LIBS...
Remember when there were more marquees and more floor area? Remember when there were more of the small boutique outlets and products? Remember when it was a boat show, not a lifestyle/ home and garden show?
I had a productive time, researching a couple of technical things I want to do. But really, SIBS continues to shrink and decline.
And don't get me started on LIBS...
laika
Well-Known Member
"Why are you checking our bags and no-one else's?"
"We're checking everyone's bags"
"No you're not: 20 people just walked past with all kinds of bags and we're the only ones you've pulled over"
"Well I'm on my own aren't I? I can't check everyone"
Ooo and police with machineguns!
"We're checking everyone's bags"
"No you're not: 20 people just walked past with all kinds of bags and we're the only ones you've pulled over"
"Well I'm on my own aren't I? I can't check everyone"
Ooo and police with machineguns!
[70521]
Well-Known Member
Don't panic they were also in Exeter High Street on Saturday.
ashtead
Well-Known Member
Yes the Sirius are lovely ( there are a couple kept at Haslar Marina) .Its a very niche boat and has had good reviews .If you could pick one up for circa £200k/£250k I'm sure they would fly off the shelf but the near £500k tag does rather limit appeal sadly. On the sandwich front I suspect another trip to M&S before we enter is still the best bet but with all the extra space you would thought something could be done to improve the catering . Its the catering feature of LIBS which actually works quite well .
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I think the home and garden thing is an inevitable consequence of the ageing demographic of leisure sailors ... or at least of the leisure sailors who might buy or own their own boat.
Wasn't there at one time a large dinghy and day boat section on the middle island?
laika
Well-Known Member
There is still a dinghy and day boat section which doesn't look any smaller than previous years, possibly slightly larger (though maybe on in comparison to the rest of the show...). Also no more garden and lifestyle products as far as I could see. Definitely less hall space, fewer exhibitors and lacking the rows of AWBs on land but still plenty of boats in the water and as far as I could see not gone the way of London quite yet
Neil_Y
Well-Known Member
I have toyed with the idea of exhibiting, but the problem for a small busy business is the length of time it runs for. I do Seaworks and METs they are both three days, but the leisure shows are just too long unless you have a few spare staff.
Malo37
Well-Known Member
Nice boats from the inside but darned ugly when viewed from outside.
maby
Well-Known Member
Actually, it was the outside that caught my attention initially - the interior was just a bonus.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Probably after the people catching pigeons to eat, or even shooting some themselves to supplement their income.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
My objection is to the assertions that dinghy sailing is a prerequisite for sailing other types of boats and that those who learn in dinghies are somehow "better sailors" than those who come into the pastime through different routes. Learning how to sail at a practical level is not difficult and one could argue that it is easier in a bigger boat. Having difficulty in seeing as in my experience with my Osprey what racing around the harbour in a performance boat contributes to sailing a cruiser. They are just different ways of enjoying sailing.
That is the problem with the transition from dinghy sailing to owning a cruiser, particularly for young people. Going through the ladder as in our club of Optimist, 420, Osprey etc (there is far more choice of course) is essentially a social activity for the youngsters. Some carry on by crewing on keel boats or cruiser racers, but once they reach late teens they drift away, often physically. A small number will take it seriously as a sport. but most have other things going on in their lives.
So, while encouraging young people to learn to sail is great, not sure that it is the feeder to long term participation and ownership of boats. So there is a big disconnect in the "ladder" compared with 30-40 years ago and I think that is due to the well rehearsed arguments about the vast array of choice for spending discretionary income for those who have it, and at the same time a shortage of discretionary income for the key family demographic.
It is wrong to suggest that no efforts have been made to interest that key market - taster days, boat shows, chartering etc have introduced many people to sailing. However actually making the jump to owning a boat with the time and financial commitment needed is not seen as desirable. No good either talking about all the cheap MABs and empty swinging moorings that are available. Few people who ride around in BMWs, live in houses that look like those you see in the colour supplements and holiday abroad etc are interested in driving 2 hours on a friday evening to row out to a 1970s Centaur (if there is enough water) and hope the weather stays good enough to sail maybe 15 miles and back.
Getting back to the thread subject, this is reflected in the show. You only have to look at the demographics of the "serious" people - that is those in discussions with various equipment suppliers or sailmakers and particularly those seriously looking at buying a boat and it is overwhelmingly the mature sector. I was thinking that looking around the food hall at lunchtime on friday. Most of the people under 50 were the youngsters manning the food stands and bar. of course there is likely to be a more family orientated audience at the weekends, but it is a reflection of the trends.
BelleSerene
Well-Known Member
That's generous. Could it possibly also be an attempt to minimise the apparent shrinkage of boat exhibitors in a - ahem - boat show by filling some of the space that boating exhibitors are no longer filling?
Yes. I'd forgotten that. How quickly we do!
Skylark
Well-Known Member
I fall into this category. I live in Manchester and have no real desire to visit the show except that circumstantially I'll be in the area on Thursday. I have 3 free tickets. I bought a brand new boat 4 years ago so indirectly have probably made more contribution towards the costs of hosting SIBS than punters buying general chandlery for their MABs or other tat from the leisure pound shop exhibitors.
Should I wear a tabard declaring "worst type of visitor"?
philld
Well-Known Member
Totally agree, I was gobsmacked when I had a good look at the Sirius 40, it had all the features I wanted in a boat for UK waters. I liked the little details like the water/oil filters being mounted outside the engine compartment in the workshop area. On the other hand, it looked like water impeller might be difficult to access, and I wasn't so keen on all the split level steps in the main cabin. If the boat was in the £200k-£250k region, I'd have broken open my piggy bank today to see how much I could put together! Unfortunately, it's not a mass produced boat so it going to be expensive, and at £500k it's far more than I would ever spend on a boat.