The (Boat) Show Must Go On

In the deep, dark days of winter it's both hard and easy to think about the boating season and all of the pleasures it has to offer.

It's hard because you know there are 16 more weeks before the season starts again but it's easy because when you are passionate about boating (as I and my family are) all one has to do is summon a memory of time on the water and the darkest, snowiest day can suddenly become warm and bright.

One sure way to rev up your boating enthusiasm is to attend a boat show. Not only are there boats to see, there are new electronics to check out, items to purchase for your boat's stores and at many shows these days there are seminars to attend that will make you a better boater. January through March are the best months of the year with shows in London, Toronto, Seattle, Cleveland, New York, Miami, Boston, Maine and Palm Beach (to name but a few)

The 2010 versions of these shows are well worth attending for us as boat builders. There is no better opportunity for us to put our best foot forward and show the boating world what we do so well. We can meet prospects, talk with existing owners and do some professional development by checking out what our competitors are bringing to market.

For our customers there has rarely been and will rarely be as good an opportunity to check out what is new and see what manufacturers are offering to entice you to make the step to a new yacht. There are excellent buys to be found on 2009 inventories and there are exciting new developments to see in design and technology that may also encourage you to think about something new at your dock for the start of the 2010 boating season.

So if the dark days of winter are getting you down and boats are what truly make you happy, check out our show calendar and come on down. We would love to see you.
 

Blessing of the Fleet

Last week, I attended an exlusive Boat Show event at Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth, RI.  Friday brought a perfect hot summer evening giving our local dealer, Boston Yachts a chance to exhibit their fleet of Sabre and Back Cove Motor yachts, with 5 models shown.  The Back Cove 29 and 33 sitting next to the Sabre 34 and 42 Express models were backed up by our flagship of the 52 Salon Express.   From the dock, we could see many people up on the hill enjoying cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the tent.  A perfect summer evening in Rhode Island.  Having the vantage point of looking over this fleet of stand-outs, the crowd soon began trickling down the dock to get onboard.  This not being a traditional boat show, we had many yachting newcombers who were amazed at the interiors of these boats that they had been looking at from above.  Carnegie Abbey had arranged for a blessing of the fleet, and we all were happy to see a memebr of the chuch adorned in robes come down to give his blessing on these vessels  and for whomever is fortunate enough to step aboard.

New York show moves to December

The New York National Boat Show, which started it's run in 1905, has made a major date shift and moved into December (13-21) of 2008. The move was brought on by a variety of circumstances at Jacob Javits center and by exhibitors wanting to try something new in order to increase attendance. My feeling is the dates are great. I love "the holidays" but they tend to drag on a tad too long for me. Growing up in Australia and Canada, the festivities of "the holidays" started around the 15th of December and by New Years we were ready for the end of it. We American's (yes I am now a naturalized American citizen) slow down our work in process at Thanksgiving and go back to work in earnest on the 2nd day of January. That's too long for me so having the show break up "the holidays" is going to feel great. Of course my wife will enjoy some holiday shopping in New York after show hours !

New Markets; the first ever Sri Lanka Boat Show

This weekend began the first ever boat show held in Sri Lanka.  My first thought at the glance of the headline prior to reading the news story this morning was - we are a global company - I wonder if we should be exhibiting here?  (I would certainly be happy to go represent Sabre for a few days working those booths in Sri Lanka).  Reading this article in the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror, I realized this is less about globalization of the marine industry in challenging economic times and more about developing an industry in a country that has the resources to harbor the rewarding growth of a boat building and marine trade that may not focus on exporting high end yachts to distinguishing clientelle trying to get a boost on production costs by buying overseas, but developing their own market int heir own oceanic backyard.  Of course there is a huge market for fishing boats, commerical prodcuts, RIBS, dive and tourist operations!  Good for the economic development of the Sri Lankan boat building industry to tap into all of this.  We should be paying attantion - they might have a few good ideas.

There is no doubt in these challenging economic times, many industries have been exploring new global markets for production to keep things moving forward.  It is not a new story that we have seen a lot of boat building go this way as well from our our yacht companies in the USA.  A lot of our owners do comment to me that they feel good about having purchased a US-built boat. I am glad the world of boating is spreading its reaches farther each day to develop new markets - but working for a traditional Maine Built company, I'm glad we still have our deeply rooted history of boat building we are able to carry on here each day.

Blogged by, ~Sarah

No lack of interest at Strictly Sail Chicago

Despite a significant snow storm in Northwestern, Illinois on Thursday and Friday, sailors flocked to Navy Pier to see the Strictly Sail Chcago show. I think a few folks may have called in sick.

Sabre has the new, award winning Spirit on display and also the popular Sabre 386. Lines have been short so far but Saturday promises to be a tad more crowded.

Hope to see you there

Too many boat shows?

Attendance at some shows around the USA has dropped and organizers and exhibitors are trying to figure out why. Perhaps some of the boaters who read this blog can jump in here with an opinion? Are there too many shows or not enough? Is the content what you want to see? If you aren't seeing what you want to see at shows tell me more about what you would like and I'll pass it along to the show promoters.

One other thought I had was that the Internet now has such great tools available that in many cases you can see the details of lots of boats from the comfort of your desk or arm chair. Is it possible that the web has taken the place of actually attending a show for some boaters?

New York, New York

The New York boat show kicks off the season for boating enthusiasts in a few weeks from today. A lot of folks think that running the show through the New Years holiday is a bit crazy but that's the only time when the Jacob Javit's center is available for the show. Being in the heart of one of America's largest population centers helps to make this show a success whether it's a holiday or not.<p>And New York isn't the only one with a January date. London, Boston and Toronto all follow within a few days of New York Boat Show. Hope to see you at one of these shows

And the shows go on

Sorry I have not been too prolific of late. Lots of new product development nd very busy days

We launched the new 34 powerboat in August and we have shipped six of them now so they are now appearing in shows around the USA and in the UK at Southampton.

For our sailboat fans we are finishing tooling on the new Sabre Spirit weekender and she will launch in March 07. Hull mold is done and deck plug is in the shop now.

The Sabre 52 Salon Express powerboat is in the shop now and she will be ready for a January launch.

Meanwhile the fall show season i going along and there are plenty of shows at which to see out latest boats. Upcoming this week is Boston in Water then we go to Annapolis Sail followed by Annapolis powerboat and the biggie, Ft Lauderdale

Over the next few weeks and months I will be blogging about these shows and all of our new boat so stay tuned. Again sorry for the break in the action

The best in the west

This week the biggest sail only west coast boat show takes place at Jack London Square in Oakland California. Sail Expo Pacific is one of four sail boat shows operated by Sail America. The Sabre 386 will be on hand along with models from most major sail boat builders. The Sabre 386 looks fantastic with her dark Green hulll and Sabre white deck. Come on by and take a look and say hello to the folks from Sabre who will be working the show.

A Boatshow with Soul

As boating industry professionals we attend many boat shows over the course of a year. Some,  such as Genoa, Newport and Miami are very large and have all the glitz. Other, more local shows are much simpler, and Sabre is by far the most elegant boat on display.

But if you are a show junkie you need to attend the Maine Boat Builders Show which takes place in Portland, Maine on March 17 to 19^th. The show is held at Portland Yacht Services, located at the eastern end of the Portland waterfront.

What makes this show so different is that all of Maine’s yards, small and large, display their latest creations. The quality of the workmanship on these boats is extraordinary.

And don’t expect to be greeted by a dapper sales person at every booth. In most cases it’s the boatbuilder himself who is telling you about how he or she builds the boat. Exhibitors are encouraged to have their boatbuilders in their displays.      

So if you really want to get a boatbuilding fix, this is the show to attend. Sabre will have a Sabreline 38 Express at the show and Back Cove Yachts, our sister company will have both a 26 and a 29 Back Cove on display.