Annapolis Sailboat Show Mood and Spin

[4arch]

With the Annapolis show only a couple of weeks away, it will be interesting to see how the destruction in the Caribbean and Florida will affect the mood of the show and how various vendors are going to try to spin those events to keep the money flowing.

I assume if you’re working a charter company or insurance broker’s booth you’ll have customers show up with many questions to which you may not yet know the answers and perhaps more than a few customers will be coming to vent their frustrations. It’s going to be hard to keep up the appearance of a laid back, carefree mood in the face of that.

It’s probably too soon to get many people showing up with insurance checks to spend on replacement boats and I assume many new customers who were contemplating buying charter management boats will be much more reticent (I know I’d want to wait at least 6-12 months to see how charter companies are treating owners, what their continued financial viability looks like, and how insurance payouts and future insurability play out).

So, am I right to expect that this year’s show might be just a little more somber and subdued (especially at the charter tents) than in years past? Or will everyone show up pretending nothing unusual happened and everything's fine?

[Shrew]

Good salespeople are 'good' because they have the ability to put a positive spin on the negative. I worked in sales for a long time and spent a lot of time around salespeople during and even after I got out of sales. One common denominator with a good salesperson is they have the ability to make a complete stranger feel like you've been their good friend for years.

If someone is unable to spin the situation or gets frustrated with the inability to address tough questions and situations, then they are simply not good at their job.

[Kenomac]

Seven years ago, we went to a boat show, purchased an Oyster and placed it in the Med. Not everyone goes looking to buy a boat to put it in front of next years hurricane.

[Cthoops]

There may be a change in tone at the charter tents, but I imagine there will still be plenty of people like us at the vendor booths - people who already have their boat and are looking to outfit them in preparation for cutting the lines.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this show. We have eleven months and five days before we take off, and we're going to be making some major (for us) purchases next weekend! I'm definitely not pretending that nothing has happened, but certainly nothing has happened to change our plans, and I suspect we won't be alone.

[rcscoggin]

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

-Louisa May Alcott

[maxingout]

I wish that I could go to the boat show to see all the new navigation and communications gear. It's time for a refit on Exit Only, and I want to get some of the "latest and greatest", but unfortunately, I will be on the west coast missing out.

[DMCantor]

As it happens, we are completing our repatriation into the US in Annapolis the week of the boat show. We had planned to stay in a hotel for a few days while waiting for our container to arrive. NOT! Hotels that week are $400+ per night. Oh well, sleeping on the floor of our new house won't be THAT bad. (maybe).

[Catamaran Guru]

Hey guys, we will be at the boat show in Annapolis with bells on! We have just returned from the Cannes show in France and people are very optimistic and in fact we sold several boats there for the Caribbean charter season. Everybody, although cautious, wants to help and are therefor planning to charter in the Caribbean and not all of the islands are destroyed! We will be mostly at the Dream Yacht Charter booth during the Annapolis show and they told us that they are firstly trying to fulfill all booked BVI, SXM and Puerto Rico charters at their other bases in the Caribbean and meanwhile try to restore their facilities in Tortola, SXM and PR as quickly as they can. These guys in the islands are resilient and they come back much quicker that one might expect. We have lived through many years of hurricanes in the islands, including Louis (cat 5) and Lennie (cat 4) in Sint Maarten and even though things were dire, we all jumped in with vigor to fix things and the island was operable in no time, even if not at full capacity. Give them a helping hand by chartering or cruising there if you can! They don't need charity as much (although that is nice) as our support in getting their economies going.

[SV THIRD DAY]

From a cruising gear vendor perspective, I have had more clients calls and email me at this point before the show wanting to pre-order and finalize the order at the show than I have seen since 2010.

So the indication certainly seems to be that Cruisers are going cruising.

On a sad note, from clients I follow on Facebook, I can count 11 Cruise RO Water makers under Water and sunk with the ship...

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Cat' Guru.

[D Rock]

We just got back to Florida after Irma. We left our Tayana 48, NOMAD secured and ready on Thursday before the storm to return to Texas (remember Harvey?). When we left Irma was forecast to romp the East coast. We severely considered the possibility of a total loss. My what a difference on day makes.

We returned to no damage. In fact the marina we are at had little or no damage this storm. The one absolute is that every storm is different.

The point of all of this is, on our return we noticed (as we have after every storm we have been through) that people's moods seemed a little better...they had lived through something. The resiliency of the human spirit is pretty amazing.

Our Tayana 48 is for sale so we have a vested interest in how this season will effect people's attitude. I am looking for the new owner of NOMAD, but didn't want someone else to loose their boat to find ours.

Peace, love, Nomad
D

[Suijin]

The word is that the charter companies went to boat manufacturers and essentially muscled their way into the production queue on the basis of being those manufacturers' largest customers. So I think what you're going to find at the show is companies (that provide charter boats) being extremely conservative about delivery dates with anyone not throwing their boat into charter.

I also doubt that many people will have insurance checks by the time of the show, and even when they get them most will hit the used boat market given the delta between what they get a check for and the price of a new boat.

I think outside of the usual and customary charter makes/models you're not going to see much of a change at all, other than perhaps potential buyers widening their net if they can't get that Lagoon they were planning on in 2018.

Since it always rains during the boat show...if it's sunny, you might actually see people in a good mood.

[4arch]

Originally Posted by Suijin

The word is that the charter companies went to boat manufacturers and essentially muscled their way into the production queue on the basis of being those manufacturers' largest customers.

How is that possible since charter companies rely on individual private owners?

[TheOffice]

The charter companies act as a dealer and line up private owners so buy the inventory. There will be a shortage of charter boats for several years.
Its probably a good time to do one-way charters as the companies try to move their fleets.