Edition
Boats for sale
| Laser 140101 Tynemouth |
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| Rossiter Pintail Mortagne sur Gironde, near Bordeaux |
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| Laser 28 - Excellent example of this great design Hamble le rice |
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List classes of boat for sale |
Harken.... |
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winging it 
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Joined: 22 Mar 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3958 |
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 Topic: Harken....Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 10:59am |
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.....not coming to the London Boat show:
Harken news who will be next to pull out, will the show survive? I wonder even if such a big glitzy show still has a realistic place in the recession hit world? |
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the same, but different...
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JimC
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Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 11:12am |
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Ah yes, but which is in trouble, the Boat Show, or Harken UK, or neither, or both.
The London Boat Show has survived a lot of recessions, but times do seem to be changing. The old thing of collecting brochures and seeing what's new seems a lot less relevant now you can see full up to date catalogues on your PC every day. |
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 11:55am |
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We're at the London Boat Show...
..only it's the London Bike Show now and you get two for the price of one, no three if you count the extreme ramblers in the Outdoor bit, watch out for beardie thousand yard stares.. |
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Presuming Ed
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Joined: 26 Feb 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 641 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 12:02pm |
The other thing it used to be good for was picking up bin end kit at sale prices. But that's dried up, as it's far cheaper to run a warehouse somewhere and stick it all up on t'internet.
e.g. (no connection, just a satisfied customer)
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 12:09pm |
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It's difficult to order that Guiness and the ambience that their stand creates over the internet.
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pondmonkey
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Joined: 12 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2202 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 12:16pm |
Well as a long term. very happy Harken customer I'm pleased to see they won't be wasting their hard-earned profits in a pop-up shop at the LBS. If you've ever dealt with the Harken team direct, maybe for technical advice pre-sale, they are frankly awesome, don't over sell and find a solution that really works for your needs. Continued investment in direct support, or product training via their retailing channels, is imho, a far better move for them. I'm sure the LBS will survive, but the market dynamic has been changing for some time. As an actual sailboat owner I accept that it no longer tries to justify itself to folks like me. I'm more than happy to leave it to the gin palace tourists from Russia who juxtapose so nicely with the eclectic mix of 'outdoor types' that have just come off the train from the Birmingham Caravan and Camping Show. I will miss the Guinness though...
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alstorer
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Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 2:55pm |
First time I went to the boat Show was only six years ago; back then it was the whole of both the North and South hall (before the new extension), the outside Marina was the entire length (apart from the bit taken up by the RN) and the outside concourse was covered in dinghies.
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Al |
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Mister Nick
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 01 Aug 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 389 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 3:19pm |
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I can see why, it seems to be fairly sh*t from a sailors point of view nowadays. I've been for the last 3 years and been disappointed for the last 2. It was effectively just a load of shops charging full price for everything, with lots of huge gin palaces that I didn't want to see manned by bored, rude salesmen and a few random bits of tat thrown in on top. I can see people going to meet up with friends at the Guinness stand and whatever or maybe if you planned to see something specific (I went last year to look at the J80 on Key Yachting's stand) but apart from that it seems kind of pointless. I think that it's being aimed at the general public and tourists who want a spectacle, not boaty people. Why would Harken bother advertising their gear to people who don't even know what a ratchet block is or what a winch looks like?
Edited by Mister Nick - 30 Nov 12 at 3:20pm |
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2547
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Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 6:10pm |
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The London boat show is a lifestyle show for the super rich who want a Sunseeker, Oyster or Princess ... it has little relevance to small (less than 50 ft) boat sailors so I'm not surprised Harken are not bothering. The costs must be huge.
I bet they still go to Southampton and The Dinghy Show, thiese are the key places for small boats sailors.
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RS400atC
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Joined: 04 Dec 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3011 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 12 at 6:16pm |
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TBH, the LOndon Boat Show is more of a trade show. A lot of the suppliers are not very interested in people who only want to buy one of something, unless its an Oyster 56.
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