Paris Boat Show

I have been to Paris and back as well. We announced a new partner that will help us on the design side. We still have a long way to go on the sponsorship but the marketing people 9taht is not me) are working very hard to try and find a few more tens of millions. The boat show was pretty impressive. This is the first year that I had the time to walk around and look and also, frankly the first year that I knew enough French to be able to have conversations with the vendors. There are three halls that seemed at least as big as the center hall in Atlantic City or Chicago Strictly Sail. One for sail, one for power and the center for most of the accoutrements… like clothing, hardware, propellers, dishes, water purifiers etc. etc.

In Hall 1 – where we were – the ACC boat was in the corner with us next to ONE of the racing pools with fan powered wind for IACC races. There were others for kayaking and sailing and windsurfing etc. etc. There were also major boat builders and manufacturers for instance Yamaha – HUGE propellers for sale….a lot of kayaks, multi-hulls, rotomolded dinghies, beautiful wooden keel boats, canal boats – you know 40 foot cabined pontoon boats and a large variety of the newer sports – kite boarding and of course windsurfing.

The major boat manufacturers bring in what I can only describe as ‘buildings’ PIX

They have 6-8 boats surrounding platforms with offices below and then separate two story buildings for ‘business’.

Also note the wine and cheese…

I walked through the show about 30 minutes before closing and I swear 85% of the people had little cheese and wine and snacks set up and were all gathered around talking and drinking and socializing. That is a nice way to end a day a the show ?