AFTER THE BOAT SHOW

I just completed my 28th New England Boat Show. My first show was at the Commonwealth Pier, now called World Trade Center. The Pier was wet, cold and dreary. There were so many yacht dealers from Marblehead that we had our own section. This section was laid out with the Marblehead street pattern with each dealer in relation to its street location. This was an interesting approach. Marblehead was the yacht buying capital of the world.

The show then moved to Bayside and things were drier, still darkish, with the sailboats still up in the rafters, somewhat of an improvement. Both these shows were full of disease. I never made it through the week with out a severe case of the flu. The show hours were long, closing at 10PM and moneylenders and other venders had parties on site after the show. Often I got home well after midnight. Nine days of this was exhausting.

I preached about the boat show special and was able to take deposits on boats at the show. Customers looked to negotiate one dealer against another for the best deal. I often saw the same people several times during the week.

In 1991 New Wave started and Parker and I rented a 10 X 10 booth with only brokerage boats. I watched thousands of people walk by.

In 1993 New Wave became a Sabre Yacht dealer and we got a Sabre 38 into the show. There was often a 30-minute wait to get on the boat. Parker and I were very busy. Joe O’Neal, who runs the show, gave New Wave as much space as he could, but the show was always sold out of space.

In 2007 the big news came that the show was moving to the new Boston Convention Center. I have never seen a better building for a boat show. The floor space was 3 times as big, the ceiling is 100 feet high, and the space is bright and airy, the bathrooms are many and very clean, no waiting. We were able to put the masts up on the sailboats. I lived through the show without getting sick both times now.

In 2008 the show moved to a new schedule. It was a month earlier, mid January. I wondered how all this would affect traffic and sales. The traffic turned out to be OK. There was only one snow day, so the weather overall was good. The Patriots played Sunday afternoon and the place emptied out.
I’m glad to see so many Patriots fans.

The new show is beautiful and makes for a great presentation. Most boat manufactures really put on a good show. The bad news is it coats us about 3 times as much. I worry that we will sell 3 times as many boats? There was worried talk about the high price of fuel and state of the economy. There did not seem to be any panic. People acted seriously interested in the boats and we are following up on many leads.

I’m glad the show is over and I look forward to selling some boats and going boating myself. Each day now has a little more sun light, spring is not far away.

Please mail comments to me at Bump@newwaveyachts.com

Bump Wilcox