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Bump's World - April 2011
April 1, 2011
SPRING
Spring 2011 has arrived, most people recognize spring by the little flowers pushing their heads up, but I look at our front dock to see if there is anything there. Yes the Hanse 545 was launched last week and is now rigged and ready to voyage to her new owner in Connecticut.
I also get a great show every afternoon when the Manchester/Essex High School sailing team practices right outside my window. I love watching then roll tack and almost tip over. Sometimes they do tip over and that water is really cold. Boy I wish that when I went to high school we had a sailing team. I played basket ball on my high school team at Masconomet in Topsfield. In spite of my enthusiasm for basketball, I knew it was not my life's calling.
Yesterday I attended the wrap up meeting for the New England Boat Show. The show has an advisory committee and I represent the sailboat dealer perspective. My big input for the 2011 show was the pool with radio controlled sailboats. Overall the reaction was positive from the other show participants. Next year the show plans to expand activities in the pool. These could include organized sailboat races, fly casting demos, and power boat docking demos.
The boat show has committed to another one hundred thousand square feet of space for next year. There is a lot of concern about the industries' ability to fill this space. The show will probably have to expand into other water related businesses. For example they might have a coastal living section of the show.
As always I was very interested in what other dealers in our industry think the current market conditions are. I generally consider this group to be the most optimistic group ever. That was not the case this time. Across the board everyone thought business was flat. The only good news was that it had stopped going down.
My experience so far this year is way more optimistic. We sold three boats at the show and walked away with several good leads. The attitude of the people attending the show was way more upbeat than last year. Since the Newport Show we have sold 17 new boats. That is 3 times last year. This does not approach the best years of 2004 and 2005, but it is a huge step in the right direction. These sales include 3, yes 3, Hanse 545s this month. Again I stress we have a long way to go to come anywhere near the 2005 days.
I sort of felt that in 2007 when I saw business trending downward, everyone else in my industry was screaming that things couldn't be better. Now I see hope and they are still depressed about the economic crash.
I'm so glad winter is gone. I think winter is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, because it feels so good when you stop.
I'm looking forward to my first sail of 2011. Not that I'm counting, but there are fifty more days until the first Wednesday night race.
Please mail comments to me at Bump@newwaveyachts.com
Bump Wilcox
Bump's World - April 2011April 1, 2011
SPRING
Spring 2011 has arrived, most people recognize spring by the little flowers pushing their heads up, but I look at our front dock to see if there is anything there. Yes the Hanse 545 was launched last week and is now rigged and ready to voyage to her new owner in Connecticut.
I also get a great show every afternoon when the Manchester/Essex High School sailing team practices right outside my window. I love watching then roll tack and almost tip over. Sometimes they do tip over and that water is really cold. Boy I wish that when I went to high school we had a sailing team. I played basket ball on my high school team at Masconomet in Topsfield. In spite of my enthusiasm for basketball, I knew it was not my life's calling.
Yesterday I attended the wrap up meeting for the New England Boat Show. The show has an advisory committee and I represent the sailboat dealer perspective. My big input for the 2011 show was the pool with radio controlled sailboats. Overall the reaction was positive from the other show participants. Next year the show plans to expand activities in the pool. These could include organized sailboat races, fly casting demos, and power boat docking demos.
The boat show has committed to another one hundred thousand square feet of space for next year. There is a lot of concern about the industries' ability to fill this space. The show will probably have to expand into other water related businesses. For example they might have a coastal living section of the show.
As always I was very interested in what other dealers in our industry think the current market conditions are. I generally consider this group to be the most optimistic group ever. That was not the case this time. Across the board everyone thought business was flat. The only good news was that it had stopped going down.
My experience so far this year is way more optimistic. We sold three boats at the show and walked away with several good leads. The attitude of the people attending the show was way more upbeat than last year. Since the Newport Show we have sold 17 new boats. That is 3 times last year. This does not approach the best years of 2004 and 2005, but it is a huge step in the right direction. These sales include 3, yes 3, Hanse 545s this month. Again I stress we have a long way to go to come anywhere near the 2005 days.
I sort of felt that in 2007 when I saw business trending downward, everyone else in my industry was screaming that things couldn't be better. Now I see hope and they are still depressed about the economic crash.
I'm so glad winter is gone. I think winter is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, because it feels so good when you stop.
I'm looking forward to my first sail of 2011. Not that I'm counting, but there are fifty more days until the first Wednesday night race.
Please mail comments to me at Bump@newwaveyachts.com
Bump Wilcox