Spent today at the Southampton Boat Show with some friends. It's an absolutely massive event with every kind of vendor there is that has something to do with boats showing off their wares. The best part is going onboard all the different kinds of yachts and checking them out.
Sunseeker had a massive stand so I climbed aboard one of their baby luxuy powerboats since it had almost no line-up. It was a Predator 55 and sold for a cool £576,000. Yep, it was nice for the bottom of the range. Very comfy. Even had a small garage for a speedboat. The top of the range is around £5,000,000!
I stuck mostly to checking out 40' sailboats. It's the size I like. Not too big; not too small. Of the ones I looked at, my favourites were the Elan Impression 384 and 434 distributed by Moody. Excellent layout, comfortable, light and airy. No idea about how they perform. Base price of the 384 is £103,000. Reasonable compared to the cost of similiar size yachts.
No, I'm not about to buy a yacht but it's fun to think about it. If I was seriously going to try to do a lot of sailing, I would rather buy into a syndicate of some kind and share the expense with others.
The saying on this side of the ocean, I'm sure, is as true as your side:
ReplyDelete"A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money"
There are two special days in a boat owner's life - the day the boat arrives, and the day the boat leaves - for good (:)
ReplyDeleteSuch cynics!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI quote from Wind In The Willows...
`What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: `Never been in a--you never--well I--what have you been doing, then?'
`Is it so nice as all that?' asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.
`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----'
`Look ahead, Rat!' cried the Mole suddenly.
It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels in the air.
`--about in boats--or WITH boats,' the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. `In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not. Look here! If you've really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long day of it?'
I think you found the best boats at the show. We did a lot of research into various boats of the size you mention and eventually bit the bullet and bought a 434 which arrived here in Singapore last week.
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Hope you find your boat one day.