In 2012, just four short years ago, the Palma Boat Show was cancelled. A cash-strapped Government cut funding, exhibitors weren’t interested, and, à la Rogers and Astaire, they called the whole thing off. In 2013, just one year later, the Palma Boat Show joined forces with an all-new Palma Superyacht Brokerage & Charter Show in a (nearly finished) all-new Moll Vell Marina and more than 30,000 visitors showed up. It was nothing short of a miracle.
Fast-forward to 2016 and the event has firmly cemented its place on the boating calendar. The Palma Boat Show and now-more-snappily-named Palma Superyacht Show had 30% more boats than 2015, 65 of them over 24 metres in length, including the biggest selection of sailing superyachts of any existing boat show. Expectations were high for 40,000+ visitors…
After well over a dozen Apprentice columns working for ‘other’ nautical businesses, it seemed only fair that I put in a stint for The Islander. Jefe Mr Relph decided my CrossFit addiction and ability to chat nonsense with anyone made me an ideal candidate for distributing the hot-off-the-press May issue of the magazine. Issuing me with a wheeled trolley, a long-sleeved (thank goodness, it wasn’t exactly summer) The Islander logo’d polo shirt and a partner in crime, KT, my mission was to get several copies in the hand of every exhibitor at the 2016 Show – 220 exhibitors with 600 boats FYI. Pas de problème Señor Relph.
Wheeling our printed wares along the quaysides I soon discovered that KT had an even stronger ability to chat nonsense with anyone than I, and what could have been a tedious task became a full-on social feast. From smart superyacht crew to AV geeks and chirpy boat brokers to ladies who “sell sh1t tanks” (her words not mine, she was in the wastewater management business) we hobnobbed our way round the Show and discovered some rather interesting things:
- Unless I am mistaken (forgive me please) the opening address by Francina Armengol, President of the Balearic Islands, was entirely in Mallorquin. KT and I happened to be having a coffee right next to her mic stand (just a quick one Mr Relph, only a mini work shirk) and when she finished speaking, in Mallorquin, we assumed the Castellano/English/somethingorother translation was next. But it wasn’t. So if I am not hard of hearing (possible, I did spend a lot of time shouting in clubs in my yoof), I would say around 95% of the highly international audience didn’t understand a word. I think this is (at best) odd.
- Sexism, or maybe it’s just flanter (AKA flirty banter), is rife in the boat world. Despite wearing jeans and the aforementioned long-sleeved polo, several male exhibitors quipped “do you come with the mags love?” or “we don’t need The Islander but we do need you”. Oh how I laughed – not. I still had April’s BBC2 Sunseeker documentary “Britain’s Biggest Superyachts: Chasing Perfection” fresh in my mind, where they filmed rather male-orientated approaches to selling, many of which involved flirting with the wife – “a wife that occasionally runs amok, and buys shoes she shouldn’t really spend money on” quote unquote. It might be nice for them to gently ease their way into the 21st
- When it rains, the Show grinds to a halt. About two hours into our paper round the heavens opened. Paper-based products and rain don’t mix too well so we spontaneously took shelter with lovely Brian from Azul Yachts, Palma’s Beneteau dealer. He had ordered a pretty sun terrace arrangement for his stand, with potted lavender and a slatted wooden shade. The rain cascaded through, the carpet gathered splashy puddles, and we retreated into his tent zipping the sides up to protect piles of Beneteau brochures. We spotted other brokers huddling under flybridges and ducking into the toilet blocks. Brian, if you’re reading, thanks for your hospitality, you saved us and our Islanders from damp disintegration.
- There are some flippin’ lovely boats at the Show. Some amazing works of art. Naturally, we each chose our money-no-object favourite as we wandered around. KT fell for an Eagle 44, an exquisite J-class-inspired day sailer by Netherlands-based Leonardo Yachts. Leaning more towards the motor side of things (I am inherently lazy) I went for the all-new Norwegian Fjord 48 Open, a sleek fast thing of beauty. We’ll be back to place our orders next year.
So that was that, a very pleasant, social whirlwind of an apprenticeship with a generous dose of precipitation for good measure. And, for any advertisers reading this column (hundreds of you I suspect), if Damian or any other The Islander salesperson has ever promised you that the magazine would be “hand-delivered to every exhibitor at the Palma Show” you know it’s true – because KT and I did it.
Sarah Drane
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