HAVE YOUR SAY IN PRINT AND ONLINE
BOATING ETIQUETTE
I’ve recently been enjoying, mainly, a fortnight in Ciutadella da Menorca, a popular spot for boaters. However, through your pages I feel I should warn your readers of a reprehensible practice to which I, and others, were subjected.
On a peaceful Sunday morning, a man was taking his boat out of the pretty harbour actually using the sails – big white flappy things – as the motive power for his boat! Imagine my shock.
The effrontery of this sort of “look at me, I’ve got the knowledge, skills and appetite for hard work that allows me to sail my craft”, clearly intended just to embarrass the other onlooking boaters.
It has to be stamped out soonish or an isolated incident like this could turn into a trend. What does he think they put engines in them for anyway?
I can only apologise on behalf of the poor deluded soul for this outrageous display of unnecessary seamanship.
I trust you responded with several loud blasts of your horn, firing up both your diesel engines and lots of frantic churning with both your bow and stern thrusters to alert your neighbours to this unforgivable lapse in boating etiquette.
IN PRAISE OF BROKERS
Having bought and sold many boats in the last 20 years, I wanted to share my most recent experience. You may have heard the saying that the best two days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Well, I absolutely disagree. We sold our last boat privately in 2021 and it was like parting with my best friend.
Having spent the last 14 months looking for a new brokerage boat, I have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly of boat brokers. I have been on viewings where the owner did all the selling and the broker just watched or didn’t turn up, and others where I knew more about the boat than the broker.
However, most brokers were very helpful, knowledgeable and understanding. I recently had the pleasure of dealing with Derek and Richard at Solent Motor Yachts and finally bought the Beneteau GT38 from them that you featured in your July issue.
From the initial approach Richard observed that I knew what I wanted, let me complete the viewings solo and helped with any questions I had afterwards. Derek then supported with the financials and paperwork.
There were a few niggles during the purchasing process; however, these were swiftly resolved and we took delivery of our boat in time for the summer season.
Parting me from my hard-earned cash can be a challenge but I would definitely recommend and use Solent Motor Yachts for selling and purchasing a boat again in the future.
