Genoa International Boat Show 2014 – everything is relative
by Guy Nowell, Asia Editor on 4 Oct 2014
Genoa International Boat Show 2014 - 54th Salone Nautico Internazionale Guy Nowell
http://www.guynowell.com
Einstein was right: everything is relative. After a decade or so of visiting boat shows in Asia, the Genoa I Saloni Nautici or 54th Salone Nautico Internazionale (depending on which part of the press pass you read) is quite an eye-opener. Look over the balcony outside the press room, and the boats are lined up in military formation, Med-moored stern on to the wharf. RIBs from 1.85m all the way up to 44’. Keelboats from 20 to 65’. Not just one or two, but hundreds – nearly 300, actually (and another 250+ small boats indoors). And they come in packs, or at least families. Grand Soleil is showing off five different models, and there are four X-Yachts lined up side by side. Hanse have a small fleet of 10 boats here, and there’s a Melges 32 regatta going on during the boat show, with the Italian Audi-sponsored sailing team available for chit-chat between rounds.
And at the same time, everyone is telling us how disappointingly
small this show is...
They really do like RIBs in this part of the world – they are the sports cars of the Mediterranean world. A big growly Baia 100’ is what you need to complement a thatch of chest hair and gold chains, but a 40’ RIB with accommodation, galley, heads, sun pads and a bbq goes down very well with the speedos and teeny-bikini set. Once again it’s a perception/experience thing. In Asia our exposure to RIBs tells us they are workboats of various sorts – sail training support, coach boats, camera boats, safety boats and so on. In Italy they are (evidently) pleasure vessels and recreational boats in their own right – Italian manufacturer Capelli make some pretty slippery models in Cremona, and they make ‘hard’ boats too. They tell us that the softies out-sell the hard by more than two to one.
Yesterday we watched while Ferretti’s Chief Engineer, Andrea Frabetti, demonstrated the smartest piece garage door design we have ever seen – a pair of hydraulic rams working in opposite directions against a central point that allowed the stern of the boat to fold closed like a book and then – in the same movement – open up like an up-and-over. There was even an appreciative crowd watching, and a round of applause when the operation was completed. Brava!
Sanlorenzo, another home-grown Italian brand name is the biggest exhibitor in the show. They are probably also the biggest name in the show too, with some justification. If you talk to the builders and the salesmen on each manufacturer’s stand, they will all tell you that their boats are the best for all sorts of good reasons. Fair enough. We have been around boats long enough to be a little chary of the smoke and mirrors that surround almost everything that floats, so we sat down tonight with a collection of hard-boiled journos and a couple of glasses bottles of Uncle Alberto’s paint stripper and asked them what they thought. The answers were interesting, and unequivocal. We’ll write this up when we have worked out how to do so politely.
Tomorrow we will bypass the big white boats and the rubber boats, and take a look at some of the ones with keels and masts – that is, if the UCINA handlers let us off the leash for five minutes. Stand by to stand by.
PS. tonight’s after-hours Press Programme took us for dinner at a tango restaurant. The only Argentinian in the party claimed he had fallen down the steps getting off the bus…
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