So cool it makes black look daggy…
by John Curnow on 1 Aug 2016
2016 Sydney International Boat Show was well attended and companies like Bavaria had huge displays. John Curnow
Last week it was all about warming up. Now it is very cool, both on the mercury and tech meters. Yes, the super-cool nights in Sydney were brightened a lot by the gleamingly sunny days, but you’d have to think that the coolest bit of kit going around at the Sydney International Boat Show was the Garmin gear that Jason Browne and his team had on display.
For sure the Jumbos are wonderful, but the fact that it can seamlessly integrate and display in rotation mode on both your Garmin Quatix watch and Nautix-In-View display into your glasses was really handy. No twisting of head from the rail, straining to see if another trim change was needed, or keeping an eye on precedings from the galley whilst the billy boils. Probably little wonder that virtually every America’s Cup team is using Garmin this time around.
Yet it was the way the new touch screen display operated, and the abundance of material they can offer from a plethora of sources and in a multitudinous fashion that had me in rapture. Add in that it can also wirelessly become your lap top monitor and the price tag became attainable, if not entirely forgotten.
Now coolest could have also been applied to Salvatore Serio and the Dufour presentation on Friday night. Salvatore had just stepped off a plane from a European Summer. I had learned from the Volvo Penta event the night before, so I came armed with beanie, fleece and spray jacket. Dufour’s President was wearing just a suit, but smiled all night and spoke with all. Thanks go to Matt Hayes and his team for marvellous hospitality to warm me up, and also to two of their guests, Owen and Brad. The latter two with great tales of merriment!
Cool could have also been applied to the first two nights at sea for the Gold Coast fleet. Many would have loved to have gotten away on the Wednesday in the certainly brisk Westerlies that whistled through Sydney that week. However, at least one veteran of the East Coast scene had his eyes fixed on the snowfields and all the fresh white stuff that the massive lows had dumped on them hills.
Yet is not entirely about the East Coast of Australia. It was terrific to see that there were many people over from Western Australia for the show, including local yachting identity, Manfred Speicher, who amongst all his accolades is a Safety and Sea Survival Course Instructor and represents Pantaenius Sail and Motor Yacht Insurance in the big State.
So jumping right into the here and now, and it seems the start of the Gold Coast race was entertaining with collisions and impacts with rocks and so forth. Just look at dear old FB. Scallywag retired and the silver R/P bullet looks to be having a nice work up ready for Summer. They’ll go on to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week looking for more competition to get them sorted. Talking with Mark Richards back at Sanctuary Cove Boat Show you could tell there is more than an element of unfinished business with the great race after last year’s issues.
Rico said, “It’s always an exciting trip North for us, with differing conditions on offer each year, sometimes challenging, which is all about getting us set up for the Hobart. Our wonderful team are all keen to get back into it and intent on doing a good job.”
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