Day 3: The World Beyond Sail

- January 26, 2020

Ultra Anchors

So we made it through days 1 and 2. After 1 we were dazed. After 2 we were enthused. What would day 3 bring? For me to begin with, a broken toenail. No hiking boots today. Fortunately, I'd brought along my most comfortable sneakers.

It was Monday and much slower at the show. We had a meeting with Bert and Marlene Frisch of the TransOcean club organized by Alan Tyson-Carter, an OCC member who lives outside of Dusseldorf. The meeting went very well and I think there are ways that OCC and TransOcean can align to the benefit of our members. TransOcean has exhibited at boot for years. OCC may give it a try in 2021.

Alex wanted to visit the Ultra anchors booth. We've been so happy with our Ultra; we wanted to see Jan and hear about what's new. So we boogied over to Hall 10 and found the Ultra exhibit right away. It was vast. Things are obviously going well. We'd noticed that many of the top yachts exhibiting at boot were displaying Ultras on their bows. One rep told us that Ultra had asked them to display their anchor and they said sure. Most boats are sold with Deltas. I don't know how they got that concession, but it seems a bit squeaky to show a Delta on a shiny new revolutionary design yacht worth millions. The Ultra makes a statement.

Jan was indeed there and quite busy. He's the sales manager for UltraMarine. They had lots of sandpits with all the baby anchors to play with. They had several 'new' Ultras on display. We learned from Jan that, because the anchor is so good, it doesn't need improvements so they never had anything new to talk about. Because there's a trend to go matt finish and black in boats, they took the SS Ultra and sandblasted the surface to distress it and give it a matt silver finish. It doesn't cost much to do that. The matt black one is a different story. The process is so complicated it costs more than the anchor to achieve the effect. But it gave them something new to talk about. Jan says they've had 40% annual growth for several years. Not bad.

Next, we went in search of 'the wave'. The wave is a tank with flowing water that simulates waves or rapids. We had no idea what to expect but were blown away by this. If only I was 25 again, I'd have jumped right in. It's not exactly like surfing because you are not going with the water but against it. Let me demonstrate with video.

Then we found the windsurfing pool. That was a bit more contrived. The guys were pulled along on zip line and then did a trick at the end. Um, not so exciting.

We listened to a couple talk about sailing an Atlantic circuit with their little children in German. Most of the talks are in German. Perhaps next year, we can encourage a few more in English.

We also walked around to the powerboat and megayacht areas, which we passed through quickly. No need to dawdle amongst monster yachts, monster ribs, and monster go-fast boats. It was interesting to see how many electric models are being introduced. I wonder what will happen with battery recycling at the end of the lifecycle? One thing we did spot was a group restoring classic old powerboats. So we stopped by to ask if they buy restoration cases. Perhaps they'll buy the Century Black Demon that's sitting in our garage that Alex will never get to. They were interested.

The third restaurant

There was so much to look at. That night, the Ocean Tribute Awards were to be announced but once again, we were tired and looked forward to one more dose of German beer and food. So we skedaddled to Altstadt and stopped for dinner at an eatery that was too busy for us to get into on day 1. We were seated with two locals whose German dialect Alex couldn't understand. I ordered deer meat with wild mushrooms and spaetzle and Alex ordered sauerbraten with knodel. Delicious! When the locals left, the waiter brought over two Israeli guys who were working the show. They ordered a pile of meat, loads of sausages, pig knuckles and so on and proceeded to devour the lot. Alex laughed about it all being quite kosher.

Meanwhile, we started up a conversation which ended in us laughing hysterically and hugging each other for good-byes. One had bought an X yacht and did an Atlantic crossing but his wife won't sail with him after a bad experience. He is desperate to circumnavigate. Ori, who had been in the armed services, has started an app called BoatClick which he was peddling at the show. They were from Tel Aviv and great fun.

So another nice experience in Dusseldorf. Back to the hotel and to sleep for our last night.