Ribex 2004

[Alan Priddy]

You should have heard of the things that some of the "Newer" builders where telling Steve Lloyd and myself! I enjoyed the three day event including the hangover on Saterday but if it is a question of how many of them will still be in business in twelve months time PM me and I will offer some advice.
After saying this NOT ALL where bad but I would have expected an higher level of preparation from some of the "established" makers

Alan P

[codprawn]

I really enjoyed the show - have to agree nowhere near enough stalls selling things - but plenty of RIBS.

Found most people to be really nice and helpfull - in particular some Dutch blokes who brought their 10m commercial over - very nice boat and looked well made.

Went out on just one RIB - a Ballistic from JBT marine - got to say they were really nice and the demo was fantastic - it is a pretty quick boat with a 225 ficht on it - tell me someone - do ALL RIBS feel like that at 60mph??? Basically it was a case of hanging on for grim death! The boat was loving it - I am NOT ther world's best passenger - you should see me in a car!

Very dissapointed by Scorpion - yes their boats were stunning - but I found them very toffee nosed!Firstly I was accused of being with the press and needed permission to take photos - she MAY have been joking but don't think so! Then when I indicated that I was in the market for an 8.5m RIB I was still largely ignored. I asked if it would be possible for a demo and was told no because they had to deliver a boat with it's owners - it was lateish on the Sunday - 3pm - fair enough and Mr Jolly did say sorry and I was welcome to visit the factory and then I was ignored again! Although one boat did vanish on the delivery trip there were still TWO scorpions there - one just like the type I am after was sitting there with the engine running and pottering back and fore - and they tell me I couldn't have a demo!Yes £35,000 is not cheap but in boating terms it is nothing - Sunseeker gave me much better treatment at last years Southampton show - and that boat cost £3.5 million!!!

The staff at Ribex were great - I had problems booking online with Red Funnell and had to pay full price - when I told them this as I went into the show they gave me a free entrance ticket - well done!

[Andre]

Hi Guys

very interesting thread and must say having been to every RIBEX since the last one in Weymouth and this time for the first time as an exhibitor I for one very much enjoyed it. I agree the static display was very poor but here no fault of RI and I am sure that next time round the companies which got cold feet will exhibit. The weather was just great as well . There were many rides and it did not take a long time to get out into the rough. Just think how long it took from Ocean Village, also isn't just great to go to a boat show in your own rib.

I would have liked to see the visitors pontoon linked to the exhibition because there were some interesting ribs out there as well and I am sure many like me enjoyed the walk around ( me the hopping around which I did not enjoy)

Must also say that I had a chat with Hugo just before closing time and he asked me to pass his thanks to the forum for organizing the conference during RIBEX and he hopes that future conferences will also be held during the RIBEX exhibitions

Dissapointing for me was the fact that my leg was in plaster and that I could not go out into the Solent as much as I would have wanted to specially taking some of you guys out

Alan P many thanks for your presentation very very interesting

Kevin/Daniel big thank you for your input

Andre

[Bilge Rat]

Hi everyone

Want to say a big thank you to Jason and Bern for there superb hospitality Saturday out on La Bamba for the round the island treasure hunt, and for introducing mrs Rat to the Ribcraft 5.85m well done to Daniel for organising the treasure hunt.
Also want to thank Andre, Andre's wife and David B for there hospitality on the parker stand, nowdoubt i'll see more of David in the comming months as we share the same bit of water and i wish them well in there business venture.
It was great to meet so many of you there and put faces to names, everywhere we seemed to go we bumped into Richard B and Louise even when we were trying to have a quiet lunch on Saturday, (does Richard ever drive Blue Ice ? )
For us the event was all about meeting up and having a good time, the on water side was excellent, the displays great and the BBQ after the talk by Alan on Saturday evening was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend, yes peoples observations about the display side was correct but i didn't really go there for the clothes or chandlery side of thing, though if i had wanted this sort of thing Cowes has this side already covered with a multitude of shops selling everything.

[Mikey]

I have to say we had a great time at the show.

Like most of the comments, it would have been nice to see more in the village but there were certainly plenty of boats on the water!

Nice to see Bogib and Ageing Youth! Hope you enjoyed the rides ... we took over 35 people out on the race boats over the weekend ... and most came back with large grins!

Did anyone get pictures of the raceboats? I'm sure most pictures were of the orange cat suits .... although they were the same ones at RIBEX 2002 (different ladies).

Mike

[sea bass]

ribex 2004

It was my first time in ribex,i came all over from my island in south brittany(ferry,car-ride,ferry stmalo portsmouth,and ribride with Tim and Lee from solent ribs) quite a budget + hotels
good things:i had the chance to meet some real nice people so friendly like ribnets menbers (Louise and Richard who ribbed me back to Portsmouth in their Blue ice ROCKET,tim griffin and his collegue Lee Fairwheather very friendly and sincere,agingyouth humber fan,"he might be right" etc) but also the rnli team,the army major john, the humber family dad and sue great people etc
the chance to ride in some great boats, unfortunately the sea was very quite to check the big sea hability

the bad things as i wanted to buy a 6-7 meters ,ribs companies were misssing like for example Osprey and the Vipermax,Tornado
when the companies were here sometimes they could not give you any documents papers missings etc
I have been riding
Solent,strong boats ,trustworthy people and friendly but too fast hull for me and not enough deep for me inside as i am looking for a protective boat in though conditions
Coastline ,not so impressed!
Redbay great boats very good comfort in the choppy sea,but only one type of console and prices nearly 4000 pounds over the concurence
Humbers great deep boats ,seems very reliable,great comfort at sea,lots of sitting configurations and as i had a chance to meet them a great family business with a lot of passion they know what they are doing 40 years in the business thanks to Sue and her dad ,hoped you had your docs
Ribcrafts ,very strong boats and very heavy so big engines ,alot of gas unfortunately the cosole was in the front didnot prevent from a wet ride
Parker nice boats ,but i decided i did not want to go for inboards sorry André for not showing, but i had only one day ,friday
conclusion though to have a definitive opinion in such a short time plus some brands missing
thanks to all of you and hugo who made these show alive ,even if it is uncompleted

[Alan Priddy]

RIBEX 2004 was always going to be a difficult one to organise. The success of any show is down to the companies that show up to showcase their products.
The problem with this or any type of select show is convincing the parts manufacturers to turn up. It has been suggested to HMS that the next show (whenever that is) is renamed RIB FEST and have more boating events for all the family.
I have to say that having spent the entire three days on site and having the oportunity to have a good look at all the boats without the salesman or owner present, some of the boat were absolute crap and should never even be on the water! In fact one of the boats from the Southern parts of the world should be cut up and sent back,these are not the sort of boats that anyone should even consider going out in let alone own!
Overall I thought the show went very well and HMS and his team deserve a good pat on the back. Alan P

[Nick Hearne]

Come on Alan name names!
Nick

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Andre

I agree the static display was very poor but here no fault of RI

Of course it was their fault! Who else other than an exhibition organiser can take responsibility for selling space? Word on the pontoon has it that they could hardly give it away!

Must also say that I had a chat with Hugo just before closing time and he asked me to pass his thanks to the forum for organizing the conference during RIBEX and he hopes that future conferences will also be held during the RIBEX exhibitions

I bet he does

I did have a good time at the show yesterday, but I also had a fair idea of what to expect. Unless you know enough people to make a social event of it, there's not really all that much to keep people occupied (it's a nice add-on to the RIBnet gathering though ). Anyone travelling a considerable distance expecting a fully packed day was likely to be disappointed.

As well as the lack of shore side exhibits, there seemed to be some major players missing on the water. I may have missed them, but I didn't see anything from Avon or Zodiac (the same parent company, but separate distribution), Tornado (although XS-RIBs were there which are also distributed by Barnet Marine) or Osprey for instance.

Getting sea trials was fairly easy, certainly better than Southampton, although you could probably have a go on many of the more popular RIBs at any RIBnet gathering just as easily! I went on:

Solent 5.9
Quinqarimarine/Humber 10m
Humber Offshore 8m
K4 6.5
Parker 9m cabin
RIB-X 700

Not bad for one day. A couple of them were people that I knew anyway, but for most I was just a punter. I didn't pretend to be interested in buying any of the boats, just asked for a demo. In some cases it took a bit of persistence to identify who was actually in charge of things and get their attention, but other than that it was no problem. One made us go back up to their stand to fill in a form for "insurance purposes" which seemed a bit unhelpful -- especially when this form didn't require the names of all the passengers or anyone's signature!

Talking to exhibitors there were mixed reports of their success, with some claiming to have sold several boats over the weekend and others declaring it a waste of time and money.

The weather was lovely though

John

[Seb]

I was unable to make it however, by listening to the majorities comments, my disappointment about this is rapidly fading!!

Were there any good commercial boats on display?

Ocean Dynamics, Delta, Halmatic for instance....I so, what and any pics about?

Cheers

SEB

[John Kennett]

Ocean Dynamics had a boat there, as did Halmatic, but I didn't see any sign of Delta. There was a big commercial RIB from Holland (name anyone?) and a 10m passenger RIB from Quinquarimarine.

There was actually quite an array of very different RIBs on show. The days of all RIBs being much the same have gone forever. There are still plenty of traditional RIBs around, but the likes of Scanner and Cirrus had some very modern looking RIBs.

Did anyone get a go on the Tek Jet by the way?

John

[Suzuki416]

On Saturday, I took my RIB to Southampton for the journey across the Solent to Cowes.

After leaving my vehicle & trailer with Stu Hopkins (Thanks) we procceded off to Cowes.
The weather was great, the water flat'ish', & the boat working fine... so ambled across at 25 + knots.
On arrival at Cowes we were told where to moor up & found we had just missed the treasure hunt ( ). Still had to unpack anyway..
Had a very quick look at the show but thought it was quite small (the only other boat show I've been to is the LDS!) & anyway wasn't really interested in all the junk that gets sold at this type of event & wasn't looking to buy another RIB either.
We all went out for another spin & had fun for about 40 mins playing with the sportboats & watching all the RIBs on test rides. When landing this time I found I had a puncture on the rear port cone & this was letting a fair amount of air out.
Solution: Tie up (tightly) to the biggest boat nearby (thanks Top Banana) & go and inspect all the boats/RIB's in the visitor boat park. What a range of boats there was to see.
Chatted to all around (even the old people on P********) & generally had a good time meeting the crowd that make up part of RIBNET.

This was what I went to RIBEX for. To meet the people who make up RIBNET, not to buy more junk for the boat or to get test rides on £50,000 RIB's that I'm really not interested in nor can afford.

So in conclusion I enjoyed my trip to Cowes

[Scary Des]

Does anyone know what happened to the flying rib? I was expecting a fly-by and it all went quiet. Des

[Nick Hearne]

Des at the moment is is not legally aloud to fly in this country! Do not ask me why but it can't.
Nick

[John Kennett]

It was flying on Sunday around lunchtime, but I hear it had a bit of a mishap in the afternoon.

From the (unconfirmed) rumour I heard it was being towed just above the water, kite style, by another RIB and turned over when the tow line was released!

John

[Nick Hearne]

so not flying on it own then?
Nick

[Andy]

It did fly, about 11:30 Sunday morning cause it gave a fly by of the racing RIBs I was out in. Came down very low, buzzed us then was off again. That was the last time I saw it.

[Andre]

The FIB was going to take off just off the entrance to the Medina and as it was being towed as I understand a rope perhaps the tow line, caught the wing and tipped it over. Our Parker 900 cabin was just passing and Chris our very brave crew member without any hesitation dived into the water to assist the pilot. He managed to free him and with the help of some other ribs the FIB was towed away.

I did not see this rescue but believe this is what happened. Perhaps someone will complete the story.

Andre

[willowkis]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Actually I moved them to the Gallery section, not to this thread. Sorry for the confusion!

John

Thanks JK....

[Islander]

After paying the £4.50 I was shocked !!
What awaited ahead was like entering a "Bomb Scare Zone"
It appears the show has just gone downhill year after year aside of being cancelled last year.
Took a friend with me and he felt exactly the same. Very little of interest on shore and the on water exhibitors quite bland.
Sorry! Thats what I feel