Ribex 2004

[LURCHER]

How disapointing the Ribex site was . i am glad we only came from Chichester.I hope people who come from far away will not be as disappointed as I was .Very little in the way of interesting trade stands with the exception of Steel Dev it was all very quite and half hearted. No doubt others will not share my views but I feel I need to log my feelings.
Great ride there and back in superb Humber 7m with 175 Merc really flies and is doing its bit for OPEC !

[John Kennett]

Was the Steel Developments stand really the most interesting thing? I know they're nice people and everything, but surely there must have been something more exciting!

What about the gas turbine RIB, the on water displays and the RIB rides?

Could it just have been a bit quiet because it's a week day?

John

[stingray]

Yes, very disappointed,,passionate ribster wanting to spend,not any better than Weymouth sorry

[Neal]

Having just got back from my first RIBEX I can see Lurchers point. IMHO, yes if you are looking a new RIB there are lots to see and try on the water and even just window shopping its good to see them. The exhibitors on the water including the display events were very good . the blast out on the water in the 10M Voyages of discovery RIB was good fun but i also felt the waterfront village could have been stronger. I am glad i went and would go again but it would have been nice to see more stands and even find a RIBnet hat & flag .
Neal

[John Kennett]

From all the publicity it sounded like this RIBEX was going to be better than ever. What did you want to see or buy that wasn't there?

John

[Manos]

Photos any body?

[stingray]

More RIB related chandlers,

[Phil Davies]

This was my first visit to a Ribex exhibition and admittedly I had expected something a little busier, particularly in view of the extensive marketing of the show. Yes, the lack of trade stands was disappointing, although having visited the London and Southampton boat shows this year I didn't necessarily feel the need to peruse racks of clothing and accessories. On the other hand some visitors may well have wanted to and certainly a bit more in the way of electronics would have been interesting.

The real purpose of my visit, however, and I suspect that of the majority of show goers, was to sea trial an array of RIBs and engines to gain a better insight into what differences exist between specific engine/boat combinations. In this respect the show was superb and there was no shortage of available RIBs to hitch a ride on.

Particularly memorable from my point of view was the blast in the 7m Humber Ocean Pro with Suzuki 200hp where the helmsman ably demonstrated the massive mid-range performance of the V6 and quite astonishing sea-keeping characteristics of the hull. The 715 Revenger coupled with Honda 150 made an interesting comparison, and although we reached 50mph fairly rapidly, felt relatively pedestrian after the Humber!!! The show also afforded the opportunity to trial the new Evinrude ETecs for the first time in public, and the twin 90s on the Redbay were impressively quiet.

It's always much easier to criticise these events than it is to organise them of course, and I think on balance Hugo Montgomery-Swan should be congratulated on putting together what is undoubtedly a difficult and complex event to arrange. The pricing was more than reasonable and the Red Funnel High Speed Ferry link proved very effective. I certainly had a great and highly educative day and was able to trial more RIBs in one day than I could possibly hope to do in an average season. Well worth the effort to get there!

[Outnabout]

Lurcher beat me to it. My views are similar. All a bit of an anti-climax.

The static area seemed empty compared to the Sport Boat and Rib show a couple of weeks ago. Now that may have been as you suggest because it was Day 1 and a weekday. However "a subscription to Fishing Rod Monthly" and a charcol sketch of my mugshot are not what I went for. (2 of the exhibitors on the inland side!)

Water front was well organised but lots of empty tickets on the dockside, not all of which were for boats out on trial.

What did I go for? Well mainly to see what was new in the world of ribs, have a chat with someone about fuel systems and undergo some retail therapy with a gizmo or two. Didn't seem to be much of any of that unless you were planning a rib purchase.

I've only been to one previous Ribex and I wouldn't now feel the need to go again.

I'm sure others will get more out of it than I did and I have no wish to decry all the hard work that goes into organising these events.

May the sun shine for those of you visiting over the weekend!

[MarkWildey]

Just come back from RibEx and must say I got what I expected. It is unfair, and I know no one has done it, to Southampton or the London boat show. To my mind the range of boats on the water is what I wanted to see and there were more different types than I expected.

All the dealers were happy to let my 3 year old to play on there boats. His favorite of the day was Alan Priddy's boat.

I only wish I had my boat there !!

Cheers

Mark

[ribraff]

I've been today, 'got in at about 10 'ish this morning so we were pretty much the first ones there, like a lot of others have said there was'nt really much going on on the stands but throughout the day it was buzzing on the pontoons, the lifeboat display was great but the Army one was probably the most pathetic i've seen, everyone disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke which had been released from the boat!
Having spoken to some of the traders they said that it has been worth thier while and i've managed to pick up some business too! I'm not a big fan of Hugo's but i think he deserves a pat on the back.

[tim griffin]

yes a bit disapointing but some great boats to go out on mine is there
met the Jackeens , Chrissalse, Hightower, BruceHawkser, Seabass(collected him from Portsmouth) sorry not the right boat for him but at least he had a good look around and a nice guy, think he liked going fast ? but yes shorside could have done with a few more exhibits but overall not a bad turn out for the first one in Cowes
regards tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[codprawn]

I am going down sunday - would love a chance to go out and try a few different kinds of Rib but dunno if I have the cheek to ask!

[MarkWildey]

codprawn
Go for it..

All they can say is NO

And stamp on your foot
Perhaps poke you in the eye

Cheers

Mark

[MarkWildey]

My lasting memory of RIBEX 2004

Orange Cat Suits !

Mark

[tim griffin]

my god wer,nt they amazing dont think they will catch on though
tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[willowkis]

We enjoyed our day out at Ribex. I do agree there were not enough stalls to look at, but, on the waterside there were a very good selection of ribs.

It was a real pleasure meeting the Jackeens again, also Hightower, Bogib, Ageing Youth to name a few.

It was also a real pleasure meeting the people from Rib-ex and Tim from Griffin Marine. (What a gent!)

I haven't downloaded my photos yet.. if no one has posted by the time I have, I will post a few (Including the Orange ladies!)

I am sure Chrisallse will have a few comments to add....

It was a real shame we didn't bring a life jacket etc with us, it would have been great to join in your treasure hunt, maybe next time?

I hope you all had a great day and I for one am looking forward to meeting up again..

Kim (Willowkis)

[Aarib]

I too spent the day at Ribex, there were excellent choices of ribs to view, but not enough 'stalls etc' to look at.

[Paul Glatzel]

Personally i think the last two days have been good. Friday was inevitably quieter - much like the press days at London & Southampton - whereas today was very busy. Regarding the off water side it must be tough to get trade suppliers like chandlers to the event as as much as we like RIBs they only constitute a % of the market whereas with some other shows the actual throughput of people is far higher due to their appeal to wider markets (I would have liked to see Garmin represented though). Cowes seemed a perfect venue except of course for the extra travel it will mean for some. From a trade perspective (in respect of training, as i cannot comment in respect of RIB sales/possible sales) it has been successful and if tomorrow repeats today it will have been well worth the time, effort & money invested.

As someone else stated its easy to criticise such events but far harder to stage them. All credit to Hugo & his team.

Paul

(With Scorpion RIBs on their stand)

[Keith Hart]

Hello folks

I was not at RIBEX 2004 so I have no personal experience of how the show went. However through my work for the 'International Motorcycle Show' at the NEC with around 200,000 visitors per year, I do have some experience of staging exhibitions.

At the 'International Motorcycle Show' the first public day, known as 'preview day', the cost of entry is twice that of every other day. This is so that you can pay extra and come on a day that there are less visitors. About 12,000 people decide to do that. Others prefer to come when there are larger crowds, such as at the weekends when there are about 25,000 visitors. So you see it is not easy to get the balance correct for everyone.

Different perople will have different opinions about the same event. the 'International Motorcycle Show', which is one of the biggest public shows at the NEC, employs the services of a market research company to gather details of visitors opinions about the show. It is always interesting to see how different peoples' opinions can be about the same thing. Many people will say they liked one particular aspect of the show and some may say they thought it was rubbish. The show organisers always respond to the information gathered.

You should let the organisers of RIBEX know if you have any gripes or praise about their show. I am sure that HMS and his team would welcome any constructive critisism. It is of course in their interest to produce a show that is popular with the majority of their visitors.

You can contact the RIBEX organisers here: ribex@ribmagazine.com

It will only take you as much time as it did to post on this forum, and you are guaranteed to have your views heard by the people who can change things.

Posting your views on the forum is good, but please let the organisers know as well.

Keith (how about a SIBEX) Hart


ribex@ribmagazine.com