Barcelona barcos
On Sunday I went to the boat show (that is, Barcelona’s Salón Náutico). Of course, sailing mania is peaking here, with the 2007 America’s Cup happening in Valencia (not so far away) — its first time “back in Europe” after 150 years, apparently. Anyhow, if you’ve been to boat shows in cities that don’t have water, let me tell you it’s a bit different than when you go to a boat show in a sunny Mediterranean port city. On display were all kinds of giant boats, some probably bigger than the ships in that powerful armada we call the Canadian navy! (joking, fellas!)
Who has money to buy these things (at 800k € and up)?
Some of the yachts were three stories high, all had huge plasma TVs, tons of leather upholstery, brushed metal fridges with ice-makers, giant blenders (for making cocktails for your 50 dearest friends), closed-circuit security cameras (also to help you navigate the darn thing into harbour, since from your top-deck cockpit you can’t really see the tiny jet-skier about to be crushed under your hull).
Here a floating performer is seen balancing a bird on his forehead…
Once you got tired of seeing giant, unaffordable boats in water, you could take a shuttle to the giant new convention centre south of Montjuïc to see more unaffordable boats out of water.
You have no idea how big even a “small” sailboat (e.g. 8m long) seems when you are underneath it…until you stand underneath it.
Of course, there was much sighing and lusting after the shiny new sailboats… It was interesting to see the wide range of quality. Some boats (e.g. the Bénéteaus) really seemed beautifully finished, whereas others seemed like they were scrimping on quality parts (plastic latches, squeaky floors) just to try to bring the price down from, say, 80,000 € to 75,000 €… I mean, if you’re paying that much anyhow, wouldn’t you want to go for quality? On top of that, most of the prices didn’t include VAT (which, for luxury items like these can well exceed the “regular” 16%!). Or sails, or extras… You know the drill — it’s just like buying a new car where, once you’re finally convinced to spend more than you have, they “remind” you that there are lots of other shiny bits you “need” in order to happily operate the vehicle.
They even set up a huge wall of fans in the convention centre, so people (kids, mostly — the most effective weapon in the salesman’s arsenal) could try out small sailboats.
Perhaps the coolest things I saw were the kayaks from Hobie that you could “pedal”, with cute penguin-like fins that flap back and forth through the water. They offered a chance to try them out in the kiddie pool, but it was late and time to go home for dinner. But there is a place near here where you can try them out…or buy one for “only” 2,000 €. Unfortunately, at this show for the rich, these were the cheapest vessels on offer.