| Kippreport.com

Kipp loves massive yachts

March 2, 2011 3:31 by Samuel Potter

If Kipp stands up, we can see the world’s second largest superyacht parked just off the beach. And before you think, “Hmmm, Kipp must have a nice view,” let us stop you there. Being able to see people frolic around in the water and on the beach in the sunshine all day may make for a nice view, but that is not necessarily a good thing. We slave all day in the knowledge that just metres away someone is having a great deal more fun than us.

But we digress. Why can we see the world’s second largest superyacht out of the window? Because it belongs to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and it’s here to lend a bit of clout to the Dubai International Boat Show.

The show opened this week, on Tuesday at the Dubai International Marine Club (near Barasti). According to Khaleej Times, 425 boats are on display this year, and the man cutting the ribbon was non-other than the owner of Dubai, the behemoth cruise ship proportioned vessel we can see out of the window.

It’s the 19^th edition of the show, and over the five day run it’ll play host to 30 regional launches and 11 global premiers. “It is a spectacular showcase for those companies who see the enormous business potential in this region and Dubai is perfect in terms of infrastructure, geography and international trade experience to realise that potential. The Dubai International Boat Show is both an industry leader and a global attraction,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, chief executive of Dubai World Trade Centre, the organiser of the event.

In short, it’s a wonderful place to go if you like big boats. Kipp likes big boats, but curiously we’re not so enamored with events like this – we don’t like looking at things we, in all likelihood, will probably never own. It’s tortuous, and we consider it a form of masochism.

We can easily acknowledge, however, that some people can afford this stuff, and for them the show’s probably great. For instance, within an hour of Sheikh mohammed cutting the ribbon, an AED 1.4 million cruiser was sold. Bahrain boat builder Al Dhaen had the new 500 Wavebreaker on display for just 50 minutes when the contract was signed with a visitor from Qatar.

Abdulla Alfahal, Director of Administration at Al Dhaen Group, said: “Even before the event began, we were totally confident that the Dubai International Boat Show was going to be a great success for us. To make this sale within an hour is fantastic, and shows that we have not just the highest quality boats, but that we are attracting the highest quality customers. The potential for sales at this event is greater than any other in the Middle East, and I have no doubts that over the course of the show that we will see the results of that. There are very serious buyers here and we provide them with exceptional service. We listen to our customers and we deliver.”

Kipp is not jealous, as we have plans for a purchase of our own. There’s a nifty foam pirate ship on sale at Pottery Barn Kids, and we figure that, with a small loan from the bank, we can take her home.

That should settle us down a bit, and make us less jealous as we watch the inevitable deals from the boat show roll in over the next few days. In the meantime, we’re off to stare forlornly out of the window at a boat that is bigger than all the houses we have owned or will ever own all put together.

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