It was the first boat show which presented the new Omega 42 in over three decades, supposedly. As building of this yacht has been stopped in 1998, this might have been the last year the boat would have been seen on a show. Likewise, launched in 1978, supposedly, that´s almost half a century since her inception and world premiere during such an event. Can you imagine? Well, that changed the last weekend as we´ve presented the new Omega 42, hull #401, at ancora Yachtfestival in Neustadt, Germany. And that´s, my dearest readers, was a pretty interesting experience!
This occasion in May has been becoming quite a big in-water boat show over the past years. Dubbed “the Cannes of the North”, ancora boat show is indeed Germany´s biggest and certainly one of the nicest Baltic Sea event für sailboats and increasingly also for power boats. In this, the cost factor to attend this event is comparatively low: No transport as you can sail there easily, no infrastructure like booth construction and low extra expenses. With 140 yachts exhibited this year and over 160 exhibiting companies, it is a factor for Germany´s boat market, but also for our neighboring countries, Scandinavia, Poland (which is a seafaring nation and sailing-crazy, did you know?) and even the Netherlands or Austria.
Why taking part in a boat show for modern yachts?
But why did we attend with our Omega 42? Well, it´s easy: We want to sell this boat. At least, one new built per year is possible in the shipyard. And since my yacht will be finished in late 2025/early 2026, it would be great to acquire somebody who appreciates and admires Peter Norlin´s iconic lines and wants to have a brand new Omega 42 for himself. So I thought, let´s do it! Let´s test how a 50 years old design holds up against the brand new sailing yachts. And believe me, it was such an amazing, exciting and interesting experience! Both the reaction from the visitors – our potential customers – and the reaction of the professionals, which I don´t want to call “competitors”.
We started with a bit of a handicap, to be honest. WINDFAENGER, hull number one of the completely new built Omega 42, is a boat from 2020. Since then, she has been sailed quite intensively. If you ready my blog, my story about the regatta last year (parts 1 and 2 here) was certainly a highlight in this respect. That said, this yacht of course comes with quite a few battle marks. And of course, a yacht that has been used by a tough sailor for four seasons in a row doesn´t look like a brand new boat: Gelcoat has already suffered a bit, no matter how much you polish it. Scratched and even bigger damage from hard infights of the regattas sum up, wooden parts like the tiller weathered and the living area … well, somebody lived in there. So, in essence, when we pimped her to brighten the boat up for the show, it was more a kind of “damage control”. A clear disadvantage in view of the one-year old or brand new other exhibits.
On the other hand, the fact that our “new” boat has been in extensive use for 4 years now showcased – for the ones who knew – how much solid craftsmanship is in her really. I mean, look at modern new yachts after four years, some – charter yachts for example – are absolutely destroyed after even a few seasons. But of course, having my yacht shiny and brightly mooring there in a brand-new state would have been better, on the other hand, that´s reality: Props and thanks to Stefan, the owner, who contributed to this event. After all, he sacrificed not just the boat show weekend, but also three days to sail here in the first place and two to three days more to bring her back. So, how did people react seeing the Omega 42?
Anachronism, foreign particle and basically invisible.
For me, ancora boat show was the, I don´t really now, fourtieth, boat show since I joined the boating industry. A no-brainer, in terms of organisation and execution. But it was the first boat show ever for me, not showing “the latest”. Interesting. As visitors began to roam the pontoons, I noticed quite strongly a very apparent effect: We were sitting on an invisible boat. Surrounded by Hallberg-Rassy to our left and Linjett Yachts to our right, having Najad Yachts vis-à-vis in front of us, most – if not the bulk – of the visitors just went straight by. Never noticing the boat. Not even consciously looking! Just as we were thin air. As if there was an empty berth.
Amazing to see, really! Their eyes just briefly sweeping over the boat, something in their brains signaled “not interesting” and so many, many people didn´t wittingly took a second, further or thorough look at us. Apparently, the “modern” and “brand new” yachts grabbed their attention: The sharp lines of our bow didn´t. Well, that was expected, of course. We deliberately moored the boat bow-first – just as it is meant to be and you would do in real life too. The sharp bow with its huge overhang was the only yacht of the whole show moored like this. A small step, the same any owner would use to get aboard, in front of her (with a nice decorative Omega 42 doormat) was of course a big obstacle for the ordinary “sailor”, who is getting used to wide, ground-level bathing platforms, lowered down and inviting to effortlessly step aboard. That´s not possible with our Omega 42.
We were a foreign particle, a major anachronism. Not compatible with 90, ah, let´s say 99 percent of the boat show visitors. And that´s as expected. Because, why trying to be something we just simply aren´t? The Omega 42 is not a boat with a convenient easy wide open access. She is not designed to welcome nowaday´s “sailing” crews. She indeed is an anachronism! A strictly “for sailing” designed boat. A Scandinavian yacht to the bone. It was absolutely fine for us to see most of the boat show visitors just passing our yacht, not even recognizing her as an exhibit. Most of them may have thought we were ordinary sailors who didn´t evacuated before the show to make place for the exhibits … As I said, that came as expected. Because we weren´t interested in those 99 percent. We placed our focus on the rest, the 1 percent. Those, who recognized and acknowledged our anachronism. Those, who saw the invisible boat. And there were surprisingly many!
If you know, you know …
I had already been anticipating the, let´s say, limited reception, of our Omega 42. She is indeed a very special yacht. So, 99 out of 100 visitors passing by our yacht without even taking a look did not came as a surprise nor was it something I regretted. I was more interested to see how our boat would be received by that little one percent. Like a study in the open, like a wilderness photographer of some kind, I put myself on the watch, trying to get a grasp for those who would be attracted by the sharp lines of the Omega 42. And it didn´t take much time: We´ve had a surprisingly high frequency of visitors – and that´s the first good news of it all. This one-percent-faction is not so small at all! Funny to watch how they stopped, seemingly baffled by acknowledging the unusually sharp bow section, putting their foreheads to wrinkles.
Many stepped back a few feet, looked at the hull all the way back to the stern. Noticing the again most unusual stern section with its huge overhang, slowly, the wrinkles on the foreheads flattened, giving way to a slight smile. Now, their view went up all along the sleek, slightly bent Seldén mast: As we´ve had the tallest mast of all boats displayed in our vicinity, the smile turned into a bright one: Could it be true? Still a bit reluctant they came nearer again to our bow, now acknowledging the door mat I´ve prepared – yes, it was true! This is a classic!
We were lucky that the berth to our portside was empty: Here, a Dehler was supposed to be berthed but at the last minute the boat show organizers had decided to put her next to the Hanse boats, which indeed makes perfect sense. Lucky for us because now it was perfectly possible to admire the full broadside of the pretty design in all its iconic glamour. When I observed that another for another one our invisible boat materialized, I usually approached the guests standing on the bow, asking them if they knew what Omega 42 stands for. Kind of 50/50 chance that they indeed did, and if so, it were mostly middle-aged to older sailors. Weathered and seasoned skippers in their 60ies or even older, now smiling and truly admiring Norlin´s lines.
“Thank you for showing such a beauty!”
Up until now nothing new. Well, maybe for the fact that so many old-school seasoned sailors roamed the jetties of that boat show. What really struck me and took mee completely off guard was a completely different age group. Especially during the sunny, wonderful Saturday (weather was indeed a bit too cold and rainy on Friday and very, very wet on Sunday), we´ve had several extremely young sailors aboard the Omega 42. With young I mean 20 to 30 year old guys and girls who were mostly engaged with regatta sailing and small boat racing. Some of them literally freaked out over the Omega 42!
They asked to come aboard, sat down and were full of praise for the yacht. One said: “I am so happy to see a thorough sailing boat at last!” One other couldn´t believe that a present day shipyard was really investing to build a boat that was 45 years old. “Usually, it´s the same kind of boring wide sterned planing hulls, right?”, he said. Nothing against the fun of planing, but “seeing a boat with these tempting lines being re-vived is absolutely fantastic!” Another group of three literally dived into every nook and cranny, asked for construction details and if the hull could also be made of Epoxy. Elevated and … really happy to see our yacht, one looked us deep in the eyes and said: “Thank you for being here!” It may sound overly exaggerated and full of Schlock, but that´s the truth.
Now, what can we learn from this? First of all: The Omega 42 indeed is a boat that still has its fans and, much more important, is a yacht that can excite new people. The lines are timeless, highly attractive and also kind of alluring. And aren´t exactly those the aspects which set apart a classic from an icon? Proof of concept, done: She truly is! Upon arrival of the yacht, one of the Najad staff came over to our boat, seemingly happy and full of praise, quite a number of professionals paid tribute to our yacht, which made us especially proud. We apparently have done something right.
There is a market for the Omega 42, even 45 years later!
For me, personally, this first boat show was a test. Honestly, as much as we would love to welcome somebody signing the building contract for hull #003, I highly doubted that this would happen. First of all, WINDFAENGER is a four year old yacht that has completed pretty intense sailing seasons. In this, of course, she is a “used” boat and not necessarily a brand new yacht. So, pretty much like going on a date, I simply didn´t had enough make-up to paint over the marks of four years. But this will change: With my boat being finished in spring 2026, it will be a different game.
As both Heiner, boss and initiator of the Omega 42 project, and his master boatbuilder, Jonas, visited the venue, they could witness firsthand how much appreciated and important their work was. Seeing all those young and old people praising the boat, feeling happy, looking at the details and acknowledging their craftsmanship, I am sure, this will be an extra boost for their motivation to deliver an equally high class crafted, beautiful and spotlessly manufactured yacht: Ready to be shown, this time in a brand new state. So, what am I going to do?
I was able to check some ideas and strategies for a future boat show appearance of ALPHA. One of which is a kind of roadshow along Sweden, visiting the most important marinas, attending different local boat shows of festivities. I would bet that the next owner of a newbuild Omega 42 will be a fellow Swede as this immortal icon is especially immortal in her home country. So, for now, Omega´s first appearance on a boat show since decades was indeed success, I´d say. Tailwind for our project in so many respects. Thanks for all who visited us, it was a pleasure hosting you aboard.
Like the Omega 42 sailboat? Here´s more for you:
Building process of hull #401, my new boat.
“Clean lines, neat sailing”, about Peter Norlin´s ingenuity
Old boat, slow boat? Not at all! Racing the Omega 42! Parts 1 and 2