Ibex 2003

[duluthboats]

What can I say, I’m back in Minnesota and it was -6 F when I arrived, 82F when I left Florida. I do like winter but another week in Ft. Lauderdale would have been nice. The people who put on the show made sure the weather was perfect the whole week. I now feel qualified to recommend at least one hotel that one should NEVER stay at and I found some nice places to eat and drink.

The show was great. I had a grin from ear to ear for two whole days. Everyone I talked to was happy to answer my questions, even after realizing I wasn’t going to be a big sale. One of the high lights for me was the demonstrations of resin infusion. After watching several examples most of the mystery is gone for me. I also enjoyed Rhino’s workshop, and the presentation of the new marine plug-ins. I touched and looked at many building materials that I had only read about. Information overload is the only way to describe it. I’m happy that I went and will go again, maybe in two years. I was asked not to take pictures in the show, but I did get a few of boats in the area and I'll put them in the gallery soon.

Gary

[Willallison]

I was asked not to take pictures in the show

Not by someone from Hinkley, who thought you might copy their oh-so-original styling was it

You guys are so lucky to have something like IBEX (and the big boat shows) on your doorstep. I'd donate the smallest piece of my anatomy (little TOE thankyou! ) to go to a show like IBEX. You can look at all the brochures, articles and web pages you like - but there's simply no substitute for poking around the real thing.....

(look fwd to the pics Gary...)

[duluthboats]

OK, here are 2 pictures from Ft. Lauderdale. I took 2 flash cards with me, filled 1 with boats and 1 just as a tourist. The card with the boats had some kind of failure and I haven’t been able to pull the pictures off of it. The pictures here are from the tourist card, but they still have boats. My Gallery

Gary

[Willallison]

My 1st thought when I look at them is to pack the bags and get on over there Alas, I'd spend the rest of my days sitting by the river watching the boats go by - and I'd be divorced !

ps - that is a big shed - how's your coming along?

[Jeff]

I'm sorry you lost your boat pictures from the trip Gary - strangely I had just ordered a new 512 MB flash card before reading your post and it arrived today -- it makes me wonder if I should have gone with 2 256's instead so as not to put all my eggs in one basket. I don't think they fail very often though, so maybe just a badly-timed fluke.

The pictures you posted look really great - it's now dreadfully cold outside here too, and the picture by the river definitely makes me want to go next year!

[Mike D]

Hey all

I have heard the words warmth and sunshine but I must check their meaning in a good dictionary

You want to see some canoe racing? Check this out
http://www.trailcanada.com/photos/qu...ercarnival.asp Possibly the only race where waterproof boots are more important than paddles! Scroll down and see the race pics on the right.

From my neck of the woods in February every year. Do you think it would be a good location for the America's Cup? Maybe Polarity would like to test his hull here

Michael

PS: some nice pics of Québec City on the site. Only town in North America classed as a World Heritage site by the UN. Wonderful place for a vacation

[Willallison]

Hmmm - almost feel guilty for enjoying the warmth of one of the hottest Aussie summers on record after looking at that (though it sure does look pretty). This more closely resembles how we've been spending the past few months....

http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/sh...t=1&thecat=500

[edneu]

I watched the resin Infusion demonstration both days, Fiberglass / Polyester version and the carbon fiber epoxy version. I was probably standing right next to Gary.

One thing that was really cool was the ZCORP product, they have a "printer" which creates 3D objects by glueing together a powder using a HP inkjet ( see www.zcorp.com) They gave me a sample Z-print which is a fully fucntional roller bearing which they printed from a 3-D CAD drawing. They had a model of a cruising sailboat, which had part of the hull cut away and you could see all of the bulkheads and accomadation. I have no affiliation with this company but it was really amazing!