The trouble with most award ceremonies is...
The trouble with most award ceremonies is that they are rarely geared towards the people that matter, namely the buying public. Most of the time they are little more than an excuse for a bit of mutual back-slapping.
Even major events like the Oscars or the Brits have little relevance to how people choose which film to see or album to listen to. When was the last time you flicked through a listings magazine making a note of all the films with great supporting actors before deciding which one to see?
That’s why when we decided to expand on last year’s IPC Marine Awards with a dedicated set of awards for motor boats, we opted to base it purely on what mattered to you, the people who buy boats. You wouldn’t choose your next boat on the basis of it being the best flybridge launched during 2006 or the best sportscruiser from a British manufacturer, you’d buy it because it’s the best damned boat you can afford regardless of launch date or country of origin.
To that end we have teamed up with our sister magazine Motor Boats Monthly to launch what we believe are the only boating awards that really matter. The winners, which we will announce at the London Boat Show in January, will not be chosen to keep our advertisers happy or to celebrate some clever but largely irrelevant new innovation, they will simply be the boats that we consider to be the best in their class. In other words, the boats that we would recommend our closest friends to buy.
As well as celebrating the very best boats in build today we also wanted to reward outstanding customer service. That’s where you come in. We would like any reader who has experienced top-notch service in any sector of the marine industry to take a couple of minutes letting us know. To find out more about the Motor Boat of the Year Awards and how to nominate companies for the service award, see p11 or log on to www.mby.com/awards and follow the instructions.
Whether any of this month’s offerings will make the shortlist only time will tell. The Fairline Phantom 48 test on p48 makes fascinating reading, as does the Absolute 56 with its secret engine layout, although for sheer drama nothing tops the 100-knot superyacht featured on p112. If there were an award for the best boat capable of burning 1,480 litres of diesel an hour, it would get my vote every time.
