Port Vandemere Community Blog

Tuesday August 19, 2008

Its almost that time of year again, when the nights get cooler and less humid and we head north for the fall boat shows. Last year’s Annapolis MD Sailboat show was a super sucess so we decided to try Newport RI this year along with the Annapolis sail show again and then adding the second power/trawler show after that. This year we have decided to make it a little more interesting, since I’ve decided we are going to sail there…
Our sales/office force will stay at home for this one, in the nice new office, and we will go at as genuinely as possible. I was thinking late one evening that what better way to represent to folks that our community was designed and built by real sailors ‘I use that term loosely’ since at least 50% of the time the iron jib is on, than to sail there (or motor) ourselves. So if you spot the wayward boat from Oriental NC just dinghy over and say Hi. If the boat looks a little low in the waterline its from all the gadgets we have onboard to stay connected to the office and our engineers. Computers, printer/scanner, monitors, cell phone boosters, so many wires!!!
It does help that some of our best business partners are also avid sailors. So business can be conducted in the stangest locations and the oddest hours, as some of them will be heading up with us or stopping in for a visit along the way.
We’ll be on our way in about 3 weeks for the Newport RI show. I’ve calculated it to take 4.5 days from Oriental offshore, depending on weather we should arrive a few days early for the show with enough time to set up our booth, and prepare for the long hours ahead.
If you would like to attend any of the shows, just call the office or e-mail and I can get free tickets, I will have them waiting at will call.

On the construction front, the plans for the clubhouse are almost completed and ground breaking is getting a little closer. The marina permit is going well, we’ve met all the conditions from the Department of Water Quality and are ready to submit the updated findings. But its always hurry up and wait. So much of our day in and day out tasks are pen and paper develpment. Doing a project this size, and its by no means large, and with this many regulations, uses alot of paper and isn’t evident until the very end when the roads are paved and the docks are in. Just because things look the same ‘on site’ dosn’t mean a lot has not happened behind the scenes. For those of you that are engineers, you know what I mean.
With most of this next round of ‘paper development’ completed all we will be waiting for is our contractors to put us in their schedules and by the time we return the ‘on site’ will look a whole lot different.

And then there is my tardiness on updated the website. Just hang in there, I’m working… All the new marketing materials I’ve created, banners etc. for the boat shows are based on our new look. We’re developing and testing everything ‘offline’ first, and will go live with the new site once all the bugs have been worked out.
So check back, i’ll take some n

Posted on August 25th, 2008 under Uncategorized • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback