On Friday there were still dry jetties and sun in Neustadt. But then: water on!
The organizers did their best to put the sleet disaster into friendly words. Sometimes there was talk of a "successful", sometimes of a "successful start to the season". Heiko Zimmermann, the new project manager at Hanseboot, even announced that the balance sheet was "consistently positive except for the weather".
In fact, one can rate it as astonishing that so many visitors came at all. It should have been around 12,000 from Friday to Sunday - half as many as hoped, but at least. On Saturday, of course, the jetties were largely deserted by the afternoon. Only when the permanent shower from above subsided at around 4 p.m. did the area fill up. The response remained muted on Sunday as well. Only Friday was able to meet expectations.
World premiere: HR 55
There were no records to be won, either. At least - as is usual - the quality of the visitors was praised, not only from the trade fair side, but also from some exhibitors. It is indeed the case that under such conditions only those who are really interested will come. Hanseboot reported top marks nonetheless: "147 boats in the water and on land as well as more than 70 pagoda tents mean a new record," it said. The on-site offer was indeed impressive. Not only were practically all well-known shipyards represented. There were also many new products to see, including world premieres. The Dehler 38 in the performance-optimized "Competition" variant was located on the piers in the AncorMarinvon Neustadt as was the Hallberg-Rassy 55, the XP-33 from X-Yachts or the first Comfortin35 built in Germany.
