2009 Boat Show Wrap-Up

Thank You!

On behalf of the BIANT Committee and members, a big thank you to all visitors, exhibitors and participating clubs and associations – what an effort everyone put into their stands and activities, and how good did the boat show look? With an attendance of over 9000 visitors the Show has been proclaimed a great success by all.

We have had many excellent comments about how great the show looked, the vibrancy of the atmosphere, and how good the new features were, and after talking with exhibitors and visitors during the Show, we are confident that some of our ideas for next year will work very well, and we have also come up with a raft of new ideas for 2010 to make the next Darwin Boat Show even better.

Well it was certainly hot enough, but thankfully the rain and humidity held off, and the breezes kicked in during the afternoon, meaning that outdoors remained visitor friendly and a great place to enjoy a refreshing beverage overlooking the new wave-pool and swimming beach area.

Feedback from the visitor survey indicate that overall they thought the Show was great. Constructive criticism related to anticipated disappointment and requests for more fishing and outdoor gear. Again in 2009 despite efforts to secure exhibitors for fishing tackle and outdoor accessories, there were again reasons beyond our control as to why these didn’t eventuate. However, we anticipate that we will develop the rear car-park area into a ‘tinnie, tackle and outdoor adventure’ show within the Show with most of the rear car-park exhibition areas under cover for 2010. Thank you to everyone that took the time to lodge their feedback.

There is also increased interest from manufacturers of electronics and boating accessories for 2009 and we hope to develop Level 2 into a specialized area for these together with top level fishing tackle exhibits.

Winners Are Grinners:

Best Stand Awards:
Judging of these awards was assisted by the Hon Gerry McCarthy, Minister for Transport and the Lord Mayor of Darwin, Mr Graeme Sawyer – on the basis of overall presentation, accessibility, visitor friendliness and general visitor safety. The presentation level of stands made this choice difficult, but both judges agreed that the use of elevated walkways and viewing platforms was a major factor in their final decision.

Best Indoor Stand 50sqm and over: Barramundi Marine – awarded $2000 worth of advertising in the Trading Post
Best Outdoor Stand 50sqm and over: GS Marine – awarded $2000 worth of advertising in the Trading Post
Best Small Stand under 50sqm – KAKADU – awarded $1000 worth of advertising in the Trading Post

Boat of the Show Awards:

The boats were judged by two well respected expert Territorian fishers, one from the game fishing fraternity and the other from the fly-rodders, together with a Royal Australian Navy marine technician, and the decisions were made on the basis of individual features, practicalities, and overall appeal to top end boaters and fishers. All judges agreed that it was difficult to make a final decision and that there were a number of boats in each category that warranted mention.

Boat of the Show – 6m and over – Yellowfin 6200C (Barramundi Marine)
Runner-up Ocean Master 831 Pipeline (Territory Marine

Boat of the Show – under 6m – TABS 4800 Wildfisher (ABC Marine)
Runner-up Tracker Targa V175 (Boatland Winnellie)

Thank you to our sponsers:

The BIANT is extremely grateful for the excellent support provided by our sponsors towards the presentation of the 2009 Darwin Boat Show.

Major sponsors were NT Marine Safety, the Trading Post, Nautilus Marine Insurance Brokers, together with Honda MPE, Channel 9, Territory Marine, Imparja, NT News, XXXX Gold, Farmers Union Iced Coffee, GME, Lowrance and the Medina Darwin Waterfront and Vibe Hotel, Darwin Waterfront.

We also thank:

The Darwin Convention Centre for their professional assistance in staging this event, Fusion Displays, Shadeworks, Jadelec, Stripeworks and TFH for the hard work put into providing infrastructure.

Also Darwin Fish Markets for providing fish and fish filleting expertise, celebrity chef Aaron Roussos from the Darwin Convention Centre for presenting the seafood cooking demonstrations.

A special thank you to the whole team from Alex Julius Fishing Media for the very popular fishing clinics staged throughout the Show.

Also a special thank you to the Royal Australian Navy for the exciting boarding party displays conducted each morning on the harbour, and to Australian Customs for having their patrol boat open to the public during boat show hours. Also to the Darwin Flyrodders Association who fascinated visitors with fly-tying demonstrations. All these activities make such a difference to the overall visitor experience at the Show.
A big thank you to ‘Boof the Barra’ from NT Water Safety who made several appearances to talk with and thrill the many youngsters that attended the event, and to get the message about water safety out to everyone. (you might have seen his picture in the Sunday Territorian)

Prizes and Promotions:

There was a raft of promotions conducted in conjunction with and during the Darwin Boat Show and a lot of very happy winners. We thank all those sponsors and supporters involved.

• Territory Marine provided a CANAM DS90 ATV for a cross promotion between NT News and Channel 9 supported by Imparja. Around 1500 entries were received and the winner was John Roberts from Woodroffe.
• Visitors that attended the AJFM Fishing Clinics had the opportunity to win one of two GME 406 EPIRBS by entering their name and contact number into a daily draw. Winners were Paul Rowe and Matty Gallagher.
• Visitors enjoyed estimating how many Farmers Union Iced Coffee cartons were in the dinghy for a chance to win daily prizes of portable BBQ Kits. Winners were Jess Waters and Andrew French. Both were just one carton of the mark!
• A XXXXGold cooler box was a popular entry prize offered to encourage visitors to lodge their tickets on entry by writing their name and contact number on the back. The winner was ‘Al’.
• For exit prizes the Trading Post combined with Lowrance to offer daily prizes of marine radios to those that took the time to lodge a survey response on the boat show. Winners were: Ken Tinkerman and Andrew Barton Ancliffe.
• Mix 1049 and Hot 100 gave away double passes to the Show during the week leading up to the Show.

There were also a number of prizes offered by charter boat operators and other exhibitors and we thank each of those companies for helping to make the show so great for visitors.

2010 Darwin Boat Show:

Work has already commenced towards the 2010 Darwin Boat Show so keep and eye on the website for more information.  We look forward to seeing you at the Show again next year.

Thank You To Our Sponsors & Supporters

The BIANT thanks our sponsors and supporters for their excellent support in putting together the 2009 Darwin Boat Show. We greatly appreciate their contribution towards this year’s exciting event.

We also thank the Darwin Convention Centre for their professionalism, assistance and support and the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and Darwin City Council for their encouragement in staging this event, and we thank the Nightcliffe Lions Club for their great assistance with ticketing again for 2009.