I'm always looking for a silver lining...

For any US sailor looking to buy a boat, the economy and exchange rate is looking much more attractive than 6 months ago:

Oil prices per barrel are half what they were, affecting the entire supply chain.

The US dollar has gone from pathetic to quite decent:

1 Euro = $1.27
1 AUD = $0.62
1 GBP = $1.58

Is it time to start ordering boats from England (Stealth, White/Spitfire), Australia (eg AHPC), and Italy (Bimare)...maybe even Hobie Europe?

Bad News for the local guys):

I was sitting around with a friend who owns an outboard motor/ boat sales shop and he's thinking about calling it quits after 23 years. He hasn't sold a single boat in 3 months. We counted 17 marine related businesses that have gone under in the last 6 months in the SF Bay area alone. This winter is going to brutalize the boating industry here in the States.

From what I've seen it takes 10 weeks for the price of resin to catch up with the price of oil.

Maybe I should go get a job at McDonalds, I hear their numbers are way up due to the slumping economy;)

My marina manager told me that the attenance of the Annapolis Sail and the follow up Power boat shows were down by 35% this year.

Nobody he talked to had any good news.
Todays stock and economy news look like more of the same bad to devestating news.

Jeremy are you qualified to work at McDonalds? And if you do we know where your getting your diesel.

Good question Rich. I run a small business, which means I can't be all that swift;)

J

So far this doesn't seem to be effecting Hobie as it is the larger sailboat and power boat guys. We have a wide range of successful products. Most of our products are priced much lower than products taking the major hit. Guys with money seem to be buying. Maybe just buying less expensive stuff. They still want to play.

I am sure a significant downturn will effect our sales, but to this point we are still doing very well. My department (Parts and Accessories) is way up this year. Even beyond projections. This month is no exception.

I feel for the guys that have the wrong products at this "wrong" time.

It will be interesting to see what happens to sales of new sailboats over the winter. Kayaks are cheap, cats not so much.

The parts and accessories is completely predicatable. People fix what they have rather than buy new. That's why auto repair is considered a recession-proof business.

Mike

Jeremy,
I'm just trying to look on the bright side--here in the central valley things are very rough economically.

Like custom cabinetry and furniture? This entire year has sucked balls. I finally broke down and started working for someone else.

Sales of tomato sauce, two buck chuck and Budweiser should hold up no matter how bad things get. Fortunately there are still some fields in the Central Valley that they didn't plant houses in.

A guy I used to work with was told by his father in-law that the two best business' to be in are liquor stores, and mortuaries. When times are good, business is good. When times are bad, business is really good.

I've never been busier. Our company has more work than it can handle, and more coming its way. I was just in Raleigh for quick start camp of a program that will give our company 10 more studies before the end of the year!!! $40mil in the books before I can even get started on the work!

hua!!!!!

Oh if you know PL/SQL and/or SAS in the southeast US, we have 5 job opennings in my department alone.

We've had openings for two RNs for months. It's so bad they are thinking of bringing me on full time!

The office furniture industry is usually last in and last out of a downturn. I have never seen it this slow during the 4th quarter....Spring, 1st quarter will be really bad.......

Last one out of MI turn out the lights....Good job Gov Grandholm.....we are still waiting.

I hear there are a lot of nice lake cottages for sale.....

The exchange rates defy all belief sometimes and for me it simply sums up the incompetance of most of those in the financial industry. Look at it this way, American financial gurus package up debts which can never hope to be paid as sound financial prospects and sell them on to even dumber European financial experts who think they have to buy them as other more wiser men claim they are a way to make a fast buck and hence offer big wage bonus schemes. Said sound debts materialise as nothing more than a big scam and pop goes a couple of American banks setting off the worst global financial melt down probably of all time.

What do the financial whizz kids then do, rate the US dollar as a safe and strong currency and everyone revalues the dollar higher. Am I being thick or should it be the basket case currency as it set the whole shebang off and has huge underlying finacial problems. My only feelings of joy are that by devalueing the Euro currencies as has happened, we are going to be able to export our way pretty quickly out of this mess selling stuff to America and you guys due to the strong buck are going to be lumbered with mountainous debts for years and years and years and years. I certainly would not be proud of nor be encouraging a strong dollar right now.

I don't think I could get a job at Mickey D's. I'm a college grad, so they'll say I'm overqualified. Or would I leave that off the application?

The economy might get sooo bad that we'll all be out on the street begging for pennies.
D. Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067