Dear Islander,
I hope you will forgive my photographic indulgence on the front page (of the printed edition) this month. As you might have guessed I have treated myself to a new camera, but apart from that, I was particularly struck by the beauty and ambience of these islands, as the days cooled and the evening shadows lengthened into late October, which inspired me to make a photo-graphical front page for a change.
Last month within the space of a few days, I was lucky enough to experience the sporting fun and charitable generosity of the Pinmar Yachtsman´s Golf tournament, the vibrant and busy post season atmosphere at Boatyard Palma, and then the relative peace and tranquillity of Formentor, where our dog loves to run through the pine forests ashore, and where we have idled away (too few) afternoons during the summer afloat. The contrasting facets of Mallorca are never more clearly seen than at the changing of the seasons, and I must say, I have enjoyed them tremendously during my first year here.
As it´s also the start of the boat show season again, Roger Horner reports directly from the Fort Lauderdale show with his Technology Update, and I am shortly off to Amsterdam for the Marine Equipment Trade Show and the Superyacht Forum, via Barcelona for the Salon Nautica, all of which I hope to bring you more news of in our December issue.
Meanwhile I hope Dr Ian Marshall has forgiven us for “doctoring” (excuse the pun) the title of his Doctor at Sea article last month, after we mistakenly typed prostRate instead of prostate gland. Apparently, as Ian mentions in his article this month, he had several comments about it, and I can imagine these were accompanied by some good natured “leg pulling” in the Club de Mar bar. However I am happy to assure readers, that the good doctor knows very well how to spell the various parts of the human anatomy, and I hope that the oversight of a sub-editor who was obviously having a “lying down” feeling when typing the title, has not caused Ian too much embarrassment.
In the news section of this issue, you will find an update on the previously mentioned new association AEGY (Specifically formed for representing the large yacht sector in Spain) and info on the the equaly new European Citizens Dept . headed up by Kate Mentink.
And, as promised in our stop press addition to the August issue, we also bring more details on the front page (of the web edition) about the new concession for Boatyard Palma, which will be under new management before the end of the year. The future expansion plans and operational structure of the yard has been the subject of much speculation during the last few months, and we try here to answer a few of the questions, with the help of Bobby Cooper from Varadero Palma.
Peter Franklin