I recently wrote to "SAILING TODAY" magazine singing Parkers praises, and the letter has been published in the current (February) edition. It is on page 64, along with a photo of a 235 - the cheapest advertising Bill will ever get! Shame it wasn't star letter, I'd have got a bottle of whisky out of it!!

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Stephen

I thought it was very good - why not post it here for those members who did not see it?

Regards
Don Harvey
Web Master
Parker 325 'Calypso'

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It was a picture of our boat that they used. I subscribe to PBO and just buy Sailing Today sometimes. We were in London for the Boat Show when it came out, so I bought my copy from thier stand at the show. I pointed out that they had used my photo free of charge, but they still made me pay full price for the magazine. Clad you got something out of it Stephen.

Hi Don - thanks! (don't know how to post it here...!!)

Graham - you'd have thought they'd have given you a free copy! Don't know how they got the photo, I assume editor John Goode contacted Bill Parker and it was in their 'library'! I DID wangle a free copy, but nothing else, as it wasn't Star Letter.

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Stephen,
Thet did ask for permission, which I was happy to give to promote the boat.

quote:

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Don't know how they got the photo

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Actually I sent them the picture. as they wanted one to go with the item.

I asked Graham before sending the picture, which I already had, having used it on the Parker web site.

Regards
Don Harvey
Web Master
Parker 325 'Calypso'

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quote:

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Hi Don - thanks! (don't know how to post it here...!!)

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Stephen - well here it is, scanned in from the magazine.

Buying non-showy British

I was interested to read Peter Poland’s comments (By the Lee ST Dec ’07) regarding those of us visiting the Southampton Boat Show wanting something less than a Big White Whale. He rightly pointed out that those looking for what would have once been termed a sailing cruiser had to search far and wide.

I went specifically to look for a 25-footer that handled well without being extreme, had a galley and separate heads and one that would sit on a trailer – not because I wanted to trailer-sail her, but living on an island where there is no cranage I need the independence of being able to haul my boat in and out of the water myself each season.

There was little to see. An obvious contender, the Beneteau 21.7, while displayed with trays of plastic fruit (more form than function?) didn’t have a toilet.

The Hunter was another option but somewhat expensive in its finished state.

Although I did eventually order the boat I wanted during the Show, it wasn’t from a company that exhibited there.

From the same family business that built the 505s I raced as a schoolboy, the boat I chose was a British built Parker 235 with a lifting keel. A factory visit was all that I needed and everyone I met there couldn’t have been more helpful. I have already seen the hull being laid up and I anticipate delivery in January Constructed to order, this boat has received rave reviews and second hand ones are snapped up at once, and there is an active owners association.

I’m not sure if there’s a moral here, except that sometimes the answer to a dream might be found in an industrial unit on a bleak Lincolnshire fen rather than at a glitzy South Coast boat show - with or without the ‘pirates’ with plastic swords and the 500 tons of imported sand!

Stephen Godber, Isle of Mull




Regards
Don Harvey
Web Master
Parker 325 'Calypso'

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