delphiandomine: Good on Poland - why isn't this being pushed much more?
Good question. I hear that Poland is full of billboards advertising all sort of crap, TV ads are everywhere but they have not learned how to promote good - or even excellent - products. Oh I am sure that their marketing departments do their job perfectly well, but promotion of a brand name is another issue.
I took a little "side trip" to Delphia Yachts, http://www.delphiayachts.pl/eng/ . So OK, after some obligatory flash, there is nothing exciting in their menus - until one gets to the details of the designs. A paradise for a sailor and a dreamer, but quite an average website for a promoter.
I also went to a website of their main yacht designer. Very interesting, but again - it deserves much better exposure to the world.
Andrzej Skrzat is a 65-years-old successful yacht desiner from Poland. The following is a summary of his conversation with Marek Slodownik made for "H2O" magazine,
http://www.skrzat-design.pl/01omnie-en.html
The beginning
There were some designers around and everyone wanted to be the best. But it was a fair competition and now they are all friends: Henryk Jaszczewski, Jurek Piesniewski, Jacek Centkowski, Adam Orych and a few others.
In those days, they were selling just ideas and papers but it all started a culture of creative thinking, with the feedback from sailing enthusiasts - who tinkered with their boats and learned.
Young designers
There are many talented young people who follow the new trends and who design very interesting yachts. But it's harder for a young designer to be noticed because now the market is everything. Designing a boat is not enough - the thing must be put into production, and it is usually very expensive process. Times of amateurish constructions - where yachts were uneven, inaccurate, simply imperfect - are over. Now everything must be buttoned up.
Andrzej Skrzat considers himself lucky for being able to closely cooperate with Delphia Yachts production facility. Young designers do not have such a comfort.
Number of projects
He scored about 98 designs. A story goes that there are probably 300,000 yachts built to his specifications. The real number is hard to get because many yachts were never registered - many were built illegally, with no respect for copyrights. He sold around 4000 licenses.
Boat Review by John Kerr, Canadian Yachting, 2009
(About Delphia-33)
WHEN THE DELPHIA line first came to North America, it did so with little fanfare, though it managed to win the Import Boat of the Year at Annapolis in 2008. Having sailed it, it's easy to see
why. Terribly affordable at about $170,000 Cdn., this boat has a wonderful feel and look – both above and below decks. It's perfectly finished, equipped and boasts two double cabins below.
The hull is a layup resin infusion process; the balsa core vacuum bagged deck ensures light ends and the balanced feel underway supports this. The Polish built boat features wonderful deck lines,
very pleasing to the eye.
(...)
http://www.skrzat-design.pl/06prasa/2009-canadian-yachting-delphia33-a rt.pdf
Andrzej Skrzat keeps a long list of the reviews like the one above, here:
http://www.skrzat-design.pl/04media-en.html
Since 1996 he won 16 prizes and nominations. The lastest, yacht Delphia 47, which he designed, was an European Yacht of the Year Nominee in 2009/2010
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