Date: 30 May 2008
Cannes and Monaco,......
Well since arriving in St Raphael - small town down the coast from Cannes - it has been an intensely busy period for the guys on HUGO BOSS II!
It all started on the 17th May with HUGO BOSS hospitality out of Cannes for the very glamorous film festival! I don’t think any of us have ever seen so many super and mega yachts in one place at any one time! They were anchored about 10 deep in the bay – crazy stuff!! So we did a bit sailing between them all – giving the captains a bit of a fright I am sure, seeing a Volvo 60 careering towards you! The HUGO BOSS shop in Cannes is situated right on the water front so all the staff came out and gave us a wave. Then it was off to Nice for a couple of days sailing out of there with the staff and customers of the Nice sore and showroom – some of whom had been out on Alex’s old boat a few years ago so were very much looking forward to coming out again. Always a nice feeling when guests are really keen to come back!
After finishing in Nice it was over to Monaco for the Grand Prix – something we were all really looking forward to. Alex made it out to us on the Thursday after a hugely hectic and at times not guaranteed journey! We spent a day sailing out of Cap d’Ail (small port just around the corner from Monaco) with HUGO BOSS Watches – our first proper sailing day with them, so it was quite important to us all. Then came the big night – the HUGO BOSS party! They had organized the party to be held at a private villa situated on the end of the breakwater in Cap d’Ail – and it was our job to position the yacht off the breakwater, put up the dummy sails and light the branding with UV lighting. Sounds easy?! Put it this way it is an evening none of us will ever forget! The boat looked amazing from onshore – as it got darker all you could really see was this floating HUGO BOSS logo about 200 metres out to sea, quite eerie in way, but highly effective.
On the Friday we anchored the yacht in a small bay a couple of miles down from Monaco harbor and were kindly invited to join HUGO BOSS and their guests ashore for lunch ashore, something Alex, Will, Olly and myself were hugely grateful for as it was a sweltering day! With no-one really wanting to go sailing in the afternoon we were invited to take advantage of the jet skis and wakeboard…… Fun was had by all, although Will J wasn’t expecting a guided tour on his jet ski – I think he just wanted to play around us as Alex and Olly wakeboarded!
As is with the Med, some Saturday it was cloudy and raining and the wind had picked up! So with just the core crew on board (and me!) we set about scaring some more captains of large yachts by charging around in between them all just off Monaco harbor – the idea of course to be giving maximum brand exposure to everyone in Monaco! Alex had then managed to get invites for 2 of the crew to go ashore and watch the qualifying from the McLaren VIP enclosure – so Will P and I decided to sent Olly and Will J ashore, by all accounts it was an amazing experience! But I will let the boys tell you more about that when they get a chance. We were joined out on the water by Jo, whose partner Pete Vale is the crew chief for McLaren, which turned out to be very helpful as with the loss of Olly and Will for the day we were a bit short onboard…. Although we had been joined by Iain Henderson (one of our delivery crew who has also recently been working on the Open 60 down in Portimao) by this stage so there were 5 of us onboard. I probably enjoyed having Jo onboard the most as I had been somewhat lacking in female company for a few weeks – and it was beginning to show in my language!
So then Sunday brought around the main event – the Grand Prix, and our sole purpose was brand exposure! Alex had been to dinner with some BOSS and McLaren guests the night before where when of the guests toasted HUGO BOSS saying “HUGO BOSS win the award for the best guerilla marketing!” – I think they were referring to us – so we can only assume were had done our job well! Being out on the yacht only able to hear the cars careering around was immensely frustrating as we had no idea what was going on on the track. Then Alex came to the rescue and starting texting me with a running commentary – I counted 56 text message over the 2 hour Grand Prix! Every time we got onto the TV Alex would text again – so we our timings down to a tee and managed to be in the right place at the right time each time the cars came down the hill and into the tunnel! All in all a brilliant day – for us and McLaren!
So then it was all over – in just a few short weeks…. The guys and I had 2 days to pack up the yacht and RIB and set off on our respective journeys to Kiel ready for Kiel Week. Rob and I left shortly after the yacht on Wednesday afternoon and we are nearly there……. However it will take the boys a little longer, hopefully they will arrive around the 16th.
More soon!
Polly
It all started on the 17th May with HUGO BOSS hospitality out of Cannes for the very glamorous film festival! I don’t think any of us have ever seen so many super and mega yachts in one place at any one time! They were anchored about 10 deep in the bay – crazy stuff!! So we did a bit sailing between them all – giving the captains a bit of a fright I am sure, seeing a Volvo 60 careering towards you! The HUGO BOSS shop in Cannes is situated right on the water front so all the staff came out and gave us a wave. Then it was off to Nice for a couple of days sailing out of there with the staff and customers of the Nice sore and showroom – some of whom had been out on Alex’s old boat a few years ago so were very much looking forward to coming out again. Always a nice feeling when guests are really keen to come back!
After finishing in Nice it was over to Monaco for the Grand Prix – something we were all really looking forward to. Alex made it out to us on the Thursday after a hugely hectic and at times not guaranteed journey! We spent a day sailing out of Cap d’Ail (small port just around the corner from Monaco) with HUGO BOSS Watches – our first proper sailing day with them, so it was quite important to us all. Then came the big night – the HUGO BOSS party! They had organized the party to be held at a private villa situated on the end of the breakwater in Cap d’Ail – and it was our job to position the yacht off the breakwater, put up the dummy sails and light the branding with UV lighting. Sounds easy?! Put it this way it is an evening none of us will ever forget! The boat looked amazing from onshore – as it got darker all you could really see was this floating HUGO BOSS logo about 200 metres out to sea, quite eerie in way, but highly effective.
On the Friday we anchored the yacht in a small bay a couple of miles down from Monaco harbor and were kindly invited to join HUGO BOSS and their guests ashore for lunch ashore, something Alex, Will, Olly and myself were hugely grateful for as it was a sweltering day! With no-one really wanting to go sailing in the afternoon we were invited to take advantage of the jet skis and wakeboard…… Fun was had by all, although Will J wasn’t expecting a guided tour on his jet ski – I think he just wanted to play around us as Alex and Olly wakeboarded!
As is with the Med, some Saturday it was cloudy and raining and the wind had picked up! So with just the core crew on board (and me!) we set about scaring some more captains of large yachts by charging around in between them all just off Monaco harbor – the idea of course to be giving maximum brand exposure to everyone in Monaco! Alex had then managed to get invites for 2 of the crew to go ashore and watch the qualifying from the McLaren VIP enclosure – so Will P and I decided to sent Olly and Will J ashore, by all accounts it was an amazing experience! But I will let the boys tell you more about that when they get a chance. We were joined out on the water by Jo, whose partner Pete Vale is the crew chief for McLaren, which turned out to be very helpful as with the loss of Olly and Will for the day we were a bit short onboard…. Although we had been joined by Iain Henderson (one of our delivery crew who has also recently been working on the Open 60 down in Portimao) by this stage so there were 5 of us onboard. I probably enjoyed having Jo onboard the most as I had been somewhat lacking in female company for a few weeks – and it was beginning to show in my language!
So then Sunday brought around the main event – the Grand Prix, and our sole purpose was brand exposure! Alex had been to dinner with some BOSS and McLaren guests the night before where when of the guests toasted HUGO BOSS saying “HUGO BOSS win the award for the best guerilla marketing!” – I think they were referring to us – so we can only assume were had done our job well! Being out on the yacht only able to hear the cars careering around was immensely frustrating as we had no idea what was going on on the track. Then Alex came to the rescue and starting texting me with a running commentary – I counted 56 text message over the 2 hour Grand Prix! Every time we got onto the TV Alex would text again – so we our timings down to a tee and managed to be in the right place at the right time each time the cars came down the hill and into the tunnel! All in all a brilliant day – for us and McLaren!
So then it was all over – in just a few short weeks…. The guys and I had 2 days to pack up the yacht and RIB and set off on our respective journeys to Kiel ready for Kiel Week. Rob and I left shortly after the yacht on Wednesday afternoon and we are nearly there……. However it will take the boys a little longer, hopefully they will arrive around the 16th.
More soon!
Polly
Images
No images available
