Over 30 yacht and small craft surveyors converged on Boathouse No.4 at the iconic Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for the 2016 ‘super’ training day on Monday 24 October and were joined by half a dozen more who came to the event remotely using video conferencing.
Chairman of yacht and small craft surveying, John Excell, welcomed guests to the day and particularly thanked Cygnus Instruments Ltd and Matrix Insurance Ltd for their generous sponsorship support of the day.
IIMS Chief Executive Officer, Mike Schwarz, gave a short review of what has been a very hectic and productive year for the Institute.
First to speak on the day was Susan Stockwell, a director of Nereus Alarms and a non-practicing solicitor. Drawing on her experience as a child and later as an adult, she kept the audience’s attention as she spoke about the causes and dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, the silent and hidden killer. Towards the end of her slot, she passed a series of alarms around for delegates to inspect.
Nic Fieldhouse, winner of the Best Use of Social Media award at the recent IIMS Silver Jubilee awards, spoke about how to implement a social media strategy using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
A face well known to IIMS members, insurance broker, Karen Brain, presented a paper entitles mediation and the surveyor. As is often the case, Karen’s presentation provoked mixed emotions from surveyors. She championed resorting to a mediator as an important means of dispute resolution.
After a splendid lunch, during which delegates were free to view HMS Victory and look into the wooden boat building going on around them, Jenny Ashdown from Cygnus Instruments Ltd took the after lunch slot. She talked about the latest range of Cygnus ultrasonic testing equipment and explained the various uses of the equipment.
Well known south coast surveyor, Jim Vintner gave an interesting presentation in which he talked about the importance of the report, or as he called it the surveyor’s product. He handed out a sheet of paper to each delegate and challenged them, with a little help, to complete a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats) as a practical means of trying to help people understand where they are now.
It fell to IIMS member, Capt Phil Duffy of Interface Marine, who is based in the south of France, to bring the day to a conclusion. He spoke passionately and knowledgeably about the subject of yacht and small craft valuations and what should and should not be included in a valuation report.
