News & Events

July 2008

23rd July 2008 - Boatshow Time! - We are now almost ready for the first North Wales Boatshow which is being held this weekend at the Vaynol Estate near Bangor. We will be setting up for most of tomorrow ready for the opening on Friday morning. We will be displaying a good few boats from all the manufacturers that we represent here in North Wales. Our line up will include, An X1 from Mastercraft, an Explorer 760 and an Explorer 450 from Rib-X, lots of Ocean Kayaks, many of which will be for sale, and probably some Yamaha outboards, just for good measure! We will be on stand number 26, which handily for us is near a refreshment tent apparently! so make the effort to come and see us at our first show as Abersoch Boatyard Services Ltd. For show details take a look at the North Wales Boatshow website

1st July 2008 - Is it really that time of year again?! - Well I am happy to report an incident free Wakestock Number 1 on all counts. The wakeboarding went off without a hitch with all three days of competitive riding going well. Our merry band of 4 made the journey down on Thursday to help sort out the boats and jetskis for the event. We were given a nice tractor to drive by the estate manager at Blenhiem Palace and even a slipway, of sorts, it was more like a gap in the reeds just big enough for a boat! As with the Abersoch event MasterCraft supplied a couple of boats but new for this year are Yamaha who have supplied 2 jetskis, one of which was liveried up as a Patrol ski, Phill Wood was more than happy to drive round on that for the weekend as you can see from the photo below.

This one IS faster than the blue one!

Each afternoon we had to pull the boats out of the water and prepare them for the next days boarding and from the slipway the easiest route to the boat park was across the front lawn at the Palace, there can't be too many people who have driven a tractor and a MasterCraft X-Star over there, infact this was the first event to be held on the lake at Blenhiem which has had boats with engines, all the other events there are rowing competitions

On the way back to the boat park past the Palace!

As you would expect there was plenty of drinking along the way and the late nights and early starts took their toll in the end and we arrived home at around 1:30 on Monday morning. We are all now well rested and are all revved up for this weekends Wakestock Number 2 here in Abersoch. More details of the Sochstock will follow over the next few days.

June 2008

25th June 2008 - Wakestock Number 1 - Unless you have been living under a large rock somewhere you will be no doubt aware that the craziest two weeks of wakeboarding is due to kick off on Friday at Blenhiem Palace in Oxfordshire with Wakestock Number 1 or Oxstock as we are calling it. Tim will be there on the water looking after the safety boats and also making sure that the boats and skis are all safely in and out of the water each day with the aid of a handy tractor which someone has lent us for the weekend. As a consequence of living in a tent for the next 4 days I doubt very much that I'll be able to get any access to an interweb so I don't think there will be a Timcast this week. After a few days to recover (Monday and Monday night) we will be getting ready for the original and the best Wakestock here in Abersoch. Or Sochstock as it shall be known. It will feature many of the same artists and wakeboardists so they should be well practiced for this one! Yet again I will be safety boating, and you'll not miss us on the water. More on the various stocks as we go along, and as usual we'll try and get a very special Timcast for Sochstock.

16th June 2008 - Total Boat Management- As many of you will already know we are changing the direction of the Yard slightly and as a consequence we will have more space for powerboats requiring the full complement of services that we offer. We are aiming to make the annual charges more manageable and from just £200 per month inc vat you can keep your boat with us on a year round basis. So what do you get for your monthly fee? Click here to find out

2nd June 2008 - Tasty Ribs - We have always been into our ribs here at the boatyard, be it the ones you put on the bbq or the inflatable ones we like to think that we know what we are on about. So we are extremely proud to announce the arrival of the tastiest rib available....the Rib-X Explorer 760. As per usual it has been expertly put together and comes equipped with a lovely 250hp Yamaha 4 stroke outboard which pushes it along to a good few miles per hour! You will struggle to see another one of these in the country as this is one of only two which has been built so far with the other one having a measly 200hp on the transom. I was out the other day doing some product evaluation and returned with a big smile and am happy to report that it really devastatingly quick but in a super subtle way with the ride being super smooth. As usual someone was out there with a camera so there are a couple of photos for you to ogle at. If you fancy a rib yourself, drop us a line by sending Tim and E mail here letting him know what you are after and we can source you something to suit.

It goes round corners well

Big boat + big engine + big man = big smile!

Jeremy Clarkson would be shouting "PPPOOOOWWWWEEEERRRRR" or something similar at this point!

May 2008

27th May 2008 - More Lifeboat news - Abersoch Lifeboat Station will be holding its annual open day this Friday 30th May. It is a great opportunity for kids both big and small to have a look at the equipment that we use and to meet the crew. The station will be full of other things too, including a cake stall, raffle and many other nick nack stalls, a bbq and also the usual teas and coffees. Usually the crew undertake some kind of comedy event to raise money for the station with past events including a tractor pull, hair cuts and waxing. This year however we have been busier than ever on the boat with the tally of services up to 14 as of yesterday, so we haven't had time to organise any sponsored event. There is also a possibility that the RAF Sea King helicopter might drop in for a visit sometime during the afternoon, but it could be that they get called away to a rescue, so as a reserve we also have the possibility that the Red Arrows might do a quick flypast on their way back south after spending a week at the Beaumaris airshow. So all in all not a bad day in prospect. Burgers, boats and all manner of flying stuff! You can be there between 10:30 o'clock and 16 o'clock.

Just so you know, thats the helicopter.....

and they are the Red Arrows

25th May 2008 - Bank Holiday Boating Blues - The Easterly blow continues with the the wind gusting to 32mph in the village centre where the weather station is based. The location of the station is quite sheltered during an Easterly wind direction so the chances are that its blowing a lot harder out on the sea. The Aberdaron weather staion have had gusts of more than 40mph this morning which makes for a very unpleasant sea state around the southern coast of the Lleyn peninsula. On a more local note if you take a trip to the beach today you will probably notice that there is a distinct lack of sand which gets washed away with the Easterly breeze and leaves the beach covered in pebbles. This can happen overnight and once the breeze comes round to the more normal South Westerly direction the sand will return. So there we go, not only do we give you the news we also let you know useful bits of local info!

24th May 2008 - Lifeboat Caught on Camera in Dramatic Rescue...Well Almost! - For the 12th service of the season the lifeboat was called to a windsurfer who was struggling to make progress towards the main beach in the big swell. Apart from being rather tired he was otherwise ok and he was given a welcome lift back to the beach with his board and sail. Nothing unusual about that you might think, and you'd be right...apart from this time we were caught by budding photographer Chris Rawes who happened to be in the right place at the right time with his camera. He has kindly given us the following photos which show the rescue in progress. Lifeboat men on the boat were - Helm - Fritz, Crew - Chas and Big Tim, (thats me by the way!)

The Lifeboat on its way to help the struggling windsurfer.

Arriving on scene, its rather choppy!

A thumbs up from the windsurfer and Chas at the bow ready to gather up the kit.

Chas sorting the kit out with Fritz at the helm and Big Tim at the back ready to help the tired windsurfer aboard.

7th May 2008 - Sun Still Shining - It really doesn't get much better than this. We have sunshine clear blue skies, flat water and no one out on their boats....where are you all its stunning!

6th May 2008 - Timcast Success! with all the other forecasts proving to be unreliable at best the Timcast was spot on for the bank holiday weekend. Keep your eyes peeled as there will be another one popping up on your computer on Thursday for the coming weekend.

1st May 2008 - Park & Launch A Go Go! - Well here it is again, its arrived quickly this year and it will last for longer too! Although we were due to finish in mid September we have extended the season through until the end of September which will give everyone a couple of extra weekends of boating fun at no extra cost, we are nice aren't we!

1st May 2008 - Timcast A Go Go! - Its back, its not new its not improved its just the Timcast! Click here to find out how the weather might turn out this weekend!

1st May 2008 - Rib Share - Have you ever fancied owning a boat but don't want the hassle of maintaining it, fuelling it or cleaning it. We have four shares available in a 7 metre rib which will be available throughout our Park & Launch season. You pay us a fixed fee for your share in the boat, a small monthly management fee and you go boating, it couldnt be simpler. For more details call Tim on 01758 713900 or drop him an E mail here.

April 2008

If we are honest not much happened in April, the weather wasn't great, we started opening weekends and we got some boats ready to go on the water!

March 2008

13th March 2008

And that was that! - Whilst the south coast was getting battered by severe storms on Monday we were dealing with the highest tide many of us have seen in Abersoch over recent years. Many of you will have seen the pictures posted on the Abersoch website and those taken by local photographer John Wormald, however these only tell half the story. Since Monday we have been clearing up the mess left by the tide and trying to return the sheds to some sense of normality. Nothing floated away although there were one or two boats that looked like they might have done had the tide come in any further! With the best part of 3 feet of water in the bottom shed and six inches in the office it was certainly the highest I have seen the tide in the six years I have been here. We are almost back to normal now and hopefully next week we will be able to get on with some proper work rather than making the place pretty. I have posted a couple of photos below to give you some idea of how it was for us!

Welcome to Abersoch Marina!

Our trusty Leyland takes one for the team.

I hope those waders don't leak!

Abersochs newest indoor pool.

January 2008

30th January 2008

Nemo has arrived! - After a hectic couple of days we have landed back in Abersoch with lots of interesting goodies from our trip to Germany. Not least of which is Nemo! The new Nemo 300 to give it it's correct name. At 3m long and with 2 seats it is the ideal way to get the kids on the water and give them the freedom they want. We have two boats on their way over to us and they should be with us soon and ready for the water well before Easter. For more information visit our Nemo page here.

It's even got a spoiler it's that fast!

24th January 2008

Boatshows all over! - Not only has the London boatshow at Excel finished but this weekend sees the last weekend of the Dusseldorf boat show. Tim and Emily will be making the journey over to Germany for a couple of days of looking at new boats, meeting suppliers and generally having a weekend away from Abersoch. Its a great show with hundreds of boats of all sizes from pedalos to ocean going trawler type cruisers and everything inbetween. Spread over 17 yes 17 halls it dwarfs anything that the UK industry can come up with and includes specialised halls for diving, motorboats, sailing boats, holiday companies, engines, accessories and of course Superyachts. Its well worth a visit and perhaps one to pencil into the diary for next January.

A really big boat in Dusseldorf 2007, yes it is inside!

If you can't make the Dusseldorf show, then perhaps it is worth thinking about going to the Birmingham boat and caravan show in February. It's only a 6 day show, but from a marine perspective it has grown well and the organisers have now devoted a whole hall to boats and related equipment so we don't have to mingle with the anorak caravan brigade! Its on at the NEC from the 19th - 24th February.

Dusseldorf Boat Show website

Birmingham Boat Show website

Look out for these at the Birmingham show!

22nd January 2008

We haven't been washed away yet! - Whilst the rest of the country is being battered by heavy rain and nasty weather we are having a rather nice day today, we have seen some blue sky and the winds are light. Over the weekend Tim decided that the Land Rover needed a proper test, so equipped with a tow rope he set off in search of some mud with the help of local crazyman Fritz! We found lots of mud and had a good mess around going up and down tracks and trying hard to get stuck. Even though the ruts in the track were at times very deep and there were plenty of puddles we didn't get stuck once...not even nearly! The photos below show how muddy it was.

We didn't get stuck but the mud was rather deep in places.

We didn't need the towrope at all but if I hadn't put it on you just know we would have got stuck!

15th January 2008

What No Boatshow? - As some of you may know already I will not be at the London Boatshow which is currently happening at Excel at the moment. I have spoken to several people who are exhibiting and attendance seems to be good and enquiry levels have been good.

I had to go boating instead...oh the pain! Although rather brisk I spent a lovely hour on the water demonstrating one of our Rib-X products. We were not however the only boat on the water, as you can see from the photos we were accompanied by the Bosun of SCYC who was out doing a spot of fishing!

Coming back into the river

Some people leave their boats out all year

Lobster anyone?

10th January 2008

Rain, Swell & Road Closures - Well we awoke this morning to what seemed like Niagra Falls outside the bedroom window, so promptly snuggled down and had an extra 15 minutes in bed...bliss! When I did finally make it to work I found that the 4.5m tide had made it into the yard and was nipping at the heels of the boats outside the shed. Luckily the tide had turned and it was on its way out by then so it wasn't coming into the shed...phew!

And thats only a small tide!

Later I had to make a journey to Pwllheli to drop some items off at the College and to my delight they had closed the road from Llanbedrog to Pwllheli meaning that a journey round through the super narrow roads was in order. Great until you meet a determined bin wagon coming the other way!

Another helping of mud anyone?

On the way back I even spent 5 minutes arguing with the man who was stopping the traffic after Pulrose roundabout but I couldn't convince him to let me go back along the normal route. Still I had more fun in the mud and puddles on the way home. When I got back I took a trip round to the outer harbour and as the tide was going out it produced some almost surfable waves just beyond the harbour wall...if only!

It looked big enough to me and was still breaking over the harbour wall even a few hours after the high tide.

8th January 2008

Here we are again....just one day on....with more news. We have just heard from the guys at Mastercraft GB who are very excited to announce that the brand new 265CSX will have its International launch at the upcoming Excel London Boatshow. Details are pretty much none existant about the boat at the moment and there are certainly no pictures, but as soon as there's anything else to post, we'll let you know.

7th January 2008

Yes yes we know its been far too long since we posted anything on our news page. So long infact that it was last year! We have had a superb Christmas and new year shutdown and we have all arrived refreshed and ready for our year ahead. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and we hope that you will keep visiting our website and we are sure that you are hoping that we keep the thing up to date a bit more! We promise that we will!

"Iceberg dead ahead"..sorry I just had to!

Well to be honest, not much has happened since my last post in late October. The weather got rainy and windy, it didn't snow, it got icy for a while and then before I knew it it was Christmas...again! For those of you who made it down over the festive period it was lovely to see you all in an "out of work" kind of a way, which doesn't happen all that often. Em and I had a great break and at nearly three weeks its the longest time I have been out of the yard since I took over, nearly four years ago. As is the tradition now I ventured into the sea on New Years Day which was brisk to say the least, but it gave my liver a bit of a break which can only be a good thing! There were loads of people going in the water this year and even more people watching, I think that the estimates of 1000 people watching weren't far wrong. I did however cheat a bit. I might have left the Land Rover running with the heater on full blast before running briefly into the sea.

Thats Mr Minxpix in the bottom right, he was asking for some advice on which lens to use!

There is already quite a bit planned for the upcoming season and we are hoping that the weather will oblige and stay nice for all the events.

Diary Dates So Far

11th - 20th January - Excel London Boatshow, don't bother with this one.

19th - 27th January - Dusseldorf Boatshow,do this one instead, its HUGE, and I'll be there too!

26th April - Park & Launch begins, hoorah

May 10th - 11th - Harbour Project, people on planks of wood in the sea, good sport

24th - 26th May - Tims First Ever Weekend Off, for my mates wedding..in France

June - Lifeboat Open Day, (date tbc), give lots of money

June 13th - 15th - Jazzz...mmmmmm....nice!

June 27th - 29th - Wakestock 1 @ Blenheim Palace, good

July 4th - 6th - Wakestock 2 @ Abersoch, better

25th - 27th July - North Wales Boatshow - Vaynol Estate Bangor, we will be there with boats

13th August - The Great Raft Race, enter the kids and sit back with a beer as they do you proud!

24th August - The First Big Boatyard BBQ, watch this space....

14th September - Park & Launch Ends, boo hiss

20th - 21st September - Glassbutter Beach Event, a great end of season event

October - West Coast Surf Competition, (date tbc)

I'm sure that there will be many more events that I've missed off here but keep your ears to the ground and you'll probably find out what they are before we do!

Well I guess thats it for now, I'd best go and start prodding tractors in readiness for the park & launch season which is only 15 weeks away! I am sure there will be more to post soon

October 2007

31st October

Yamaha News - Last week Tim took a trip to the Cotswold Water Park for the annual Yamaha Outboard Dealer Conference, and as well as a free lunch he also came away with some excellent deals that will keep Yamaha at the top of the UK outboard tree for 2008. Click here to see what we deals we can offer you on a new Yamaha outboard. (It really is worth taking a look!)

31st October

Not only is it Haloween today but we have superb news. Our beloved Land Rover has returned! Whilst away on its 9 month holiday it has has a number of parts replaced. The full rundown includes a brand new galvanised chassis with a 1" suspension lift, new brake system all round, new heavy duty suspension system all round, a nice new shiny exhaust system with truck stack, new brake lines, more tow bars than you can shake a stick at, fully refurbished running gear and polybushes all round. Basically apart from the body, wheels and engine its all new. It is super comfy and Tim even drove it 200 miles from Doncaster to bring it back home. Many thanks to Iain at Designa Chassis who did all the hard work for us it will make towing boats around much easier! If you have a Landy and fancy a galvanised chassis then take a look at the Designa website here.

Yes it does need a lick of paint...thank you Katy.

Look at all the shiny bits underneath

Look, towballs!

New stuff and shiny bits!

9th October

Timcast Returns? - Since stopping the Timcast I have been collared by several people, (who I have never met), and asked to restart the popular weekend boating forecast. I am currently considering whether or not to do this, although looking at the past few weekends, there is still a lot of boating to be done. I may decide to adapt the Timcast for other more wintery Abersoch pursuits such as walking. Any suggestions would be welcomed........watch this space!

UMMMMM, to continue or not??

September 2007

27th September

Glassbutter Beach Event - Due to the lack of Park & Launch customers and also the lateness of the tide I was able to go and watch both evenings wakeboarding....and what a treat. With some of the best riders around at the moment, and Matty C, having a blast around Abersoch main beach behind jetskis it was a sight to behold. The format was simple, two riders, two jetskis, one heat and ten minutes to throw themselves at the three sliders and the now famous kicker. After Saturdays heats and a fine party which lasted until the early? hours the riders had most of Sunday to recover before the finals during the afternoon and early evening. The weather had deteriorated somewhat, but not enough to discourage the riders and more importantly the spectators who turned out to watch the event. They were treated to some amazing riding with riders often matching each other trick for trick all the way round the course. The tide did come in a bit further than expected which made everything that bit lower than perhaps the riders would have liked. In the end the top three were as follows :-

1st place - Mr Matthew Crowhurst

2nd place - Mr Lee Debuse

3rd place - Mr Eban Escot

The riding was followed..again..by another party and the prizegiving at the PB. Everyone had a great weekend and are looking forward to next years event which, like the harbour project, allows lots of riding action for people to watch in a relatively small area. This type of event is rapidly becoming an Alliance trademark and it works really well.

Matt Crowhurst on his way to victory...Hoorah!

As ever there were a number of people with cameras, but as ever our favourite was Mr Minxpix who made the best of the conditions. He has put up over 600 photos of the event, and for once there aren't any of me...thank god! Take a look at the photos here

25th September

Breeze On! - We are trying hard to get boats off the water however we are being hampered by the breezy conditions. For all those customers who have Pandoras with us, we are currently getting them off the water and the majority will be in the yard by tomorrow afternoon. We will then be taking advantage of the big tides on Thursday to bring in all the remaining fin keel yachts. For those of you with powerboats still to collect from the yard, please remember that we have extremely large tides this weekend which will make access impossible before lunchtime on both Saturday and Sunday.

20th September

No News is Good News! - There is an element of deja vu here as I am writing to say that there hasn't really been that much going on, however when I think about it there has been a quite a bit going on here. We haven't made it to the Southampton Boatshow this year due to the dates clashing with tides to get yachts off the water, but having spoken to several people down there it seems to be going well.

Delphia News - The new Delphia 33, which is on show in Southampton at the moment has been nominated for European Yacht of the Year 2008. A panel of judges will make their descision to coincide with the Dussledorf Boatshow in January next year. With orders for the boat going well and some excellent reviews in the press it shows that Delphia have the mix spot on and the D33 stands a good chance of coming out on top.

Rib-X News - The boys at Rib-X have been busy again and have developed some new boats over the summer months including a small twin hulled inflatable, and a 9.5m rib. Sales of the every popular Explorer range have continued to grow and we now have around 15 boats which live in the Abersoch area.

Mastercraft News - Despite the terrible weather over the summer months one of the most used boats in the yard was a 2005 Mastercraft X2, which has seen more watertime than most of the other boats and just goes to show that they are good on the sea! We have had some good enquiries for new 2008 models but if you are thinking of ordering a new 2008 Mastercraft do it soon, as the european allocation will soon be filled and as we speak there are several models in the range which are already fully ordered for 2008.

Our sponsored rider Tabz Nixon has successfully competed in the final round of the Mastercraft Rider League Tour. Tabz was unexpectedly moved to the senior ladies class to make up the numbers after someone dropped out through injury and rode an amazing set to finish on the podium in second. The overall results for the four stop tour will be announced in November.

Ocean Kayak News - A different view on the seabed can be taken now as you paddle along on your Ocean Kayak. The new Peekaboo from Johnson Outdoors has a clear panel located just in front of the seat well so that you can view all that is going on under the sea! The Peekaboo is a slightly larger version of the Frenzy and can seat an adult at the back and a child in a special jump seat facing backwards towards to viewing panel. The boat will be available later this year and will retail at £449.00 inc vat.

Yamaha News - The amazing F350 has been officially launched at the Southampton Boatshow. With several models on show, both on the stand and on various boats around the show it is officially the worlds most powerful outboard. Not only does it look great but it also performs well too. At the present time we are not aware of any retail prices, but as soon as we have some we will let you know. We are currently thinking that the F350 would fit nicely on the back of a Rib-X Explorer 9.5.

Yard News - Since our last news we have seen the end of our Park & Launch season which, although fully booked, has been quieter than our previous seasons due to the inclement weather we have had for most of the summer. The late August Bank holiday weekend saw some great weather and many of our customers spent a great weekend on the water. With the onset of Autumn we are now well on with getting the yachts off the water and the yard is filling up nicely. We still have space for both yachts and powerboats, either in the yard or undercover, contact Tim for more details. Our powerboat winterisation programme is well underway, and if you would like to book your powerboat in for an end of season service and winterisation just drop us a line and we can arrange a convenient time for you to drop your boat in.

Other News - The Land Rover is due back from its holiday within the next week and will be whizzing around the village taking boats away to storage and back to houses. It has had a completely new chassis which should keep it on the road for the forseeable future. We have now stopped doing the Timcast until next year, however if you need a forecast in the meantime check out the weather page on the Abersoch website which is updated each morning. We may do a Christmas and New Year Timcast, but this has yet to be decided.

Glassbutter Beach Event - The guys from Alliance will be at it again this coming weekend, hosting the first Glassbutter Beach event, which will also incorporate the final stop on the Rococco Rail Tour 2007. There will be wakeboarding off the main beach on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, starting at 4pm. This will be followed later by some funky tunes and live music at various locations around the village.

So, like I said at the beginning it would appear that there has been quite a bit going on!

August 2007

17th August

Crikey, it seems like ages since we have posted any news so its about time we did!

North Wales Boatshow 2008 -

We are pleased to confirm that we will be exhibiting at the 2008 North Wales Boatshow to be held at the Vaynol Estate near Bangor at the end of July. The show will give us our first opportunity to showcase the five carefully selected brands that we now represent in the North Wales region.

It has been our intention to exhibit at a boatshow for some time now and the first North Wales Boatshow seems like the ideal show for us to begin with. Being only a short distance from our base in the tourist resort of Abersoch we will be able to take full advantage of the shows location. We have watched the South Wales Boatshow with interest over its two year history and have been impressed with its growth. With the North Wales event being organised by the same team we are sure it will grow just as quickly.

We have secured the support of most of the brands that we deal with including, MasterCraft, Rib-X and Ocean Kayak. We are hoping that we will be able to also interest Delphia Yachts and Yamaha in supporting us at the show. On our stand we will be displaying a wide range of craft from the brands that we represent. We will also have information about the yard in general and what we have to offer apart from boat sales. Being the only true multi purpose boatyard in North Wales we are looking forward to showcasing all we have to offer the boating public of North Wales and the North West .

Looks like a nice place for a boatshow!

5th August

Fishing Trips - One of our winter residents here in the boatyard is Jenny II, a lovely 30' fishing boat. The Skipper Roger offers a variety of trips on the boat which runs from the main beach during the summer months. Whether its a 1 hour seal watching trip or a hardcore full on epic fishing trip with your mates that you are after Jenny II can offer the lot! Prices start at just £8......thats right its cheaper than a sandwich and a drink!! Roger can provide all the fishing gear you need or if you have a lucky rod (who doesn't?!) you can bring your own.

Bookings can be made through Present Thoughts on the high street, 01758 712646

FISH ON!

3rd August 2007

Wakestock Photos - Our friend Mr Minxpix has asked us to put a link on our news page to the pictures that he took of the crowd at Wakestock. There are more than 400 photos of people having what looks like a great time despite the weather. Follow this link to take a look, you never know you might see someone you know or not! Click here to view the photos.

A picture of someone enjoying Wakestock....do you know him?

2nd August 2007

Abersoch's Mastercraft Dealership Supports Young Rider - Teenager, Tabz Nixon has just secured a sponsorship deal with North Wales ' premier Mastercraft dealership, Abersoch Boatyard Services Ltd.

Thirteen year old Tabz, who has been wakeboarding since she was seven years old is a regular visitor to the Abersoch area, spending most weekends perfecting her moves off the North Wales coastline.

Tabz Nixon

A pupil at Cundall Manor, near York, Tabz only started competing seriously this year and is currently leading the Mastercraft Rider League. She is presently in training for the Junior National Championships in Birmingham next month.

Tim Long of Abersoch Boatyard Services Ltd, who provide sales, storage and launching facilities for both yachts and powerboats said, “Tabz has been coming here for years, and it's a great honour to support such a talented and committed youngster. We're going to be giving her every assistance in allowing her as much time as possible on the water and we're certainly looking forward to becoming more closely involved with the sport so many of our customers enjoy.”

Tabz Nixon....remember that name!

July 2007

July 23rd 2007

Wakestock Hailed a Success - Despite the amazing amount of rain that fell over the event we reckon that the Wakestock has been a great success. Having organised towboats and a safety boat for the event we are pleased that the competition went ahead. Simon Waring of MasterCraft GB said that he was pleased to have been able to provide the official towboat for the event and that the feedback from the riders had all been positive. With the Saturday evening music cancelled we all enjoyed the hastily arranged party at 5 Degrees West (good venue!) which was quickly billed as "Fakestock". Jonny 5 and Nigel played along with The Hoxton Whores and everyone had a great evening. It was a shame then that the MasterCraft X Stars couldn't play due to a lack of microphone, but we are quite sure that they will be back soon to try again! We will I'm sure have some photos before long and we will post them up here!

July 21st 2007

Wakestock Saturday music festival cancelled - In a press statement earlier this morning the organisers have been forced to cancel this evenings music festival. See their statement below.

IMPORTANT NEWS

The Saturday night music festival of Wakestock has been cancelled.

This is due to the severe weather conditions which have been experienced in the last 36 hours, for the safety of everyone attending the event we regret we have had to cancel tonight's music festival.

The wakeboarding pro final will still take place at Pwllheli Marina today between 12 and 3pm so it's still worth going down to the marina - you do not need tickets to attend the wakeboarding.

Further information will be posted on the website and the office will re-open on Monday morning.

The campsite will remain open until 3pm on Sunday but we are urging people that if they can travel home or make alternative arrangements to do so.

For those who were lucky enough to go last night it was an epic event which everyone we spoke to enjoyed despite the "slightly damp" conditions. The music was great and the atmosphere was awesome.

July 20th 2007

MasterCraft CSX feeds the 5000 - After driving round all morning in Pwllheli marina towing wakeboarders on the practice session we decided that it would be nice to take out the CSX and have a wakeboard ourselves in the afternoon. After everyone had had a ride we decided to see if there were any fish out there, and promptly reeled in nearly 20 mackerel and had them swimming around nicely in our live bait well. Having decided that we should come back in at around 7pm Brett Hodgkins, (all round nice guy) cranked up an impromptu bbq and set about cooking our dinner. We were soon joined by Stew Mackie and Will Christien who enjoyed the food too. So proof indeed that the new CSX is not only capable of towing a wakeboarder, but it can catch and store big game fish!

Mmmm tasty fish

"Don't even think about stealing my food....ggggrrrrrrrrr"

Mr Waring in a very fetching little jacket

"Everybody say MACKEREL!"

July 18th 2007

The invasion begins! - After a long journey from MasterCraft HQ last night Simon and the gang arrived in the yard early this morning with two shiny boats for us to play with. The CSX and an X-1. More boats will be arriving later on today and tonight.

Shiny MasterCrafts

July 18th 2007

HELP WE'RE SINKING!! - Here we have some pictures of a boat being recovered from the moorings this morning. Thats right it has sunk. Two divers went and buoyed the boat and it was then towed back to the Harbour beach by Owi and Meirion who look after all the moorings. The boat sank overnight on Monday although the cause is not yet known.

Did anyone put the bung in?

I bet the gin and tonic fell over!

On its way back to the beach.

July 16th - 21st 2007

DOES

Thats right folks the time has nearly arrived. Once again our friends from Shockwave Preston will be joining us for the event, but this year we will be joined by the team from MasterCraft GB as well. There will be some of the most amazing boats you have ever seen arriving from Wednesday onwards. From the X-Star that is pulling the event to the amazing new CSX there will be plenty to drool over. For definite we know there will be the Tour X-Star, a CSX, several X-2's an X-10 (which you can buy) and possibly something very very special.

July 15th 2007

Return of the board - No not some scary horror movie from the 50's but our board at the top of the steps! After a small makeover to fit in with the new shop we now have our for sale board back up. The board is well worth a look as there are sometimes offers and deals that aren't advertised anywhere else. The board is now closer to the steps so you won't get confused about where to go either!

Our lovely for sale board!

July 13th 2007

New MasterCraft page goes live! - we have now started work on our long awaited MasterCraft section of our website. Although there isn't a huge amount on there at the moment, over the next few weeks it will become full of goodies and pictures of sexy boats! For the time being there are some good offers on there for you all to take advantage of. Click here to take a look.

Amazing Offer - To celebrate the fact that MasterCraft are the official towboat for Wakestock 2007 here at Abersoch Boatyard Services Ltd we are offering you the chance to own one of the best wakesport boats in the world. For two weeks only, starting from Monday 16th July until July 31st we are offering 2008 MasterCraft boats at 2007 prices. Thats right for deposit paid orders placed during this period you can have your new MasterCraft for the price you would have paid in January 2007! Now thats a deal! Contact Tim for more details

July 6th 2007

Tasty New Offerings - MasterCraft have now gone public with their new '08 graphics, which look spankingly good on the X Series boats. Not only have they released these awesome photos but they have also updated their "build a boat" section of the website which now allows you to add and remove towers and switch graphics and colours and also offers a wider choice of interior colour schemes. Take a look and design your own new MasterCraft here. We have also put up some photos for you to look at as well.

New 2008 X2 graphics

New 2008 X80 graphics

And finally the new 2008 X Star graphics

July 2nd 2007

Great Deals for July - In order for us to keep our stock fresh we are having a summer clearout during July. Great deals are available on Yamaha, Rib-X and more. For more details visit our Great Deals page.