I am both impressed and a little dismayed by Philip’s ‘important announcement’. I was once an OwnerShip boater, I started a shared ownership company from scratch and built up 7 boats before moving on, and I am now in a private syndicate. I feel qualified to speak on shared ownership.

On the other hand I have never run a website personally (I paid an expert) and have never operated a message board. So I feel less qualified to comment on Philip’s offer, but it is this aspect that causes me sufficient concern to put inkjet to paper.

To me the biggest attraction about the boatshare website is that, in the main, it is used by other private sharers. It does not get overly political (with a small p), by which I mean whilst commenting in general terms on for example Challenger it did not become swamped with Challenger owners using it as a communication forum to the exclusion of other issues. Likewise the current availability of the OwnerShips discussion forum (without moderation?) has ensured a way for owners to communicate information and concerns to each other swiftly. It has not ‘got in the way’ of other boaters not in OwnerShips.

When I left OwnerShips in 2000 I thought at that stage the Company was too big, had lost it’s club like feel that it had when I joined and boats and owners were suffering as a result. In the past 10 years it has virtually doubled in size but I have no knowledge of how owners feel, one of a comfortable group or one amongst many and ignored. What I do fear though is that this website could become swamped by those moving over from OwnerShips, both on the message board and on the shares for sale pages.

Philip is correct in that there aren’t that many outlets to help you sell your share and this one is very successful and highly valued. My view, with a degree of background knowledge, is that the prices of used shares currently advertised are pretty keen giving the purchaser a good deal and an acceptable return to the seller. Adding in OwnerShip used sales is, in my view, likely to lead to shares losing their value due to the numbers on offer. If only half the boats have just one share to sell that’s 50 shares. A veritable glut. Good news for the purchaser, pretty bad news for the seller.

So I think you’re making a genuine and great offer Philip, but my fear is it will be at a cost to the way this site is both viewed and used.

I recommend River Canal Rescue to friends with boats and indeed my company used to use them in place of having a dedicated engineer; they got to boats quicker than we could and invariably were able to supply the right part in a very short space of time. I do hope they will be able to cope with a very large number of new boats ringing them up.

In conclusion may I say this: if you have a couple of real enthusiasts on your boat and a consensus of opinion do try and go it alone. It’s a lot of fun and much cheaper. If you don’t have someone willing to give a fair amount of time to negotiating with boatyards and, perhaps more tricky, the other members of the syndicate, get a new management company(or Phoenix OwnerShips) to take the strain. If you joined a boat with a management company originally it was probably because you didn’t need the hassle of sorting out minor problems where it can quickly turn into a drama.

Finally I wish all those with OwnerShips the best of luck. You didn’t deserve any of this. I can only hope it eventually turns out OK for you.

In response to Graham (whom I know personally) I would say this:-

The offer I am making to OwnerShips customers is exactly the same as the one I made to Challenger customers when that firm folded, with the exception of those who are affected by the shares owned by OwnerShips themselves which needed to be sold on. In this case I have said that if the owners GO IT ALONE then they can have a free advert here for their “buy back” shares, which I would say is a token gesture is the whole scheme of things.

Yes, in the short term this MIGHT drive prices down, but the prices are determined by market forces, not me. If I withdrew the offer to help out these groups free, they could pay for their adverts and put them on at the same price, so my offer would not necessarily affect the prices at all. I am just trying to lend a hand to some people whom I regarded as friends some years ago…..

Of course where owners “GO IT ALONE” then their boats are no different to the vast majority of boats for whom I carry adverts….ex Challenger (now private) ex The Boatshare Company (now private) ex Heron Boatshare (now private)… and so ex OwnerShips (now….er Private?).

This web site is there to be used by ALL, and if they are holders of shares in boats, or looking to buy shares in boats then so much the better. Traffic since the OwnerShips problems have come to light has never been higher, and this can only be good for MY customers (advertisers) and the more traffic I can generate the better for all of them.