What’s new at Blue HQ
Summer has well and truly arrived at Blue HQ with an explosion and we are thrilled that our great customers are all taking every opportunity to get on the water.
We’ve had a big year growing our stacking and lifting services, and our functions and membership are gaining momentum.
Our GM Jim McLarty shares what’s on offer at Blue HQ this summer boating season.
The volume of stacking boats being launched is at an all-time high and our lifting yard has experienced a great couple of months.
Our functions and memberships are tracking well as the space gets more and more exposure. Don’t forget we have private and corporate memberships available including year-round access, free private functions and a number of daytime events each year. The View is available for private function rental and dates in December and January are still available. It really is the best ocean side venue in Perth and perfect for all events for up to 180 people.
It was a relatively short winter with great weather on offer right up until the end of June. Both winter and spring had plenty of flat days on offer and our hard-core boaties made the most of great surfing and fishing conditions in between cold fronts. The snapper were coming in thick and fast during September until the ban slowed that up. Just when the partners thought the boat was going to put to bed for a while the cray season started up.
All I can say is to look out next week when the holidays start! Demersal ban is lifted and the crayfish continue to find their way into pots. We are predicting a huge Christmas-New Year period.
Maintenance and our winter works program across both sites went well and have put us in good standing to handle the extra numbers we are doing across the business. The new Wiggens Bull Fork lift at the boat park is going well and ensuring your pride and joy is in the best possible hands. Roofs were also replaced; racks painted, in-water structures strengthened and the forklifts and lifting machines were painted in anticipation for our biggest summer yet.
We are excited to have such a great bunch of staff members all pulling together to create the relaxed atmosphere our customers love. Hats off to them for doing such a great job at keeping the customers happy and enthusiastic on their boating. We believe we have the strongest team in place since taking the sites over, many of the guys and all the gals clocking up over two years with Blue HQ. Please make an effort to chat to the guys when you are in our yards as they are very knowledgeable and always keen to help and offer advice in their areas of expertise.
The highlight for staffing has been the consistency of service from our lifting staff led by Jack Stuart and David Carey. Not a day goes by that the Lifting crew aren’t working hard and getting covered in grease or antifoul from 7am till 3pm. Last year at Lifters, the guys hauled over 400 boats out of the water, ranging from 30ft to 130ft.
The stacking teams led by Operations Manager David Carey have done an amazing job the last few weekends as we deal with huge launch numbers. Rest assured we are working up strategies to ensure there are empty bays in the marinas for all vessels returning from sea, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when we can see up to 100 boats in the water at any given time. Thanks very much for your patience regarding this, we are structuring our rosters and adding staff to ensure boats are in early and being retrieved until 6.30pm.
In 2018 we are dedicated to making Blue HQ the number one marine facility and service provider in Western Australia. As a company and a community we are committed to getting you more time on the water and adding positivity and safety to your every boating experience.
During summer we will be carrying out customer surveys to get feedback on how we can improve operations, procedures, communications and more. In the meantime please feel free to raise any recommendations or praise with us via info@bluehq.com.au
We look forward to a great summer. Happy boating!