British Marine Electronics Association Conference 2012 Winners Announced
Published on 25/10/2012
The British Marine Electronics Association (BMEA) Conference 2012 took place on 17 October at the Novotel Hotel, Southampton. The event had over 60 delegates from all over the marine electronic and electrical sectors of the marine industry.
This year’s Conference included a number of presentations by distinguished speakers including Steve Spitzer, Technical Director of the NMEA, Howard Pridding, BMF CEO, Ed Wildgoose from MailaSail, Paul Holland of Energy Solutions Ltd, Graeme Hawksley from Hybrid Marine Ltd, Daniel Cox from E-Plex Ltd and Sarah Dhanda Senior BMF Director.
After a full day of conferencing followed by the Association’s Annual General Meeting, the day ended with the announcement of four major awards:
The winner of the “BMEA Product of the Year” sponsored by Boating Business was the Furuno TimeZero Touch. (http://www.furuno.co.uk/ )
Furuno’s TimeZero Touch multi-function displays are the most advanced chart plotter, radar, fish-finder, weather station currently available. Daniel Conway from Furuno UK Ltd said: “Furuno has incorporated multi-touch technology in to the units which gives us access to the must have ‘pinch to zoom’ feature. To build such a system we turned to the world’s largest and most respected chip manufacture Intel. This allowed TimeZero Touch to incorporate the latest processor giving the units the processing power to deliver flawless performance in all conditions.
“Furuno are immensely proud to receive this award. On behalf of everyone at Furuno I would like to thank all our customers and dealers who voted for us.”
The winner of the ‘BMEA Dealer of the Year Award’ is Boat Electrics & Electronics Ltd. Formed in 1974, the company cut its teeth on the then buoyant fishing industry, and over the years it has developed into the commercial, workboat and leisure markets. The company is an agent for Furuno, Raymarine, Koden, Jotron, Icom, KVH, PC Maritime and many others.
Julian Coleman, Founder and Chairman of Boat Electrics & Electronics Ltd said: “I have always believed in the BMEA and promoting the marine electronics industry in both the leisure and small commercial markets. Boat Electrics & Electronics Ltd is honoured to receive this award.”
The winner of the ‘BMEA Newly Certificated Technician of the Year’ was Ashley Maginnis of A Maginnis Electrics. Asked about his background, Ashley said: “I am from Annalong, a small Co.Down fishing village and 6 miles from Kilkeel which had the largest trawler fleet in Ireland. I served my time as an electrician but shortly after qualifying I was made redundant."
"In addition to courses which we undertake regularly to keep up to date with current standards and regulations in standard electrical installations, I have participated in MEI, BMET and AMET courses run by the BMEA.”
A popular recipient of the ‘BMEA Lifetime Achievement Award’ was Brian Ash of Manstrbrite. Brian who is founder and Chairman of Manstbrite has had a colourful background in the industry. He still takes an active interest in the running of the company with his son David now at the helm as Managing Director.
On winning his award Brian said: “I was totally elated. It was wonderful to receive such an award from my industry colleagues.”
For further details of the winners and the awards visit the BMEA site click HERE