Tents and Marquees

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are used when you want to make a spectacular outdoor scene. They are generally structures installed at a location for a period of time.

Why A Tent?
Commercial Tents are used as protection from the sun, rain or a gathering place. They can make a stunning and creative atmosphere for any event.

Tent Rentals
Tents can be rented or leased for a day, a weekend, weeks, months, etc. For one or two day events, the Tents are usually installed a few days before the event, depending on scheduling and weather, and remain until a few days after the event. Many rentals are quoted for the entire week, allowing for time to set up and design the interior and exterior. Some Tents are built for exceedingly long-term events and have been installed and remain installed for years.

What Kind of Tent Should I Rent?
Tent rental companies come in all sizes – from small-sized companies with just a few Tents to exceedingly large-sized companies – carrying dozens of several sizes and styles of Tents. Some general rental companies rent from tent rental companies to accommodate their client’s needs.

You may know you want to use a standard Tent for your event, or your event planner may already have in mind to use a Tent. You have options! There are lots of other spectacular
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

Usually, the varying types of Tents available in most companies are (the names vary depending of the company):

Folding Tents Easy and fast to use and always in demand. Very popular, because usually is the less expensive tent. Fast, flexible, cost effective and long lasting.

They are used by:

  • Corporate brands across most industries
  • Government & Council buyers
  • SME business marketers
  • Franchisees
  • Agricultural exhibitors
  • Emergency services & community groups
  • Folding Tents create brand exposure opportunities.
  • You can reach your audience at the right time, in the right place with the right message.

Inflatable Tents An exciting and lively alternative Tent. Easy & fast to set up. Be sure they have removable printed roof because in that way you can share the investment with other licences.

What Size Tent Will I Need?

The size of Tent depends on a few factors:

1. The number of guests you expect
2. Layout or seating arrangements or the style of event:

* Reception with what type of tables?
* Speaker engagement with what type of seating?
* Will you need a dance floor?
* Will you need display areas for your products?

If you are interested in a Tent, you can expect to need about 2,000 – 2,500 square feet for 200-seated guests. That could mean a 40 x 60 size Tent (Always ask the Tent rental vendor directly and they’ll give you the best dataabout the size of Tent you’ll need).

Therefore, the key rule is; know what you are going to use your tent for. The choice of tents is incredible, almost on par with the choice of cars that you can buy.

So if you need a tent for the family BBQ, for example, your needs are fairly fundamental
and your budget may be low. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a solid warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a range of sizes, and colours. Most plain colour Tents s range between $995- $2900. If you are keen to advertise yourself, you can have your names printed for around $150-$300. Printing logos usually cost a little more.

In the last 5 years, portable Tents have become important to businesses for their marketing. The essential need for these buyers is a prominent and exact reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as dull as a website address or they can be a design masterpiece.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build awareness of your company with your printed Tent. Printed corporate Tents range in price from $1500- $4000. Good ones will really catch your eye.

Once you have decided on what sort of buyer you are and how you are going to use your Tents, a good Tents company will offer you a choice of frames, a warranty of between 3-5 years and help with formulating the printing-if you need it.

For more information about tents, contact Extreme Marquees. We have a range of cheap tents, for all sorts of home and business applications.

New Zealand’s Top Holiday Cities

New Zealand has a magnificent array of breathtaking landscapes. Like huge mountain ranges, majestic coastlines, dense rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These panoramic wonders have all made New Zealand an inspired destination for all kinds of holidays.

Amazing travel packages and holiday specials are available on quality accommodation in modern city hotels and luxurious wilderness lodges at reduced prices. Among the top holiday destinations in New Zealand, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland would definitely be there. Travel Online is a prominent online specialist travel operator and provides fantastic tourist services for New Zealand. Travel Online provides an instant quote and booking service for accommodation in cities right across the country.

Queenstown
The international resort town of Queenstown is situated on the shoreline of Wakatipu Lake. This beautiful region is among the most scenic locations on the globe. Throughout the year adventurous and thrilling sports like jet boating, bungy jumping, and white water rafting take place. This town is the epicentre of the entire world’s bungy jumping activities too. With the advent of winter, the town gets transformed to an alpine wonderland with snowboarders and skiers from all corners of the world assembling at the annual Winter Festival.

There is constant demand for Queenstown Accommodation all round the year and Travel Online offers a select group of hotels best suited for New Zealand holidays. 1, 2, 3 or 4 bedroom apartments, with cutting-edge facilities, gyms, spas and fantastic views are available at various holiday retreats across the city. Bigger apartments with more bedrooms, tennis courts, private jetties and fitness centres are also available at a higher price. Luxury complexes with studio rooms in the vicinity of cafes, bars, and restaurants are also found in Travel Online’ Queenstown Accommodation selection.

Christchurch
When choosing a place to stay in Christchurch look for hotels that give views over the beautiful Victoria Square, across the transfixing Avon River or towards the epochal Anglican Cathedral. Situated on New Zealand’s South Island, this cosmopolitan city is always abuzz with colourful festivals, shopping spots, theaters and art galleries. Hotels overlooking Victoria Square provide visitors with an insight in to the city’s English history.

Individuals accommodated in the vicinity of the Christchurch Cathedral will find hotel rooms with a Manhattan-style feel. Tradition and elegance are everywhere in these hotels along with a keen eye on service excellence. Huge bedrooms with full-fledged kitchen facilities are common, along with hi-tech conference facilities, resort-like leisure features like spas, saunas, gyms, and swimming pools. Many of these hotels provided by Travel Online are located in the vicinity of the Technology Park, the International Antarctic Centre, and the airport. Travelers who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life will find suitable accommodation in the wonderfulcountryside surrounding the city.

Auckland
Auckland, also known as the City of Sails, is situated in between 2 harbors and has more boats per person than anywhere on the planet. Within minutes a person has the flexibility of sailing away on yachts to isolated nearby islands, living the sweet life in the casino, surfing at endless beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and luxurious executive / marina suites. Travel Online caters to the tastes of corporate and business tourists and can beat any price seen on Auckland accommodation advertised. Auckland harbor is majestic, and is seen perfectly from atop Sky City and the surrounding accommodation.

Affordable and comfortable apartments are available for casual tourists, equipped with kitchens, laundries, and balconies to provide a wonderful holidaying experience. Visitors to Auckland adore visiting the Antarctic Encounter, which showcases the only penguins present in the sub-Antarctic region. More adventures include cage-bereft shark dives, scuba expeditions and snorkel safaris. New Zealand is waiting.

Travel Online has a wide range of Queenstown accommodation close to all the snow action and cosmopolitan Christchurch accommodation surrounded by all that theatre and art. For holidays in and around the water, Auckland accommodation is as good as anywhere in the world.

Repairing Flooded Carpet: A cheap job is a good job right? Wrong….

Don’t have an unprofessional 24 hour carpet cleaner come to repair your water damaged carpets. These are the signs you should be careful of:

Overcharging. An inexperienced water restoration restorer may load the job up with extra inclusions. E.g. using dehumidification for drying the damaged carpets is not needed.

Using the correct equipment. They may hire equipment from hire businesses for drying the carpet. This is all right, but an experienced water damage professional will own all their equipment so they can offer a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

The right moisture metre. If they don’t have the right moisture meter, they won’t be able to see when the carpet is fixed. This increases the danger of mould in future. Removal of this in future may be required.

If they aren’t specialised. There are a lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do repair repairs on the “side.” i.e. they do not do this kind of job often. Be careful of them. Drying water damage to carpets is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips should be taken on by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be damaged beyond repair.

You might be pondering, how do I pick a credible Flood Restoration Business? Below I have selected some things to check for when you are calling around for a carpet flood damage business:

How large is their Yellow Pages ad slot: This can be an indication as to how much repair work they do already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost around $50 000. So if they have invested in a big ad, you can at least have some promise that they are professionals.

Where do they come up in Google? The higher they rate in Google, the more “online votes” there has been for this business.

What Qualifications do they have? The fundamental qualification they need is a IICRC qualification about Applied Structural Drying and Water Damage Restoration.

Do Insurance companies hire them for their carpet damage jobs? This is a very good indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is likely to be good at their job. Insurance companies tend to use the businesses that offer them the better value for their money.

What kind of Equipment do they have? They should own about 100 Air movers. If they own this many, this probably means they have been running for a good while. It took our business 8 years to acquire that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What kind of commitment can you get out of them on the phone? Ask if you can pin them down to a set price for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they wouldn’t give you a price for this in the least, you know they are not going to serve you, so go elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage Brisbane business is committed to a 59 minute response time for a water damage emergency. The restoration needs to be done ASAP. Mould can come in a 24 hour period.

If you follow these tips you are sure to find a Flood Damage Restoration company who knows how to do the job right.

If you have carpet water damage Brisbane, call us for flooded wet carpet drying. Brisbane storm season is approaching and you may need storm damage carpet cleaning. Brisbane and surrounding areas serviced.

Podiatry as a Career in Australia

As a practicing podiatrist in Brisbane, Australia, I am frequently asked by clients if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to contemplate . There are many things to recommend a career in podiatry including:

  • You can be self employed: This is a prospect that is increasingly being denied to other health care providers such as optometrists and even GPs . Big Business controls a lot of health practices. Consider how often you see an independent optometrist these days – can they compete on price with the multinational chains?
  • Legal Issues: In Australia (unlike the USA where things are very different), podiatrists very, very rarely get sued . The nature of podiatry practice does not lend itself to accidentally harming one’s patients. Also, you never have to give your patients the bad news that their condition will be terminal.
  • Working Hours: Emergency call outs are very unlikely. This is good news for those among us who like their sleep uninterrupted.
  • Financial Reward: Whilst it is true that podiatry doesn’t pay as well as being a medical practitioner or dentist , the pay is generally commensurate with other allied health providers.
  • Instant Gratification: One of the best aspects of a career as a podiatrist is the instant gratification! People come in with pain and leave happy. You will experience a plethora of bite-sized jobs each day, many with a cure you can provide immediately. From someone that has worked with unanimously grumpy customers in a past career, believe me when I tell you, it makes the day much less stressful when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will allow you a great deal of opportunity to help eliminate the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatry provides a professional the power to determine their own course of action for the benefit of their patients. This is unlike a career in nursing for example where one works under the instruction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can claim to be a podiatrist are those with a podiatry qualification. The clear roles that this defines relieves the need to find your ‘niche’ after university – as someone with a more generic Bachelor of Science degree might need to do.
  • Do you like to travel? There are many places across the world that do not train their own podiatrists including Tasmania, the Northern Territory, all of Asia and all of the Middle East. If you want to work your way around the world, Australian podiatrists can gain employment in any Commonwealth country and are particularly in demand in Singapore, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and other far flung fields.
  • Variety: In any given day, a podiatrist will see a big range of complaints. There might be an ingrown toenail or two, a painful corn, a sports injury, some lower back pain and at least a couple of painful heels . The primary skill required in being a good podiatrist is to be a great problem solver. Every patient is an individual with a unique complaint requiring a well considered solution.

How do you become a qualified as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist means six Australian Universities:

  • Curtin University
  • La Trobe University
  • Charles Sturt University
  • Queensland University of Technology
  • University of South Australia
  • University of Western Sydney.

Last year, the entry score for the QUT was OP 8.

Stephanie Cosgrove graduated as a podiatrist from QUT in 1990 and with a Master’s degree in Applied Science (Podiatry) in 1996. Since 1991, she has worked in private practice as a Podiatrist Brisbane. She received three university prizes during her studies, including the award for excellence in design and manufacture of orthotics. Brisbane has been the site of her private practice since 1991 which has grown to four locations and eleven staff. If you want to Walk Without Pain consider a visit to Brisbane’s most innovative podiatry practice today. Call for an appointment now on 1300 A1 Feet.

Eight Steps to Great Web Design

Take charge of getting your site conceived by a developer and know the process it will save you money and get you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Understanding your business and how you are currently positioned in your market.
In order to author a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full understanding of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to acknowledge how you want to explain your business and what it offers in 7 seconds or less. Sounds impossible? Well that is the average time that a user will consider the point “is this site I searched for?”.

2. Budget and estimation
Have a budget in mind and don’t be afraid to let the developers know what it is. In saying this: BE REALISTIC, $500 will never see a great web site created, nor will they be anything left in the bank to market it.

3. The creative process
Be armed with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can accomplish an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will construct a good profile and realise not only what type of site to build for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for effective development. The more interaction and information you accord them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by becoming what you want 1st time round. Check with the designers on how many rounds of changes come with the contract, most will allow for a total conceptual redesign only once and 2 rounds of changes after that.

4. Production and Content
After the home page design is created, the developers will more than likely take the general layout of this concept and then construct the inner page template. It is this template that will be duplicated for most of your pages for your site.
Provide your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t get too creative with the document fonts etc. as these will not be preserved when the content is copied into the code of the site. It is inferred that you do use bolding, underlining, headings and sub heading though ,as these highlights are transferred into the site and are crucial later on in not only interacting with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; formulate a decent amount of content but present it in a way that a reader may acquire a summary of what you are trying to infer across in the 1st couple of paragraphs and an image or to. The rest of the paragraphs that get into finer details ARE FOR GOOGLE !

5. Development Programming and CMS
If your website contains Content Managed Areas (CMS) or has any other dynamic sections the developers will wrap your design around a content management program such as Joomla or Drupal or they may have a custom built system. Make sure that you get to see how the CMS system operate on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. You need to know that you can utilize and understand the system when your site is complete.

6. Testing and training
We work closely with the developers to test your site especially if there are any CMS or special programs that have been created for you. You can guarantee if it is has just been written for you then it will not work 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program operates and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, chances are it won’t make sense to your audience. Make sure you test your website on more than just your browser, try to test it on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. All of these browsers are avialable on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to put your site onlive make sure you have finished the above testing step until you are certain that this website is the best representation of your business / product it can be. Remember even though you can change things after going live it is still a poor reflection on your business if there are spelling mistakes or broken images when you launch.

8. Marketing
There is little point in having a website if nobody visits it, make sure as part of you contract you have considered search engine optimisation and or search engine marketing as part of your website build. This is the absolute most important factor of the whole process. If you are the only one looking at your site then you are in trouble.

Remember Search Engine Optimisation is about 30% Onsite (getting your site correct for Search Engine to index correctly) and 70% Promotion. Any developer who tells you otherwise hasn’t been in the industry too long.

For more information about web design Brisbane, contact Web Site Blue. Our web designers understand marketing as well as design.

Tips to Creating a New Business Logo

A logo is a very important step to building a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face expresses the tone of your business, indicates the service and displays the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the creation of their logo and walk away with no artwork files. Then a couple months down the track when they need to put signage on their new building they cannot track the design studio down that created the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it redone. This is needless and may cause difficulties when trying to replecate the logo exactly as done originally.

We have created some basic tips you for to think about when creating a logo. Hopefully these will help you from experiencing any future difficulties.

Tip 1
First things first – you need to decide if you would like your logo to have an accompanying icon. It is advised that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will assist in getting a clear message across to your target audience.

An icon can add an extra element to your branding in that you could use the icon on its own on collateral where perhaps you are sighting for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A perfect example of this is the well-known and executed Nike logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an essential decision as it not only could influence the output costs but can also hinder your output use. Consider the end result and what you will be putting your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Make sure you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and confirm that it includes all the files needed for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Make certain you have a copy of your logo as a PDF – with the text converted to curves.

Tip 4
Using images in your logo is not very easy to accomplish. For example it is difficult to reverse into black and white. Images also have limitations when it comes to size – they can only be reproduced to a certain size before they start pixilation.

Tip 5
Using gradients in your logo is not recommended. This too can have limitations when it comes to output for ie: gradients are hard to reproduce when embroidering fabrics.

Tip 6
Make certain sure the font is legible. Some logos need to be reproduced on small pieces of collateral ie: post stamps. It is important that in this case the text is
readable

Tip 7
Assure that you get a copy of your logo in CMYK high resolution 300 dpi (for printing use) and RGB 72 dpi(for web use).

Tip 8
It is important to have a style guide of your logo. It will clearly show you how to use your logo so it looks exactly the same every time it is reproduced. This allows you to keep your corporate image consistent.

Tip 9
Make sure that you get a letter from the design studio declaring that you own the copyright to your logo.

If you follow these tips then not only will you acquire a well-designed logo but you will also own the artwork. And when it comes to reproducing your collateral you will be doing it the most cost effective way.

For logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today for a free two hour consultation.

How to Create a Style Guide

How many times have you commissioned business cards to print and collected yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been enthusiastic to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then recognized that the crucial tag line is missing or your logo has been wrecked.

There is only one way to stop this from happening and that is to set up a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you steer the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you bolster your brand recognition – which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.

We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.

Step 1 : Outline the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to use in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?

Step 2 : Outline what your output uses are. This is important because you will want different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.

Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may needcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

Content rules cover all punctuation rules and how to attribute to the business and team.

Step 4 : Make sure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding sits on all the different pieces of collateral that may be repeated.

Step 5 : Insure to insert any contributing logos or logos of business that are linked with you. It’s also important that you issue a copy of the layout to these companies to guarantee they approve the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.

Step 6 : Make certain that grammar, spelling and contact details are correct.

Step 7 : Insure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they understand~know~discern~apprehend} that a proof needs to be dispatched~sent~mailed~commissioned}to you to be affirmed as correct.

Get your Style Guide finished and as established as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly advise a training session – whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to put to work the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

For graphic design Brisbane, logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today. We help your brand build business.

Projectors: LCD Verses DLP (The downfall of DLP technology)

The common question heard when buying a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: will I purchase an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, short for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, standing for ‘digital light processing’ are the two most common projector imaging technologies. With so many business brands and types available, it can be challenging for consumers to make a choice between both technologies. Ultimately LCD projectors give better image quality and colour accuracy. The following article will explain why DLP projectors struggle with creating an equal grade of image quality.

Imagine a set of blinds in your room covering your bedroom window. By pulling on a rod you can have the shutters open or closed, depending on if you want to let light in or not. This is exactly how an LCD projector behaves. Each pixel operates like a unique shutter on a set of blinds to either send light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is formed of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as pros like to call them. Each pixel element operates to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the time the projector turns on to when the content reaches your screen is absolutely important with regard to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors direct white light from the lamp by splitting it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which direct the coloured light to 3 individual LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels create the elements of the image by switching each pixel on and off. The pixels are then projected in a glass prism to send the projector image. An important point to remember about LCD projectors is that all three colours are directed onto your projector screen all at the same time. The way a DLP projector works is vastly different and even the final product of how an image appears is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is directed through a turning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This way of making an image casts a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors as mentioned above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to create the image elements. The elements of the image are cast in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s vision will then pull together each coloured element of the image into the single total image. From LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to offer the highest brightness and spectacular colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at a time, resulting in lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some designers have added a white segment into the colour wheel to improve all over brightness, but this also damages colour accuracy.

I hear in forums all the time that DLP offers a higher contrast ratio and therefore must be superior quality. For those who are uncertain, the contrast ratio is a measure of a display system defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest white to that of the darkest black that the machine is capable of producing. DLP projectors do offer high contrast specifications in comparison to a majority of LCD projectors. At a glance, this must be a plus, however, in reality, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room in which the projector is being used. Do not be tricked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you are trying to project requires moving images, DLP projection technology also creates image errors, or ‘artifacts’. The most commonplace artifact that a DLP projector creates with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is incontrovertible in DLP systems because moving images change up between the time red, blue and green colours are shone. LCD projectors do not have this disadvantage because all colours are processed at once. DLP developers have formed 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to solve the colour break up issue, but the price of these projectors make them impractical for the large part of businesses and consumers.

Another difference between LCD and DLP is how they match the balance for the refractive qualities of light. Take yourself back to high school science, and they taught you how various colours of light refract differing amounts when shone through the same lens. The downfall with DLP projectors is that they use the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are obviously different and refract light in different ways. Often with a DLP projector, a superfluous yellow colour will appear above and some blue will come up below an image as simple as a straight black line. During manufacturing LCD projectors can be set to reduce these effects on the projected image, because each colour is refracted on separate LCD panels.

The only true advantage (excluding price) with going with a DLP projector is its smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant to transport and has to be traded off against the image benefits of LCD projectors. If the outcome of the picture quality is crucial to you, then the answer is easy. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will definitely create bright, colourful images with fewer image blips. If you need to know more about LCD technology in more detail, see this fantastic resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any persisting questions, jump onto Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager for Projector Central, Australia’s top online store for projectors. Based in Brisbane, Projector Central has served Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in the Gold Coast and Interactive Whiteboards, contact Projector Central today.

Yachting and Yacht Clubs

As the Dutch rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht was a leisure craft used mostly by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, borne from private matches. English yachting began with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his reaffirmation to the English royalty in 1660, the city of Amsterdam sent him a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he then named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), ordered for other yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and back, on a £100 punt. Yachting became fashionable for the rich and royalty, but after that point the habit did not last.

The first yacht club in the British Isles, the Water Club, was instigated at about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, with large naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club persisted, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when conglomerating with other organisations, it became the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was first seen in some stipulated method on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV rose to sovereignty in 1820, it was named the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded after a racing argument, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht organisation had been started at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal sponsorship made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continuing location of British racing. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the rise of George IV. All members were required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for high bets were held, and the club life was lovely. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to bigger than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English had power. Sailing was mostly for pleasure and rose to its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and established a benchmark of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first enduring American yacht society, the Detroit Boat Club, was instigated in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts followed the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the second half of the 19th century. The design of sizeable yachts was first heavily impacted by the win of America, which was created by George Steers for a association started by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its victory at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and built in today’s sense, with merely a model used. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was called naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the use of the research of aerodynamics do for the design of sails and rigging what science had previously done for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had been individually custom-built, there came a desire for handicapping boats before the one-design class boats were built. Thus, a rating rule was decreed, which is found in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and edited in 1919. Today, one of the fastest blossoming areas in the field of sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are built to the same specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between such boats can be done on an even keel with no handicapping required. A prime example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

For the time that yachting belonged mostly for the aristocracy and the affluent, cost was no problem, and the size of boats increased, in both length and weight. The rise and preference of smaller boats came in the second half of the 19th century out of the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A journey around the world (1895–98) captained single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray made plain the seaworthiness of small craft. Following this in the 20th century, notably after World War II, smaller racing and leisure yachts became commonplace, down to the dinghy, a favourite training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, at which point steam was set to replace sail power in commercial craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were favoured increasingly in leisure craft. Sizeable power yachts were developed to a high standard, and long-distance sailing turned into a fond activity of the well off. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave rise to those powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. As in the case of naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries carrying both sail and power were the yacht archetype for many years. By the second half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were solely power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

In the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the construction of more sizeable steam yachts. Conspicuous of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of more than 150. The Mayflower, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and was used in active service during World War II.

As larger and better quality internal-combustion engines were developed, many big craft started using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, progressed in World War I. From the decade following that, large power-yacht building flourished, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that period the biggest auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The manufacture of big power craft declined after 1932, and the style from then was for smaller, less expensive craft. Following World War II, a lot of small naval craft were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting has become a globally beloved activity enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually owning and keeping their own small leisure craft. The popularity of yachts and sailors has increased steadily, not only in the traditional locations by the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

Looking for boat transport Sunshine Coast ? Talk to Elite Yacht Services. We do great work at competitive prices.

Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

Taxes are categorized by the impact they have on the placement of income and wealth. A proportional tax is a tax that impinges the same relative burden on each taxpayer—i.e., in the case where tax liability and income move in relative levels. A progressive tax is recognised by a more than proportional increase in the tax liability relative to the rise in income, and a regressive tax is characterizable by a less than proportional rise in the comparable burden. Thus, progressive taxes are viewed as reducing inequalities in income distribution, whereas regressive taxes are believed to cause an increase in these inequalities.

The taxes that are generally considered progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are declarably progressive, however, may become less so in the upper-income group—in particular if a taxpayer is permitted to lower his tax base by nominating deductions or by excluding some particular income components from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates if applied to lower-income demographics would also be more progressive if such exemptions of a personal nature are made.

Income measured over the course of a given period does not definitely come up with the most accurate measure of taxpaying requirement. For example, transitory rises in income might be saved, and within temporary declines in income a taxpayer may choose to provide for consumption by reducing savings. Ergo, if taxation is compared with “permanent income,” it can be less regressive (or more progressive) than when it is compared with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (excepting those on luxuries) tend to be regressive, because the portion of one’s income consumed or spent on specific goods decreases as the level of personal income is raised. Poll taxes (also termed head taxes), levied as a fixed amount per capita, clearly are regressive.

It is not simple to term corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally because of the lack of certainty surrounding the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of deciding who bears the tax burden is dependant for the most part on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being decided.

In regarding the economic effect of taxation, it is relevant to differentiate between differing concepts of tax rates. The statutory rates will include those dictated in the legislation; generally speaking these are marginal rates, but for some cases they are median rates. Marginal income tax rates note the fraction of incremental income that is demanded by taxation when income is increased by one dollar. Hence, if tax liability rises by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax legislation often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income grows. Heavy analysis of marginal tax rates are required to review provisions in addition to the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) declines by 20 cents for each one-dollar rise in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points greater than indicated in the statutory rates. Since marginal rates specify how after-tax income increases or decreases in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the necessary ones for assessing incentive effects of taxation. It is even more complicated to realise the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, as it may depend on factors such as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem holds that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is nothing under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates determine the part of total income that is demanded in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for appraising the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate increases with income. Average income tax rates commonly increase with income, both because personal allowances are allowed for the taxpayer and dependents and also due to that marginal tax rates are graduated; on the flip side, preferential treatment of income received for the most part by high-income households could swamp these effects, allowing regressivity, as displayed by average tax rates that decline as income increases.

For MYOB Brisbane expert advice, contact Stone Consulting today. Stone Consulting also runs MYOB training in Brisbane.

Next Page »