Robline & New England Ropes back on the road again

Loud laughter, clinking glasses, long conversations, short nights, shaking hands, rushing through airports, a laptop on your lap, polo shirts, and fan moments when meeting a satisfied sailor.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought about fundamental changes to the lives of sales reps! Strict exit and entry regulations, social distancing rules, and the fear of infecting others caused the Robline Team to work out of their offices – in Wels, Billdal, and Fall River. Only recently, our colleagues were allowed to travel to customers again or even present our new products at trade shows. It has been like a breath of fresh air in our sails – invitations have arrived, but have also been sent.

Kristian Hertzberg, who is responsible for Southern Europe, attended the Cannes Yachting Festival, the first real boat show since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 50,000 visitors flocked to this event. Representing Robline, he was finally able for the first time in over one year to talk to new and potential customers in person, not just online. Also, his visit to France brought Robline an important step forward in cooperation with one of our partners resulting in an immense boost for our brand in the French market.

Living up to the motto “Seeing and being seen”, Robline went to Lake Traunsee for the Kitefoil World Cup 2021 event. As an attending sponsor, the team around Stefanie Marisch seized this opportunity to give out information to interested kite surfers. She also traveled to Montpellier, France, where her visit to the Formula Kite European Championships also included meetings with partners. 

Rainer Wilhelm, Head of Yachting Ropes, was looking forward to meeting our key customers in the U.S. on the occasion of the Annapolis Boat Show in October 2021. Customers of both New England Ropes and Robline were there. The METS in Amsterdam, one of the most important trade shows for the marine industry, was another highlight. There, our colleagues from Sweden, the U.S., and Austria had the chance to get together for the first time in one and a half years. Peter Phelan, who came from farthest away, had been traveling back and forth between the U.S. east and west coasts in order to market our New England Ropes products.

In fact, quite a few things have changed in the wake of Covid-19 for the Robline Team. We have come to realize that staying at home is nice, too. But for us, being close to our customers and to the sporting scene continues to be a key motivator for us to do our work with great enthusiasm, day after day. Wherever we are, we give it our all in order to live up to our customer’s needs and offer them the very best kiting and yachting ropes – meeting in person is simply a part of it! Now we are back! And it’s so good to be out there again!