Last Thursday's Hispaniola Boating Incident

28th Nov '17 by Edward Croft

22 comments 9693 reads

Not so long ago on a boat far, far away by the Eye in London... a merry crew did gather. A celebration was proposed by Captain David Stredder in memory of a generous act of charitable giving...

In the summer, the community raised over £22k for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophe in sponsorship of a bike ride I did from London to Paris. All those that had donated were invited (at ridiculously short notice) to lunch on the RS Hispaniola Restaurant Boat which is moored up by Embankment Tube.

For those that don't know David Stredder - he's possibly the best networked, and most generous, private investor in Britain. It's the measure of the man that he followed through on his offer and put this event together at such short notice. It's no surprise that the rather odd nautical dining location (which meant we were swaying before we'd started drinking) was the result of the previous week's networking where he met the owner. David's main research tool for the stock market is the telephone... old school, but outrageously effective.

So over 50 of us gathered at the Hispaniola at midday last Thursday... having an excellent lunch and far too much to drink. It was a pleasure to see so many faces old and new in such great spirits. Thanks to David (Carmensfella) for paying for the lunch - what a man.

Lunch was interspersed with a few investment talks. We heard the amazing story of City Cruises, built up on a wing and a prayer by the owner of the boat we were lunching on, we had share tips from David Stredder ( 1pm - https://www.stockopedia.com/sh... ) and Mark Bentley ( PAF - https://www.stockopedia.com/sh... ) but no share tips from Paul Scott ("I'm not tipping ... the market is too speculative"). I gave the story of why I'd biked for Duchenne, before explaining why Stockopedia is not Bloomberg yet.... (which may come down to having 2 fewer zeroes than them on the subscription price).

I had a great catch up with rocket scientist Damian Cannon, stop loss defence master GrinderTrader, podcast master ConkersCorner, ShareSoc's Mark Bentley, guru of agility InvestedGeordie, investment club wizard cafcash49 dfs12, hawkipa and too many other community members to…

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tony akram

28th Nov '17

Great idea lets do more of them !!

Damian Cannon

Super write-up Ed and I echo your thanks to David: it was a great to see so many like-minded investors and I'm glad that they could all make it at short notice.

I agree that it would be fun to have a few more meetups (perhaps on a regular basis) where we could get together and share ideas and possibly a short presentation or two. Nothing fancy but perhaps some ideas to stimulate discussion. Back in the day the Motley Fool had a social event on a monthly basis, I think, which was reasonably well attended so I believe that there's a precedent here.

So who would like to meet up to talk about investing - or at least get together with people who's eyes don't glaze over when you start mentioning shares?

Damian

marben100

Hi Ed,

Great that we managed to lure you out of your lair - given your commitment to Stockopedia, you are a hard man to pin down!

A big thank you too to David for organising a wonderful afternoon, greatly enjoyed by all. Here are some photos from the day (those that are suitable for publication!):

All aboard!

Conkers3 and Leon Boros.

Totally agree about the value and enjoyability of investor meetups - and, of course, at ShareSoc we organise them regularly. Our events (and other interesting investor events) can be found here: https://www.sharesoc.org/event...

All my best,

Mark

drvodkaquickstep

Yep really enjoyed the lunch and meeting everyone although I was unfortunately the first to leave as my wife had to go out by 6pm and I needed to get back to West Sussex. Did manage a quick hello to Mark Bentley, Leon Boros and to Ed Croft, plenty of chat with Dave Stredder, John Sladden and Mark Lauber over lunch. Recognised or spoke to Rhomboid, GrinderTrader, Conkers, Damian Cannon and various others but not enough time which was a shame.

A great forum to meet up and talk shop - thanks again to David (and to Ed) - both inspiring and generous characters in every regard.

Simon

nicktudor

29th Nov '17

What a fantastic event and well done to all those involved in the organisation and for the wonderfully large sum raised for charity. Investing can sometimes feel like a very solitary existence so the more opportunities that our community can organise the better I say.

iwright7

Ed,

Sorry that I could not make the Thames event and well done again on a tremendous charitable achievement.

I mentioned one meet up idea in a blog reply last month and there was encouraging support at the time.....

.....I for one would be happy to attend a periodic beginners/intermediate Stockopedia teach in (perhaps in Oxford or London) to go through some of the numbers and guru screens in a lot more depth. I would have thought £100 per half day would be fine and if 20-30 like minded individuals could be assembled then the event would wash its face at least.

It doesn't need to be a seminar structure, because there is sufficient knowledge in the Stocko membership to gain from many types of meet up - Wisdom of crowds effect..

I find that it is only a small % of the population that know anything much about the fundamentals of share selection, so its not a conversation topic that can be discussed widely socially. The potential glue of the Stocko community is a keen interest in this subject, so virtually any event that gets members together will facilitate such discussion - Summer BBQ in Oxford?

Also should be good for increasing the Stocko awareness/recommendation/membership; so you may become Stockobloom yet. Ian

willcn

Sadly I missed the event as being a Yank I was celebrating Thanksgiving. In an age of social media there is still tremendous value to meeting face to face so I would very much support the idea of a periodic get together. I am new to Stockopedia, but not to investing. Therefore I like iwright7's suggestion of periodic teach ins to really get to know the tools available.

GrindertraderUK

ok..let's get the embarrassing stuff out of the way..

Stood up in front of everyone and gave out a (true-ish) story about a big boat, Vladimir Putin, his security team and the crypto currency Ethereum.
Decided to blurt out about my exploits in Thailand to a group of us at the bar considering until the following morning that some things are best kept quiet (head in hands moment).
Gave Ed Croft a rollicking for him allowing Ben Hobson to write an article about recommending stop losses in the article - Why signs of euphoria mean it's time to reassess your portfolio. That took all my will power to not jump into the lions den with my stop loss armour on. (use them everyone...just do it!!) . Ok got that out of my system.
oh telling Ed he looks an embarrassment with that old iphone.

But with all that aside I want to thank so much David Stredder for organising this event, buying us a meal and getting us all together. I was on my way from Benidorm home to Glasgow but diverted to London. As such my partner came along and was welcomed. He realised that investors (or the ones that I have a privilege to meet) are not boring, stuffy, accounting looking types, but rather down to earth, 'normal', friendly, funny and simply wanting to spend time sharing their experiences for the benefits of everyone. The important of this event was raising awareness to the Duchenne charity and my partner donated a £100 to the Duchenne charity on (this link)

The networking was truly amazing and it was great to meet the usual suspects. But what was special was meeting our twitter 'friends' for the first time in real life. Giving my mental image of what an investing geordie may look like, then my biggest surprise was InvestedGeordie! I'm sorry that I didn't get the chance to identify drvodkaquickstep and rhomboid1 and get to speak to you guys though.

This was one of the best networking events so far. I feel humbled to have met so many nice, passionate, like minded (well on the investing side) people. For many years I have invested alone and I guess still do. I live in Scotland, work offshore and so the advent of social media has been important but both a positive and negative experience. Meeting the people behind the avatars changes perceptions, makes us all real and I am truly humbled to be part of it. Going forward it is networking events like this that provide us with confidence, positivity and enlightenment. I truly hope that we get more opportunities like this and we can help benefit more charities too.

Finally thanks to ALL the team at Sharesoc. Without the hard work of this organisation we wouldn't be where we are and only now have I appreciated such important work they do.

I don't have any decent photos but I do have a live recording on my phone (taken by Ed) of Paul's impromptu small cap value report! if I knew how to link it! and he didn't mind!

all the best

Ian @grindertraderuk

grumpy5

Very enjoyable lunch. Haven't got anymore photos - I suspect the one in the header is mine as I sent it in a tweet to @Carmensfella to illustrate how long the lunch went on for!

Having done London-Paris in three days, (dragging along JIC), I have much admiration for Ed - but then he has age on his side.

Makes me look forward with pleasurable anticpation to Mello 2018!

Timmytrump

Great idea.

I second the idea of workshops on Stockopedia.

Also, regional meet ups. For example, I hail from Liverpool and would welcome meeting up with Stockopedia members. Would, even, be prepared to arrange a meeting and lunch at The Atheneum, a Private members club.

Mikeyflange

Hi
Couldn't make the event, but would attend a regular educational meet up to exchange ideas and socialise with fellow traders.
Mike

Mohammed Amin

Sorry I missed it due to my diary.

mark jackson

Sorry I missed, other events like this would be fantastic, ideally need a couple of months notice.

Cheers Mark

dfs12

I was lucky enough to go and it was a great afternoon. I spend a lot of my time during the average week reading Stockopedia articles and posts - so it was a treat to meet the real people behind the site. The sense of community that exists amongst Stockopedia users is pretty unique in finance websites (as far as I know). The meet up last week underlined to me how special it is. Having a regular real-world social side to Stockopedia would be fantastic and differentiate it still further from the competition (as well as being a lot of fun). Personally I would prefer to keep things like seminars and workshops separate as the chance to talk was valuable and it went very quickly.

carmensfella

Well I am so pleased you all enjoyed it. The good news is that I have already arranged a Christmas celebration drink and meal for Tuesday19th December with full details to be released on my Mello website shortly as soon as our surprise Santa has been booked http://www.freesharedata.com/mello

However the really good news is....Following an inspection visit today the newly refurbished Derby Conference Centre has been booked for our Mello 2018 event from the evening of Wednesday 25th April through to breakfast on Saturday 28th April with organised investor gatherings all the way through..... So if 70 quality companies with very good stockranks, top keynote speakers, brilliant networking, a Masterclass session, Blogger meeting room, quality seminars, Stockopedia workshop, investor poker evening and so much more is exactly what you enjoy please get those dates in your diary for next year as April will soon come around.

You can all get involved by ensuring that quality companies get to know about it first and that they know to contact me if they want a presentation slot at the even as we only have 60 so some may be disappointed.

David

30th Nov '17

David,

Excellent news that the Mello 2018 dates and venue are agreed. I really enjoyed the last one and will be there for this one.

hawkipa

Ed thanks for doing the ride for such a good cause & David thank you so much for your generous hosting of what was a very memorable day/evening.
I thought it was fantastic to meet so many like minded investing folk & would love to do it again either formally or informally. I was genuinely struck by how friendly everyone was. Stockopedia events/lunches are definitely something I think there would be great demand for. Whilst I wouldn't to step on any toes, I'd happily stick my hand up to arrange an informal pub outing in Q1 2018? Otherwise, I hope to meet many of you again at Mello Derby.
My memory of the last few hours is hazy apart from meeting Vladimir Putin's best mate & Paul Scott lobbying for a round of shots as Investing Geordie legged it to get his train.

BlueFrew

4th Dec '17

It was a really great day. It was good to be able to talk about investment with lots of really experienced and skilled investors. It really helps when you can talk about investment without having to convince people that it isn't simply glorified gambling.

It was extremely generous of David to organise the lunch and a tremendous amount that was raised thanks to Ed's efforts. Without the efforts of people like Ed the drug developments that we are starting to see come through simply wouldn't be happening. A lot of the early stage research work is funded in part or fully by grants from the various Duchenne charities. I think the regulators new found willingness to start accelerating drugs for rare diseases will help attract more research efforts, but the hard yards have been done by the people who go out and raise money and all who support those efforts.

We're starting to see the first approvals for drugs. Neither of the two drugs which have been approved Ataluren (Translarna) or Exondys 51 (eteplirsen) change the landscape much. In fact it would be fair to say that even though the regulators have approved them, they are far from convinced about their efficacy. However as we see how these drugs perform in large groups of patients then hopefully improvements can spring from that. I've seen one presentation where a parallel with Aids in the 80s/90s was drawn. The first drugs that were approved weren't particularly useful, however seeing how they behaved within the patient population meant that it was much easier to drive massive improvements in the quality of the drugs. Nowadays Aids is no longer the death sentence it was. It's now a chronic condition that can be kept under control with drugs. That's where we want to get to with Duchenne.

Andrew niven

What date is it please

InvestedGeordie

13th Dec '17

Hi Everyone,

As a 'new', non-professional (i.e. I don't do it for a living) investor, this was my first 'social' event I've attended. I traveled down on the train from Newcastle the night before, and stayed in an Air BnB for £59 in Islington - Bargain! After being treated to a lovely breakfast at The Ned by an old friend, off I went on the tube, I didn't want to be late!

It was somewhat disconcerting not knowing what to expect - But fortune favors the brave - and I stepped aboard. I knew a few people from Twitter who were attending, but most I couldn't recognise as their profile picture probably wasn't of them. This is something I've now changed on my twitter profile after talking to a good few people on the boat, and telling them I came down from Newcastle, a few would say: "You're InvestedGeordie!". So you'll now see my picture up there so you can easily identify me for future events :)

I do understand why some do choose to hide their identity, and I did it for a long while myself. My main fears were around my work and I had a negative experience with a colleague when he discovered I was investing. Personally, I'm now happy to protect my tweets, but will always accept a genuine follower.

The main thing I took away from the event was - If you haven't got involved in something like this before, do! Everyone was so nice, and easy to talk to. Yes, there were people there that invest for a living, and some who have 'retired' from lives in the city to manage their own pot - but they were all down to earth, genuine people. There is nothing to be scared about! There was loads I had in common with everyone. All had some brilliant stories around their own journeys and I would especially encourage those who haven't done something like this before, or feel they only have a 'small' investing pot. Start young, start early. As long as your passionate and enjoy investing, there's nothing stopping you!

Thanks again to Ed & David for organising at such short notice. It was a brilliant event - so brilliant, in fact, I missed my train back to Newcastle, and had to get the 9pm back and didn't get home till 1:30am!

@InvestedGeordie

Last Thursday's Hispaniola Boating Incident

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Edward Croft

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