Boatshow viewpoint

Andy Rice talks shop, and offers his take on the new show

The London Boat Show has headed east for the first time, situated in the gargantuan ExCel building in the middle of rejuvenated Docklands territory. So how does it stack up against Earl's Court, the ageing venue on the other side of town? Well, it's bigger, and that was the chief complaint about Earl's Court, that it just wasn't big enough to cope with an ever-expanding show. But is it a move for the better? The marine industry will make that judgement at the end of the fortnight, when it can compare attendance figures with the last few years of Earl's Court.

ExCel is in the back of beyond, in the middle of a soulless wasteland of 90s redevelopment. But even if it's almost off the Tube map, getting there from the south coast wasn't at all bad. Just half an hour from Waterloo Station, with nice men in red coats pointing us in the right direction. Get off the Docklands Light Railway, run the gauntlet of a few ticket touts offering cheap entry to the show, and you've arrived. Once through the ticket barrier, first impressions are a bit flat, to be honest. You'd hardly know you'd arrived at a Boat Show. Earl's Court used to have the centrepiece of a famous or significant yacht parked outside the main entrance, but there's no immediate focal point.

One very interesting point, however, is the way they've separated the Essex Navy from the Blue Blazer Brigade. Sunseekers and Jetskis to the right, Swans and Lasers to the left. A sort of sail versus engine apartheid, I suppose. Steve McFadden, hardman Phil from TV show Eastenders, was on hand to launch a new Swan. Alright, not really, but he was there at the show launching some or other overpriced gin palace.

Anyway, we had our Ellen to open the show, albeit half a world away in Australia. And Tracy Edwards was there with some nice mock-up posters of how Maiden will look once she's been revamped in the colours of Qatar. Emma Richards took the opportunity to announce her Volvo Ocean Race campaign, while Volvo had all the Olympic stars on hand for photocalls and interviews. All in all, press day was bursting at the seams with announcements for new ventures and new products.

What of the show itself? Well, it's hard to do much with ExCel. It's big but it lacks character. The show has more the feel of a trade exhibition than a showcase for all that's exciting about the marine leisure world. Perhaps that will change next week when the indoor windsurfing championship kicks off. As a talking shop, the venue has the edge over Earl's Court. The food and drink facilities are better, and there are some reasonably posh restaurants if you want to talk turkey over a new business deal.

Press day was a Who's Who of the great and the good in British yachting, and any event that brings people together like that is good for the sport. No sooner had I bought my ticket, but I bumped into Ian Walker and his dad. Ian had just flown in from a coaching session in warmer climes with the Yngling girls, Shirley Robertson and her two Sarahs, Webb and Ayton. A few feet away was Glynn Williams and his crack troops that he has assembled for the British boat competing in the Timberland Europrix this summer. Williams' skipper Adrian Stead was there, as was trimmer Andy Hemmings, once of Prada but now a member of GBR Challenge.

A former member of GBR Challenge, Simon Fry, aka Stir Fry, was browsing around a book store, and he told me an interesting fact about the Barlo Plastics campaign of a few years ago, when Stir Fry was part of Adrian Stead's victorious crew on the Tour Voile. The secret of their success, apparently, was one borrowed from Vendee Globe sailors - Don't Drink Coffee. "We were a bit concerned about being able to stay at the top of our game for the long offshore legs," said Stir Fry, "and so we gave up coffee for three months before the regatta and all the way through the Tour Voile." The idea was to stay more alert and awake, and it obviously worked for them. Getting back on the caffeine after such lengthy abstinence was a bit of an eyeopener, too. Stir Fry said one cup of coffee after such an enforced break had the effect of sending you into outer space.

What's that got to do with the show, you might ask? Not much, really. But it's having these little chats that makes the Boat Show worthwhile. The show itself left me a bit cold, really, although if you're looking for a specific gizmo or even a new boat then I'm sure ExCel does its job perfectly well. Actually, there's one thing they could do differently with the place, and I should say this was the brainchild of Becky Eplett from the J-Boat stand. "The Guinness Stand was the focal point of Earl's Court," said Becky, "and it was the reason a lot of people came to the show." It's true, because whether or not you can stand the taste of the black stuff, the Guinness Stand has always been the place for supping from tall glasses while you trade tall stories with long-lost friends.

And the Guinness Stand is there in ExCel, but it's tucked away in a corner where it will take you all day to find it. Becky's solution would be to put it slap bang in the middle of the building, where you're never more than five minutes from your next pint. She's absolutely right. It doesn't really matter whether you hold the Boat Show at Earl's Court or Docklands, just as long as you can find the Guinness Stand. If the two chief aims of the Boat Show are to create a talking shop and to sell boats, then Becky has the winning formula. Nothing loosens tongues and opens chequebooks quite like a Guinness.