First impressions

Andy Nicholson takes a quick sprint around the new London Boatshow

It was a trek, but the fleecy collared hoards managed to find, and push open the doors of the Schroders London Boatshow yesterday. A bold decision to move the famous January boating get together to ExCel in Docklands, from its warm and cosy Earls Court venue had divided the camps, but after day one the mood was positive.

Horizontal rain and 200m visibility doesn’t paint a pretty picture of any part of London at 9am in the morning, but on entering the shiny new Excel exhibition centre you get the feeling that the marine industry has been dragged into the 21st Century. The layout is all a bit unusual (just because stands aren't where they have always been), but it all looks modern, airy and spacious. The overall look is as if boating has finally gone plasma screen.

Turn left and you’re into the North Hall, which has most of the yachts on display and the Guiness Stand (a bit like the main bottom section of Earls Court). Turn right and you’re into the South Hall, where many of the electronics people are and the powerboats. Through a red-carpeted tunnel (which if the weather doesn’t worsen should still be there) and you’re into the East Hall. In here are predominantly the waterskiing, windsurfing and diving exhibitors.



At the back of the East Hall, where on the map there should be ways through to the much hyped indoor pool with near gale force fan driven winds, there are just drawn curtains and red and white stripy builders tape. The pool measures 70m by 30m and is 1.1m deep. It is supposed to hold 2,310cubic metres of water – but here’s the rub – according to sources the bottom split two days ago and 2,310 cubic metres of water headed for the docks proper. Organisers hope to have it back up and running by Monday…

This is a real shame. The pool was to hold Try a Boat, Dinghy Racing and the top event - Indoor Windsurfing Championship. Word has it that only the windsurfing is to go ahead when they get it all up and running again.

So what has caught our eye? Most importantly the Guiness Stand. Come in though the West entrance, turn left into the North Hall and you will find ‘The Embassy’ in the left hand corner. It has plenty of room to chat and serves the Black Stuff by the dozen, perfect. The only query is why it has been bunged in the corner, surely such an important venue (in terms of UK sterling agreed to be spent) should have a more geographically central role.

The X Yachts stand looks pretty good…on show is the X43 and the X46.


Two new race boats stood out from the crowd. The first one is the Backman 21. Designed by Hans Backman, this new sportsboat is, say the owners, due to go into production very shortly at Ovington Marine. It is made out of glass, with carbon reinforcement, and comes with a carbon bowsprit and mast. It features twin rudders, and a lifting/swinging keel with daggerboard. Price is £19,900 which includes Kevlar sails.

New from RS is the Elite. This is a 24 foot ‘classic’ three man keelboat which RS’ Martin Wadhams says goes in against the Dragons, X boats and similar inshore keelboats, but without the maintenance hassles. The concept was developed by a group of Hayling Island sailors, who came back with several deposit cheques to get the Phil Morrison design off the board. Ten have been sold already and you wouldn’t bet against RS doing good business with this new model. Complete boat (ex sails) is £16,950.



On the Musto stand is the Storm Cube, where you can try out their latest gear in Southern Ocean windstrengths and associated chill factors. The booth is hooked up to a thermal imaging camera that displays the individual’s heat loss on a computer screen. Last year Musto launched a new mid layer using Gore Wind Stopper fabric, the computer images clearly show how much more effective this is over standard fleece.

A couple of other ‘boats’ stood out from the crowd. Firstly the amphibious Dutton car, available to take you across the water and down the road the other side. For the more adventurous how about the RoDa Flying Boat. A fairly simple concept, where a motorised hand glider has been attached to a small rubber dinghy. The words ‘Not sold for use in the UK’ appear in the small print of the brochure.

The new 1720 deckmould is on show on the Key Yachting stand. The boat has the ‘Club’ rig installed and shows the fine tune purchase system on the jib sheets, new transom bar and a large deck hatch in the cockpit floor.

Skandia announced another sponsorship deal today - this time with Kit Hobday and his Bear of Britain campaign. The partnership centres around another youth crew for the Cowes based Farr 52. Candidates under the age of 24 are being sought to put themselves through a gruelling physical challenge to become part ot the full race crew for the major summer events. Channel 4 documentary here we come.

So it may be a bit of a trek but the journey from Waterloo can be made in under 30 minutes (if you're lucky) and should appeal to adventurous sailor types. If your are driving and aproaching from the east, indications are that the journey is fairly straightforward. This is just a brief snippet of the show, there will be more coverage through the week. Come on down!