London Boat Show - Big Stars and Better Products.

by Nancy Knudsen on 11 Jan 2006 By the closing day of 15th January over 160,000 visitors are expected to have visited the London Boat Show. Arriving on a bleak and drizzy day at the show by Docklands Light Rail, it felt like 159,000 were arriving at the same time as we were, but the organisation is sleek, efficient and buzzing with the noise generated by the promoters of thousands of new products in 80,000sqm. of space.

It also appears, walking through the myriads of alleyways full of flashing TV screens and shining new gear - a real big boys' toy shop - that if you want to launch a new product, then you must do it at this show. We were quickly surrounded by brand new boats, brand new gadgets, newly launched nautical books and sail training programmes. The high noise of the promoters shouting their wares gave it the feel of a brightly lit Middle Eastern bazaar.

We spent two days walking the yachtie walks and talking the yachtie talks, and believe me, we hardly scratched the surface.

One of the most amazing sights was the Indoor Watersports arena, where they were holding an indoor windsurfing championships. Giant wind fans and a scientifically designed indoor pool 70m by 30m kept a high and consistent wind blasting through the arena. The competitors slid off a ramp into the instant 30kt windstream, quickly carving a steep angle as they made for the water jump in the middle of the pool. There was a full complement of 3000 spectators watching the windsurfers doing amazing 360 turns and twists competing for $90,000 worth of prizes.

Back at the exhibition area, 800 boats were on display, and the largest featured 'boat' towered over the others - the HMS Grafton, one of the Type 23 Frigates which form half of the British Navy's destroyer force, their effectiveness enhanced by their stealth design.

The Sailing Stars were there too, in force. Sir Chay Blyth entertained crowds and talked with Dee Caffari live as she continued her sail in the southern ocean, attempting to be the first woman to sail non-stop round the world the 'wrong way' - from east to west.

Launching the next 5 Oceans Race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnson swapped repartee with the Jorgen Amundsen, grandson of the great Antarctic Explorer Amundsen, and they all drew appropriate numbers of admiring crowds.

The ARC Rally for 2006 was launched to a packed auditorium, and the questions and answers were as varied as the subjects that need to be covered for such an event. Andrew Webster and Jeremy Wyatt, the duo who have just purchased the ARC Rally from Chay Blyth's Challenge Business, masterminded the seminar programme excellently, and it augers well for another successful transatlantic rally in November this year.

But it's the new gear and handy gadgets that kept the stand workers talking all day, and saw thousands of actual sales in the first weekend day of the show. We won't have formal numbers until the show finishes, but if the early informal reports from yearly stallholders are any indication, this show will have been the biggest ever.