2025 RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show gets sailing fans 'hyped' for the season ahead
by RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show 24 Feb 09:11 PST
22-23 February 2025
Saturday at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show 2025 © Paul Wyeth / RYA
Inspiring start to 2025 as thousands come together in Farnborough
The RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show provided the perfect kick-start to the new sailing season this weekend (22-23 February) as thousands of water lovers joined superstar sailors, expert coaches and tacticians and a host of top marine brands to celebrate small boat sailing and boardsports.
The ever-popular annual showcase saw almost 9,000 visitors head to Farnborough International this year, looking to tap into opportunities to learn and be inspired by the range of guest speakers and industry pros across three stages, plus explore a host of kit and equipment around the 175 exhibitor stands.
Featuring dinghy sailing, windsurfing, wingsurfing, foiling, and paddleboarding, the event unites participants, clubs, training centres, class associations, equipment manufacturers, and retailers from across the small boat sailing and boardsports world, all coming together to share their expertise and help more people enjoy time on the water.
Visitors came from all over the UK as well as overseas, including the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and even Qatar, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and the Falkland Islands.
'Exciting energy'
RYA Director of Sport Development Rob Clark said: "We've had another amazing weekend at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show and it's been great to see fans and marine businesses alike so excited and enthused about the season ahead.
"We're proud of the role the RYA plays in bringing the community together for this show, and the generosity of that community in sharing their knowledge and passion with others is so inspiring."
Rob continued: "Our thanks go show partners Sunsail, Rockley Watersports, HotelPlanner, ePropulsion, Sebago, Sailia and Insured Health, our media partners YachtsandYachting.com, Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting and SUPBoarder.
"A huge thank you also to our fantastic exhibitors and speakers, and all our visitors, for bringing an exciting energy to the show which sets us up brilliantly heading into the new season."
Show highlights
Across the weekend, visitors could hear from some of Britain's hottest on-water talents, alongside tactical and technical experts and inspiring adventurers.
Paris 2024 kite foiling gold medallist Ellie Aldridge MBE, America's Cup and SailGP helm Dylan Fletcher MBE, Women's America's Cup star Hannah Diamond all shared their history-making feats with the crowds, while there was also standing room only for many of the of top tips sessions including Mark Rushall's tactics session, Michael McNamara's rigging top tips and practical insights from windsurf legend Peter Hart and winging experts James Hardy and Mia Adcock.
Steve Bowens shared tales of his attempt, alongside Simon Obsorne, to wingfoil around Britain last summer, while there were practical fitness sessions from top paddleboarder Holly Bassett and British Sailing Team ILCA sailor Sam Whaley.
Dylan Fletcher and Emirates GBR SailGP Team performance engineer Nick Robins also shared with fans what they can expect when an adrenaline-packed Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth hits home waters this summer (19-20 July - tickets are on sale now).
Prizes awarded
The eagerly-anticipated 'Concours d'Elegance' trophy for best boat in show was awarded by judges Mark Jardine (YachtsandYachting.com) and 'voice of SailGP' Stevie Morrison to Matt Thompson's Albacore 'Uffa Fox Sake', while Exeter University won first place in the RYA Green Blue University Sailing Sustainability Challenge 2025.
The Yachting Journalists' Association unveiled the winners of its coveted Yachtsman of the Year and Young Sailor of the Year Awards for 2024, with eight-time world match racing champion Ian Williams picking up the top prize and Jesse Opoku-Ware of the Scaramouche Sailing Trust and Greig City Academy taking home the young sailor title.
Winners from the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series were also presented with their awards.
What our exhibitors said:
P&B x GOAT Marine
"We've seen a real range of people on the stand this year from those just getting into the sport, those who've been around the sport at an amateur level but also the top end sailors too. We've got an 18-foot skiff, a good range of boats and the perfect thing here is that we've had that range of people.
"Our plan is to be back next year - maybe even bigger!"
RS Sailing
The thing we love about the show is meeting new friends, old friends, new customers, old customers. It's people we see year in, year out. That's why we love this show. It's an opportunity to catch up with people and meet the people that drive our sport, whether they're racing on Wednesday nights or are committee members running sailing clubs, it's the people that make our sport happen.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world!"
Rockley Watersports
"We come to the show for many reasons - it's branding, it's fun, it's networking, but we do take bookings and that's really important part of what we do here. We're trying to get the next generation into our sport and the activities that we love. It's been really good, as always."
Musto
"Business has been really good. We've had a really busy show from the opening on Saturday all the way through the day on Sunday. There are lots of people here from all sorts of different sailing and watersports backgrounds."
What our visitors said:
"We do a lot of sailing as a family. It's a great show, great to see lots of people we know, the kids are free to wander round. It's been a great day."
"We'll be back next year. It's a good thing to do in the winter to get everyone excited about the season ahead."
"It's [great] having everything in one room, whether you're cruising, racing or you're into your wingfoiling or windsurfing - you can just come and see everything. We're a family of wingfoilers and sailors so it's good that everyone can have a good day out and just see a bit of everything."
"It gets you really hyped for sailing when not a lot else is going on. I've wanted to get into foiling so probably my biggest takeaway is getting to talk to the people on the Moth and the Switch stands. I've got a big skills gap between sailing my RS400 and foiling so it's been really great to speak with people who are much more knowledgeable about foiling."
"Lots of different stands, lots of great brands. We've got a small dinghy ourselves so to come and look at the bigger ones is quite exciting. The Interactive Zone was really good."
"It's really good for the kids. There are a lot of activities that we've done with them and it's been a great experience."