te2070
New member
A March show would be a good idea - usually by then you have an idea what bits you need for the upcoming season.
And with a daughter who dinghy sails & a son who wants to be the next Monty Halls - a multi show would be ideal
Thank You from National Boat Shows
- Thread starter Boat Shows
- Start date
And with a daughter who dinghy sails & a son who wants to be the next Monty Halls - a multi show would be ideal
andymcp
New member
I went on Saturday, since I'd missed the last flight home Friday night and was staying over anyway. On the plus side, it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours in good company. The food was better (though not more reasonable) than other years. The location is good - lots of space given the amount of people coming & going through the main corridors, and the trains were simple and not over crowded. But would I have gone had I wanted a boat show? No.
The sailing boats were so few, but worse the majority were stuffed down at the far end, with the most awful crowded walkway from the Gunfleet to the Hanse/Dehlers. There was dead space on either side of those boats, so it's not as if there couldn't have been more room, it was just obvious that little thought had gone into making it so. Since the show was quite busy and there was regularly a need to wait just a few minutes before getting on board, it just got worse. Poor, poor space planning. I realise those might have been the 'cheap' pitches, but that's no reason to penalise the visitors really. Especially after charging for entry.
The non-boats bit was ok. Again, some silly bottlenecks where stands were allowed to crowd into the walkways. No deals worth going there for exclusively, but it's still nice to be able to go to e.g. Crewsavers stand and get non-salesman advice on kit.
Overall though, I ran out of time before I ran out of interest. But both me and my friend agreed that our annual meet-up will now be September rather than January, since we'd actually like to see boats with those funny flappy things on.
The sailing boats were so few, but worse the majority were stuffed down at the far end, with the most awful crowded walkway from the Gunfleet to the Hanse/Dehlers. There was dead space on either side of those boats, so it's not as if there couldn't have been more room, it was just obvious that little thought had gone into making it so. Since the show was quite busy and there was regularly a need to wait just a few minutes before getting on board, it just got worse. Poor, poor space planning. I realise those might have been the 'cheap' pitches, but that's no reason to penalise the visitors really. Especially after charging for entry.
The non-boats bit was ok. Again, some silly bottlenecks where stands were allowed to crowd into the walkways. No deals worth going there for exclusively, but it's still nice to be able to go to e.g. Crewsavers stand and get non-salesman advice on kit.
Overall though, I ran out of time before I ran out of interest. But both me and my friend agreed that our annual meet-up will now be September rather than January, since we'd actually like to see boats with those funny flappy things on.
