Southampton Boat Show 2011

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I attended Southampton Boat Show at the weekend after finding a local coach trip organised by Woodrolfe Brokerage at Tollesbury Marina in Essex.

 

Highlights:

• Speaking to the RNLI whom had a All-Weather Seven Class Lifeboat present at the show.

• Meeting the writer of the Yachting Monthly Cash Boat Test articles and thanking him for the work and giving me plenty of ideas and important knowledge.

• The team at Practical Boat Owner (PBO) and Yachting Monthly Meeting Hampshire Constabulary Marine Unit whom were present in their launch.

• Attending MCA presentation on Safety Communications devices including best practice using: EPRIB, DSC VHF, AIS, Navtex, MOD Devices, Satellite Phones, and CG66 Registration

• Free stickers and leaflets from the MCA to show: Life jacket locations, Safety Signals, and Emergency Radio Procedures.Speaking with many representatives for products that I was considering installing on my yacht: Beta Marine Engines, Garmin GPSMAP 750, Aqua Fax, CopperCoat Antifowling 

• Visiting the RYA stand and buying their new Offshore Sailing book by Dick McClary

I was sadly disappointed in some retailers at the show, perhaps being my youthful appearance and not wearing an expensive suit. One retailer in particular a blue Kubota based marine engine manufacturer whose sales reps were complaining about a customer who wanted to install a engine himself and the low profit of a sale so they wanted him to go elsewhere to save on paperwork; as this is what I am planning on doing I gave them a wide berth and continued onwards

I strongly recommend CG66 Registration. It is a FREE service provided by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency which allows boat owners to register their vessel, including contact details and next of kin. 

MCA Presentation

The show was quite busy, though as I have never attended before can not compare it to previous years; Reports were that is was 9% down on last year. The food was quite expensive from the onsite vendors: £6 for a burger and £4 for a beer, I was very glad I took a pack lunch!

Beta 20 Engine

Yachting Monthly - Crash Test Boat

HMS Bulwark

Some of the boats on show