Southampton International Boatshow 2024

It was a busy old week last week, what with sailing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but after a (much needed) lie down in a dark room with a damp towel on the brow on Thursday, I managed to score a cheap ticket for the Boatshow and went on Friday.. the forecast for the weekend was hideous, and weekends are always busier at the show anyway, and as it turned out I was glad I had gone when I did..

What follows then is just my view of the show - lots of people have gone, and still to go, and all have their own view of the success or otherwise of the show all of which are valid, but hey, this is my tiny little corner of the interweb, so clearly I'm right.. 😏

Cards up front then - overall, I thought it was a good show - better than last year for sure, and I think getting back to those levels of excellence last seen before Covid - unlike last year there was a good amount of chandlery present, but more next year please.

Themes for the year seemed to me to be, electric, electric, electric, in all forms of propulsion- and a continuing focus on polarising markets - mobo's seemed to be focussed on smaller (ribs and Axopar style) while yachts (with one or two exceptions) are getting bigger..

'From the sublime' - as I mentioned - the range and depth of electric outboards is now huge compared with even a year ago - this (following) was mainstream internal combustion supplier Mercury's offering..

That 75e at the front develops the equivalent of 10HP (they also have a bigger one capable of giving 15HP as well), and the middling one on the right is the one I was (mildly) interested in, the 35e is their approx. 5HP model - it weighs 47lbs (not including battery/s) c/w with 55lbs for my Tohatsu, BUT, the battery weighs the same again, and the 35e needs two of them, and also the hardware to tandem the two batteries together, oh, and the charger... and from what I'm seeing there's not much change out of £14K for that little lot, the battery's are £2.5K a piece themselves!! That would buy you a lot of Tohatsu's.. 😁

..'to the ridiculous'.. biggest HP I saw at the show competition, this one was a Mercury (others do them too - I saw a Honda and a Suzuki version), but yes, that's a 300HP V10... almost as tall as me.. you can also get a 600HP V12, didn't see one though.. 😳

Time to head for the pontoons... which were looking busy!

Highlights...

Ever since we chartered a Halberg Rassy for some of the Jolly Boys trips I've had an interest in them - they are a glorious boat - my HR choice for this year was a 44.. £700-800K going on current prices..

This one (following) was my 'boat of the show'.. the Dutch make glorious boats.. more here [clicky] on this one, but powered by sails and an electric engine (Torqeedo 3.0 POD) and note the integral solar panels just in front of the mast and up to the nose.. yours for anything north of €70K (ex tax) depending on what extras and stuff you want - this one was simply stunning with that deep red hull.. no good for me though, as quite apart from not being able to afford it, it's also a fixed keel.. 😏

Saffier SE 24 Lite 😍

What comes around, goes around - Sparrow was fitted with roller boom furling back in 1967, still works, all manual and the sail wraps externally, but the concept appears to be making a come back, albeit hydraulic and wrapped internal these days..

Seen her before but this one is pretty - IF I was to buy one this is the one I'd probably go for.. carbon mast and boom, couldn't be doing with the wooden spars.. much more manageable this one at approx. £30K. More here[clicky]

Hideous - following - this one fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch going down - 90 foot of butt ugly.. purely my view 'natch... 😁 They're selling well I understand, so clearly that is one, a good thing for British boat building, and two, a number of people who disagree with me.. 😏

Next - was good to see "Boleh" (means 'Yes' in Malay apparently) again, it was a while ago I last saw her up close [clicky]

Always a sucker for a square rigger, and they always seem to get one at the show - this year it was the Dutch training ship Thalassa [clicky]. Despite her looks she's a youngster, even when compared to Sparrow. Built in 1980 near Amsterdam, the hull was originally from a Dutch fishing ship the "Reliquinda", an old side trawler. In August 1984 it sank after hitting a wreck from the Second World War. She was refloated, gutted and rebuilt, relaunched and renamed in 1990 and then went on the Tall Ships circuit in 2004.