What's happened to the Boat Show? They've gone and cancelled it. No boat show to bring in the new year.
For as long as I can remember, each new year began with the boat show. It was held at Earls Court in West London before it moved up-market to Limehouse in East London. In my circles, it was known as the annual trip to the Guinness stand. It was where we all met up. Some of us spent far too long on it.
The Earls Court show was wonderful. It had a famous yacht at the entrance. One year, it was Francis Chichester's Gypsy Moth IV which had sailed around the world. And inside the hall were acres of sail. There were dinghies as well as cruisers. I recall sitting in the cockpit of a gorgeous mahogany Folkboat costing £1900, before I was shooed away. They must have known my bank balance which was £1-19s-11d.
There were so many brands that probably no longer exist. Does anybody remember Brookes and Gatehouse echo sounders. They had a particularly memorable slogan "Stop touching bottoms". Can you imagine a slogan like that today! But there was one name that has survived: Vodafone. It started life as a ship-to-ship telephone. The reception was dreadfully crackling and it is a mystery that it survived to become a major telecommunication company. But it was yachting that got it going.
In an adjacent hall, there were a handful of motor boats which most people didn't bother to visit. But when the show moved to Limehouse, it was the other way round. At the show in January this year, there were hardly any sailing boats at all, even fewer dinghies. But there were row-upon-row of flashy speedboats. There was even a white Bentley. I thought I was in the wrong show. Next to that was something even more ridiculous, an amphibious VW. I suppose it might be useful to launch the RIB at the sailing club. But I can't think what else.
But the biggest difference between the shows was the number of people. At Earls Court, you couldn't move for people drooling over the boats. it was like the Dinghy Show at Alex Palace where you meet old friends everywhere you go. But at Limehouse, there were more salesmen manning the stands that customers that came to look. As for the motor boats, it was just like Earls Court. Nobody was interested!
