Award winning actress, Kym Marsh, helped celebrate all the fun and excitement on the opening weekend of TheYachtMarket.com Southampton Boat Show. Coronation Street star, Kym, was joined by her partner, Matt Baker and daughter, Polly along with other friends and family at the event.
Kym comments: “We’ve had a wonderful day here at the Show, the kids have loved every minute! It’s a real family day out and we’ve had such fun on all the attractions. The boats on the marina are absolutely stunning, I’d thoroughly recommend a visit to everyone thinking of heading down,”
From now until Sunday 25 September, this year’s Show celebrates the lifestyle and fun that being on the water has to offer. Offering a fantastic day out for all the family, the Show plays host to a range of brand new attractions for 2017, live entertainment and over 600 brands showcasing the latest in the marine world.
A number of key Irish marine firms are attending the show including the following:
Irish Marina Operators Association
The Irish Marina Operators Assocation is promoting Dun Laoghaire Marina, Kilrush Marina, Malahide Marina Royal Cork YC and Port of Cork and Wexford Co.Co. marinas (Kilmore Quay, New Ross, Wexford Harbour) at Southampton. 'The UK is the biggest foreign boat visitor market and it is essential to have an Irish presence if we want to continue to grow that market and compete with other continental countries', said Paal Janson of Dun Laoghaire Marina.
James Kirwan on the new Oceanis 51.1 launched at Cannes Yachting Festival this month
BJ Marine and the Oceanis 51.1
As Afloat.ie reported on opening day, the most eagerly awaited Oceanis launch in a decade, the 51.1 sets up a very exciting winter for Irish broker BJ Marine – which has representatives on the floor to help secure your build slot as orders are already filling up fast.
The 51.1 is selling incredibly quickly and we are doing trade in deals to help secure build slots for owners looking to hit the water at home or abroad next season. It is the most eagerly awaited Oceanis launch in a decade and alongside the Figaro III project, sets us up for a season of Winter boat shows', James Kirwan of BJ told Afloat.ie
The BJ Marine team are the Beneteau stand throughout the 10 days of the show. Other product launches like the world premiere of the New Swift Trawler 35 (below) and a huge Beneteau outboard line up, make it well worth the trip for Irish customers, and with daily direct flights to Southampton, there’s little reason not to.
Bj Marine's John Harkness on the new Beneteau Swift Trawler 35
Race Geek
Love sailing and technology? racegeek, creators of the innovative d10, a cloud connected marine racing display and tactical computer, are wowing visitors to the Show. Designed by Irish racers for racers, the d10 is a tactical racing tool that collects and seamlessly uploads racing metrics to the cloud.
Race Geek's D10 is being demonstrated at Southampton Boat Show
Dublin based Ric Morris, co-founder of racegeek comments, “We’ve had fantastic feedback from and valuable testing in the SB20 and J70 fleets and professional racegeeks like Piers Hugh Smith. If you are putting a campaign together then we’d love to meet you at Show to demonstrate the d10 and see if there are potential opportunities to work together. We are also thrilled to have a fantastic distributor network onboard helping to bring the d10 to a global racing community.”
Irish sailor, Tom Dolan, who lives in France, is planning to use racegeek’s d10 to help improve his performance as he prepares to compete for the second time in the Mini Transat that starts in October 2017 - a 4,000-mile epic from La Rochelle in France across the Atlantic to Le Marin in Martinique. Tom says, “I can’t wait to start using racegeek’s d10 with its precise data collection and race analytics to help give me the edge in training in the pursuit of a podium place.”
The MGM Boats Brokerage Stand at Southampton has over 160 boats on display
MGM Boats
MGM Boats have a full sales team at the Show with its own Brokerage Stand in its usual spot (Stand No.E096) and this time round MGM have over 160 brokerage listings displayed in size ranges 20 to 100 feet.
'For the first time ever we have decided to move our Aquador display from the water to land and the Aquador 27 HT will be chocked right next to our brokerage stand' Martin Salmon told Afloat.ie
The 27 is a Limited edition production boat and sold at a special price of €169,900 The full retail price is €197,000.00 so there is a huge saving on offer.
Debuting at this show is the new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440, Prestige 520, Prestige 460, Leader 33 and NC 33.
Latitude Kinsale
Bobby Nash of Latitude Kinsale is displaying a series of Isle of Wight charts using the classic range, one of which is a piece using a chart from the 1850's. Nash is exhibiting in the Ocean hall J-268.
