Gallagher staff from the Poole based marine team have been connecting with clients and industry partners at the 55^th Southampton Boat Show at Mayflower Park.

Billed as the show for serious boat buyers, water sports enthusiasts and a great family day out, it has been running from 3rd – 21^st September 2024 and exhibitors and visitors have enjoyed the late summer sunshine.

Gallagher Account Handlers, Ryan Burridge and Jacob Baines commented, “It’s so good to be at the Southampton International Boat Show, it’s the mainstay in our team boat show calendar.

“Due to the nature of our roles, we’re usually behind a computer screen or at the end of a telephone for our clients, so it’s great to have the opportunity at the boat show to connect face to face with our clients and sector partners and catch up with them in person.

“It’s also an opportunity to make new connections and forge new friendships. It’s useful for us to see what’s going on in the sector too, seeing emerging technology, innovation and new products.  It also allows us to recognise the challenges that our clients are facing in the sector.”

Sunseeker

Max Eagle, Sales Broker at Sunseeker said: “Sunseeker is always looking to introduce new models and at this year’s show we’ve got the global debut of the new Ocean 156. The Ocean range is very different to our classic yacht and sports boats.

“It’s about big internal volume and slow and steady cruising.  It’s the 1^st of our range to have the new 2025 interiors – 1,000’s of different combinations of fixed and soft furnishings.  It’s totally new in terms of what we’ve offered before but still has the Sunseeker touch and heritage.

“This is the 2^nd of the 4 September show season: Cannes was 1^st, now Southampton, to be followed by Genoa and Monaco. It’s been a very good start with sales from Cannes, following into Southampton. It’s been a tough market, but it has certainly picked up for us since May/June, and the industry as a whole.”

Boat Building Academy

Will Reed, Director of the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis advised, “We are delighted to have a stand in our usual spot at the Southampton Boat Show again this year.

“It’s a real pleasure spending a few days talking to boating enthusiasts about what we have to offer and meeting other industry professionals.  It’s a real privilege to show off the wooden boats and furniture made by our students, and we always get a warm, friendly welcome.

“We’ve seen plenty of familiar faces, as well lots of new ones. It has been our 40-week boat building course in particular that  has seemed to strike a chord with people wanting to forge a new career and a huge number of people were also signing up for our short courses –  I’m sensing an upturn in activity across the industry and have had several positive conversations during the show.

“A huge thank you to British Marine for organising such a positive event once again!”

Boat Building Academy Technician Max hastings added, “The Riva boat in particular is attracting lots of interest, it’s the quality of the workmanship and the beauty of the design, it’s so impressive and built by students from our flagship course.”

Sandbanks Style

Jordan Belcher, Managing Partner at Sandbanks Style Ltd commented, “We currently manufacture a mixture of paddle boards, kayaks and hydrofoil boards.  We’ve been exhibiting at the boat show for around 7 years, it works for us.

“This year has been very good. We’re making tons of sales.  There’s been so much interest in the inflatable kayaks.  This is because the technology that we’re using makes them much stiffer and more durable than most of our competitors.

“In some cases, we’ve outperformed rigid kayaks as the inflatables are more buoyant, which helps them to glide on top of the water and not through it.”

Southampton University Marine & Maritime

Technical Manager, Gary Fisher and Felix Pedrotti ,Researcher at the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, University of Southampton advised, “Being at the boat show is a great opportunity to showcase our projects and research that we are carrying out at the university, mostly around marine and maritime.

“The university offers an Oceanography degree course which looks at seagrass and how it’s protecting our coasts.  It loves the energy of the waves, and it not only protects the coast but also the sea life living around it.

“We also offer a Maritime Archaeology degree.  As part of that we’re showcasing our ‘Tales of Discovery’ project at the show and visitors can learn how Antarctic exploration was done 120 years ago!”

Fairline Yachts

Miles Moorhouse, Head of Marketing at Fairline Yachts Ltd said, “We are showcasing a Targa 40 at the show. We’ve previously shown it in the UK at small, regional shows earlier this year but it’s the 1^st occasion at a big UK show. It’s an entry level Fairline, 2 cabins, 1  bathroom, a super day boat or weekender.

“It has an innovative drop-down balcony to starboard, enhancing your connection to the water and greatly increasing the all important outdoor entertaining space.  Southampton boat show is a very important show for us as a UK boat builder.  A large proportion of Fairline owners are British and Southampton International Boat Show provides them with the opportunity to come and see their next new Fairline.”