The
majority of visitors to the London Boat Show want to see second-hand boats on
display there, a survey by the British Marine Federation has found. And there
will be used boats exhibited at the 57^th London show in January
2011, the seventh held at ExCeL in the Docklands.

Andy
Williams, managing director, of National Boat Shows, the show organisers, said
2,500 people were questioned by pollsters and in each category the overwhelming
call was for second-hand boats. The plan is to open Victoria Dock, which runs
along the ExCeL centre, for used boats. But for ‘Health & Safety’ reasons
it will only be open to yacht brokers and not individuals. The boats, aged
between three and 10 years old, will be sailed to the dock and exhibited afloat
to save on transport and craning costs.

Williams
said that 3.7 million people in the UK had an interest in water sports, and yet
only 100,000 turned up to boat shows and that this had to be addressed.

 For the full story see Yachting Monthly’s May issue.