South Coast Boat Show reports multiple yacht and power boat sales

Organisers of the South Coast Boat Show are reporting multiple yacht and powerboat sales took place over the weekend, with exhibitors already signed up for next year’s show on 5-7 May 2023.

“The 2022 South Coast Boat Show not only bought us fantastic weather, but lots of enthusiastic boaters,” says Richard Marsden, UK sales manager, Raymarine. “It was great to talk about our new products and help with technical questions. The marina was full of RIBs, sail and power boats flying their flags.”

Brett Sawyer, sales manager at Galeon Yachts, comments: “The show was highly anticipated and didn’t disappoint, with a noticeably huge increase in footfall in comparison with last year’s show. We had six Galeon Yachts’ models on display, all making their UK debuts and we sold two of them, the 460 Fly and the 325 GTO. It was a highly successful show for us both in terms of sales and leads generated with an added opportunity to communicate our new stock boat allocations coming this season for future sales.”

Exhibiting at the show for the third time, Craig McCarthy, sales director at MCC Marine, says: “We had strong interest in both our Nord Star range of boats and our Rupert RIBs brand, for which we’ve recently become the UK and Channel Islands distributor. We also secured sales on our SUR Marine tenders without actually having them on display. It was a good show for us.”

The land-based exhibition area, showcasing smaller boats and supporting products and services such as ancillary gear, finance and insurance, also drew large crowds with exhibitors reporting high footfall, genuine interest and interaction from a very receptive audience.

“It was an incredible show,” says James Kent from professional yacht valeting company, JDK Marine. “We couldn’t believe how good it was for us in terms of the numbers of people we saw and the contacts we made. We’ve also signed up quite a few new customers to our monthly wash programme. We’ll certainly be back next year.”

Andrew Adams, director at Parker Adams Boat Sales, comments: “We had a steady stream of people coming to our stand throughout the show – we were busy talking to people all the time. Our aims for the show were to generate new listings for our brokerage, take bookings for our Axopar Charter business and generate strong sales leads for our Hamble dealership of Cobra RIBs – we achieved success in all of these areas and could not be happier with the outcome of the show.”

MDL’s sales and marketing director, Tim Mayer, adds: “We’re thrilled with the turnout at the show, both exhibitors and visitors. The South Coast Boat Show is growing in size and importance year on year, and we intend to ensure it continues to do so, providing a solid platform for brands and marine businesses to meet and present to the boat buying public.

“There have been multiple power and sail yachts sold over the weekend. It’s very encouraging for the marine industry that even in the current uncertain economic climate, people are continuing to invest in boats and the boating lifestyle. Following the success of this year’s show, 90% of the landside exhibitors have already signed up for next year and multiple brands have also secured marina space.”