MARK CAMERON YACHTS VISITS BOOT DUSSELDORF 2020

Saturday 25th January 2020

Along with what felt like anybody in Europe with an interest in anything relating to being on or in the water we made the annual pilgrimage to Dusseldorf for BOOT 2020 this week; spending 3 days at Europe’s largest indoor boat show. Spread over 17 halls, totalling 230,000 square meters the show attracts approximately 300,000 visitors throughout its 9-day run; from all across the northern hemisphere; flocking to see over 1800 exhibitors displaying the latest launches from the world’s leading yacht and motor yacht manufacturers along with the latest onboard equipment innovations and of course the on-trend toys.

It was a productive trip, meeting plenty of familiar faces from Scotland either working on the numerous stands or merely visiting the show. Its essential for us to stay abreast of the latest developments and models from the large manufacturers to ensure we can provide our clients with the best possible service. We have put together a brief report of our highlights from BOOT Dusseldorf 2020.

THE ANNUAL GRABAU INTERNATIONAL TEAM MEETING

Alongside our primary business, we are also lucky to represent Grabau International in Scotland. With offices across Europe, BOOT Dusseldorf serves as the perfect platform for the annual team GI meeting. Almost a full house saw team members from Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Lymington, London, Palma and Italy offices getting together this year during the show. This collaboration allows us at Mark Cameron Yachts to provide a truly global service for those premium listings; including complimentary services from companies run by other representatives such as:

• Large yacht charter management serviced in the Medeterriain and Caribbean. 
• CNB charter yacht sales of new models.

Through the GI London offices with Matt Abiss and the DI-Yachting team.

• Naval architecture services 

With Vittorio Papa at the GI Palma offices.

• Boat maintenance and management in the Baltic.

Operated by brothers Jonas and Matias Renlund the GI Scandinavia offices have bases in Finland and Sweden.

NEW YACHT SALES – Models on display at BOOT 2020.

Through the Grabau International team we are also fortunate to be able to offer new yacht sales for a selection of leading manufactures for both sail and powerboats. Grabau International being sales agents for:

• Hylas Yachts
• Italia Yachts
• Brenta Yachts
• Charter Managed CNB Yachts
• Hylas Power Boats
• Rizzardi Power Boats

Italia Yachts, Bretna Yachts and Rizzardi were all in attendance at the show providing us with the opportunity to get aboard and have a look around the latest models from all three.

Italia Yachts 11.98 Carbon

On display for the first time at Dusseldorf the Italia Yachts 11.98 Carbon was certainly turning a few heads and getting the attention of those looking for a capable performance cruiser to rival the more established builders from northern Europe. Well established in the ORC Championships with its smaller 10.98 and 9.98 models both winning the worlds in recent years; Italia Yachts launched the 11.98 project to capture the hearts of performance-orientated sailors along with those who enjoy quick cruising. The sleek external styling with the modern practical layout with black carbon panels contrasting against the lighter finishing materials used throughout the interior give a hint of the capabilities of this boat on the water. With optimised keels available to suit ORC and IRC rating systems we don’t expect it to be long until we see some Italian flare in Scotland.

Brenta Yachts B30

Ultra sleek this day boat with her maxi inspired styling is ideally suited to those wanting to turn heads wherever they go. Developed from her larger sister the B30 is a back to basic inspired design while retaining the stunning modern styling and incredible stability characteristics. If you have a mooring visible from the house this little boat would improve your view no end!

360 VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS OF SCOTLAND.

As a director of Sail Scotland during his trip Mark was also assisting on the organisations stand during the show. As part of this years #MustSeaScotland campaign the new 360-degree video tours were launched with two VR headsets available for visitors to see on the stand. Proving immensely popular the experiences whisked visitors to the coastline of Scotland taking in the sites of St Kilda, Staffa, Skye and Mingulay. All visitors to the stand were impressed by the clever use of this emerging technology.

LOVE YOUR OCEAN

Since 2017 the BOOT Dusseldorf shows have had a firm environmental focus; launching their ‘Love Your Ocean’ and ‘Ocean Tribute’ awards. It was interesting this year to see manufacturers from all sectors innovating to get behind this ethos and bring a new range of products to the market. With over 50 exhibitors showing electric propulsion systems it is clear the demand is growing. A few stands caught our eye while wandering the halls.

Green Boats – Flax 27

Green Boats specialises in the development and manufacture of lightweight sandwich structures made from renewable and/or recycled raw materials. Using sustainable materials Green Boats are manufactured using a vacuum infusion process with flat fibres, cork and ecological epoxy resins. The completed Flax 27 is built of approximately 80% recycled or sustainably grown/harvested materials.

Electric Propulsion.

With more than 50 exhibitors displaying either products or boats using the latest battery technology to present drive systems and boats with fully electric propulsion systems there was plenty to see. The boats which stuck out for us were:

The PULSE58 fully electric RIB from RS Electric Boats, the sister company to RS Sailing; a well-established builder of high-performance dinghies. This clever design uses the latest battery technology and a revolutionary fully integrated, hubless electric drive system from RAD Propulsion. This looks to be the first significant step towards fully electric boats suitable for sailing school and coaching applications.

French boatbuilder POGO Structures was also offering a full-electric version of their cutting edge, ultra-efficient Loxo 32. The boat was fitted with a new full electric propulsion system manufactured by Ocean Volt. Interestingly the boat comes with a quick charge pontoon bollard, just like you would find for an electric car.

 

As Boot Dusseldorf 2020 draws to a close this weekend we are sure all visitors will have enjoyed the experience as much as we did. We will be putting the dates in the diary for next years annual pilgrimage to Germany.