The Southampton International Boat Show is currently on.

The impression I get from the media razzmatazz surrounding this event is ‘Goody, let us flog more £100K starter boats to awe-struck punters…’

There are of course definite signs of a greater interest in environmentally friendly craft, especially on the power side. However, like the grandiose ‘starter’ boats always ‘flogged’ to the punter, these are very expensive.

There is an alternative to all of this if a punter wants to begin his or her passage into ‘boating’ in an affordable way and that is the second hand market.

Boatyards and yacht clubs are stuffed with decent vessels which can currently be purchased for a song. These craft, both power and sailing, are so often bypassed. It is a great shame for they could provide that inexpensive gateway into the sport, past-time even, without that £100K price tag…

I have mentioned Andy Seedhouse before. This outfit is based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, up on the River Deben.

See: https://www.andyseedhouseboats.co.uk/

There is an eclectic array of small motor and sailing craft in his yard, begging for a loving home. All would make great starter packages – even for that first year or two, before going forward into the sport with a larger more expensive craft.

If it wasn’t the person’s cup of tea then no great expense has been coughed up and in all probability it would sell again.

So often, with glazed eyes, a chap (usually) takes his family to a boat show. The family all go gooey eyed down below while the man twiddles knobs on an ‘instrument stack’ next to a shiny steering wheel and is hooked.

Within the first owning season, an expensive boat begins its sterile static life gathering weed in an expensive marina gobbling up family reserves.

Let us all be totally honest: how often have you walked past a modern boat, covers, decks and ropes going green, and wondered about her?

I do. It makes me so sad.

Oh, yes, what was that opening ceremony all about with some chap flying on a hose cutting the ribbon…