2007 Earls Court Boat Show Review

05 Dec 2007

Here's my report on the 2007 Earls Court Boat Show which is currently on at Earls Court until the 9th December. I went along on the first Sunday to check out the boats, hook up with some wakeboarding friends, and check out the pool gap.

The show is brand new this year and competes with the London Boat Show, which moved out to the Excel centre a couple of years ago.

Three Winches

2007 Earls Court Boat Show Review

Pool Gap

The main difference wakeboarding wise is that the Earl's Court organisors have centred their adventure section of the show around a purpose build pool gap setup, staffed by Matt Crowhurst, Tim Woodhead and others and pulled by three spanky Grinch winches.

I got to see Matt, Tim, James Young, Victoria Young, CK ride and they were getting some impressive air for inside a building. The centre rail worked like a large kicker and CK was pulling some huge spins into the landing pool (see above). Matt switched to his wakeskate and confusing the crowd as they had only just got their head round the fact wakeboarders use bindings...

Matt Crowhurst Kickflip

If you are anywhere near London and missing time on the water it's well worth seeing these guys (and gals) hitting the rails.

Victoria Young

Boats

Boats wise the main three brands were covered, with Correct Craft, Mastercraft and Tige having boats to view. TV Ski had a 2008 Air Nautique 210 on display which had some cool rear facing seats so that the whole crew could kick back and watch the rider. The interior design was looking quite retro, with top quality vinyl as usual.

Midlands Marine had 2 boats there, the yellow 20V catching my eye. Both the Nautique and the Tiges were on the central water area which made checking them out more natural than up on a stand.

Tige 20V

One brand you don't usually get to check out was represented over at the FC Watersports stand. They had their very own Moomba on display. FC can provide tows down on the south coast in pool harbour.

Mastercraft had 2 Boats on display courtesy of West Quay Marine. Tucked in the corner was a very tasty looking x2 in dark blue with new 08 graphics. They didn't have a full presence but it was nice to get to drool over an 08 MC, I was wondering if I could use the 08 tower on my Maristar ;-)

Mastercraft X2

The other boat on display by MC was the CSX, a picklefork hull with
centre stand up driving area, great if you wakeboard and fish.. not sure I quite understand where the marketing department are going with this one but I like the idea of something so plainly not a wakeboard looking boat throwing out an awesome wake.

Towers wise Wakeboard Towers UK had their towers on display located
right next to the pool gap. Grouping the wakeboard related stuff together was good as you could check out the towers then watch the riding without hiking from hall to hall.

Wakeboard Towers UK

2008 Boards

I had to search a little bit to find some 2008 boards but Craig Cohoon was there with the new 08 Liquid Force boards including the Shane, Watson and Angel boards. They were light and looked thin, wonder how they'll hold up for the cable riders.

2008 Liquid Force Shane