This winter was marked not only by phenomenally warm weather but by a new boat show as well: the Moscow Boat Show 2008 which took place in the new third pavilion of Crocus Expo on February 9-17.
The show was organised by Crocus Expo in partnership with the National Marine Industry Association. The event was prompted by the capital's exhibition calendar: despite numerous yachting-related events held in Moscow there wasn't one scheduled for the winter. And there was an empty space in the international calendar too: Düsseldorf happened quite a while ago and it's a long flight to Miami.
To the organisers' honour it should be unequivocally said the experience was successful and promising. The 17,800 m² exhibition space was almost full, and the hosts believe it could be easily extended to 60,000 m². There were serious yachting market players among the participants: Bavaria Yachts, Hard Top Marine, Royal Marine, Alphayachts, Silver Boats, Admiral Group, East Baltic Marine Group, Sealine Sales Russia, Cantieri Navali Rizzardi Srl.
Any show's special pride and appeal is its premieres and novelties. In this case we should mention three models presented in Russia for the first time. First of all it's the new name on the Russian market, Prinz 54 Coupe. The boat's successful presentations at several European shows, in particular in Genoa and Barcelona last year, caused a lively discussion of the lucky design and technological solutions. The project's geography gives every reason to call it truly international: management and funding are done by the firm's Belgian office, furniture and design work are made in Slovakia, the overall design and fitting are done in Italy while the hulls and final assembly are made in Croatia.
The next Russian premiere was American Grand Banks 47 Heritage EU trawler well-known all over the world. The design of the Heritage Series was universally acclaimed and became the shipyard's calling card. Originally these yachts were made of wood but in 1973 the company opened a new shipyard in Singapore and started using fibreglass plastic. Grand Banks yachts were so successful, several other shipbuilders started copycatting the GB style and design, but were unable to achieve the level of quality Grand Banks is so proud of.
Spanish Starfisher boats were represented by the 30 Cruiser model with flying bridge. Starfisher designs and builds two motor boat models between 6 and 12 metres long: fishing boats and cruisers. The company's over 40,000 m² production facility is located in Vila Nova de Cerveira; it employs 300 people 80 of whom are highly skilled engineers. American Larson boats which come in five model lines: Cabrio, LXi, Escape, Senza and 180 Series, had their own large exhibition area.
Sailing boats represented at the show included German yachts in the medium price range: Hanse 320 and 400. There were other German boats as well: Bavaria 44 Vision and 31 Cruiser, challenged by the French Jeanneau and Beneteau shipyards.
RIB were represented by two brands, Brig and Zodiac.
In addition to speedboats, yachts and other "live" craft, the show featured stands by such prominent companies as Lagoon and the InRizzardi concern. Note that the latter was represented by the Italian StatusLux company, InRizzardi's official dealer in Russia. This company's participation gave the show its international status.
Sergey Kostin
Photoreport
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