SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW
COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH
WHEN Friday 16 to Sunday 25 September
OPENING TIMES 10am - 6pm, 5pm on 25 Sept
WHERE Mayflower Park, Southampton SO15 1ST
TICKETS www.southamptonboatshow.com
19 BOAT DEBUTS
Come and see MBY at STAND E001
THE EDITOR’S V I E W …
There’s something infectious about an outdoor show with an on-water display in a proper nautical city – and once again, the Southampton Boat Show looks set to make the very most of its natural assets. As home to Europe’s largest purpose-built exhibition marina, it will feature a Get Afloat initiative, involving dinghies, kayaks and paddleboards. And it will also adopt a redesigned layout with new activity-focused zones for Watersports, Dinghies, Classic and Day Boats.
But what most of us go to Southampton for are the latest motor boats to hit the UK market and, in that regard, Southampton is a spectacular showcase. We’ve sifted through the entire exhibitor list and cherry-picked 19 new boats, each of which is due to make its show, UK or World debut right here on the south coast. They encompass everything from cats and monohulls to RIBs, day boats and flybridge cruisers. They go from 25 to 70ft in length and while some are targeted upgrades on existing models, others are completely new boats from the ground up. Of course, you might still decide to trawl Europe’s autumn show circuit in search of big-ticket glamour. But if you want a simple way to get on board the best new boats around, there’s no more entertaining way to achieve it than this.
ARKSEN 45
LOA 44ft 6in (13.55m) BEAM 10ft 8in (3.25m) ENGINES Various TOP SPEED 50 knots + PRICE POA CONTACT www.arksen.com
Since it appeared on the scene in 2019, British adventure brand, Arksen, has been busy developing a range of rugged off-grid cruisers with keen expedition capabilities, like self-righting hulls, tough aluminium construction and vast cruising ranges of up to 7,000nm. But while its larger ‘Supeyacht Explorer’ models are built by the Wight Shipyard Company in Cowes, the new 45 is slightly different. Constructed in collaboration with Ring Powercraft in Itchenor, this first of Arksen’s new Adventure Power Series is designed as a “premium SUV” for rapid, all-action weekend adventures.
As you would expect of a boat of this type, it comes with the obligatory impact-mitigation seats and enclosed pilothouse. It also features a sheltered dinette and galley, plus the option of heating and air conditioning for more comfortable year-round use. And it combines that four-season practicality with peripheral foam-filled D-Tubes to bring RIB-style carrying capacity and impact resistance, without any of the durability, maintenance or internal beam
