The announcement that a rival to the ‘official’ London Boat Show was going to be launched and held at the spiritual home of the London Show, Earls Court, came as a complete surprise to many in the marine trade. And, quite honestly, most of us thought it had a snowball’s chance of succeeding.

But could the Earl’s Court organisers have just pulled off a major coup to steal the lead? They have announced that Guinness is stepping in as a sponsor and that they will reinstate that oh so important feature, the Guinness stand, otherwise known as the office or Irish Embassy. Because, as any boat show veteran will tell you, it is here that the real business and networking at the show always happened.

At the 2007 Excel London Boat Show, National Boat Shows made a major tactical error. They had a bar that served Guinness but they did not have The Guinness Stand. And now that other crowd have pulled off a flanker. Maybe I will head towards SW5 at the beginning of December after all.