Aleria's Adventures

(photo: Messe Düsseldorf / ctillmann)  The final press release was issued yesterday reviewing the stats for attendance at boot. And it is impressive. They are hailing it as a brilliant start to a new decade in watersports. I must admit, that seeing all the innovation in products we saw there, I found myself wishing I was 18 again so I could try them all out. Even so, I saw a few products that I think will tempt me to 'invest' in some new equipment this coming year. I'll write about those tomorrow. Today, I'll focus on the stats. boot Düsseldorf was in all accounts a hugely successful event. Visitors were enthusiastic about the wide-ranging programme and the enormous selection of products and services provided by the more than 1,900 exhibitors in the 17 halls on the exhibition site. The international water sports community was delighted by nine unique days in Düsseldorf with a mix of stimulating networking, successful business and memorable experiences. More th...

One of the entrances Yacht silver and wood accessories We arrived early Saturday morning, our flight from Dublin having departed at 7 am - ungodly. We'd spent the night at the Clayton at Dublin Airport and left our car there. It's a two-hour flight and one-hour time difference, so we were in Düsseldorf precisely at 10 am, took a train to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express - won't stay there again, but it was popular with boat show attendees and exhibitors), dropped off luggage and took another train to the boat show. We didn't know the lay of the land yet but hopped a tram, got off when others did and ended up at exactly the right place to check-in with Press credentials. Hall 17 - big sail boats German Frers' Euphoria We then went in search of boats. Hall 15 first, Hall 16, then Hall 17. We quickly learned we needed to sign up for an appointment to view the yachts. Our primary objective was the see the Ovni, the Allure and the Garcia, boats we knew...

We've been wanting to go to boot (pronounced bowt) for years now, but somehow never made it until this year. We'd heard it was the biggest boat show in the world. That it covered so many acres that it would take ten years to see it all. That Düsseldorf was an inland industrial city without much to offer. In the past, boot clashed with the London Boat Show, not that we ever attended. But that's now gone forever and everyone that used to go to London came to Düsseldorf instead this year.  Finally, we got there, too. Yes, there were a lot of people, especially on Saturday. So I'm going to write about our first experience - generally all pleasant - to help first-time goers find their way around. It really pays to have some of the inside story. First, let me debunk some of the rumours. Yes, it is vast. Yes, it might take a year to see EVERYTHING. But first of all, it's not a boat show.  Boot is a watersports show. It covers sailboats, powerboats, windsurfing, ...