Barry Stone of Lalizas said they took the largest single order ever at a trade show on the Wednesday and took the first order on the Thursday before the show opened.

Navimo's Ross Wilkinson said he had eight staff working flat out. 'Better than last year,' he said, 'and never a dull moment.'

The free party on the Wednesday evening (sponsored by Draper Tools) saw the presentation of the BBEx/MTA awards, an event that pleases some, disappoints others and surprises many.

Two awards went to Essex-based companies, with Marinestore taking the Retailer of the Year Award and the Barke Brothers – James, Nick, Guy and Dave Jnr – being presented with the Scott Deverell Young Businessperson of the Year Award.

The Dyer Burdett Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award gave the judges a difficult decision to make with David Hawkins of Boatcare UK presenting a very strong case for selection. The decision, however, went to James Halliburton, the inventor/developer of the Waterbuoy and the star of the recent Dragon’s Den series where he managed to persuade £200,000 out of the panel towards production of the device.

New this year was the English Braids BBEx/MTA Environment Award, which was aided and abetted by Brian Clark, the British Marine Federation (BMF) environment executive, who devised the parameters. Sealine International was the first winner of the new award.

Also new this year was the boats.com Website Award, which was judged with help from the company’s backroom geeks, who recommended the Oyster Marine website for this inaugural presentation. In Oyster Marine’s absence, the award was collected by David Payne, Oyster Marine account manager at Mastervolt.

The Marine Skills Innovations Showcase Award went to the Maxwell Auto Cleat, handled in the UK by Golden Arrow Marine and the final presentation of the year – the Boating Business Lifetime Achievement Award, went to Guy Dixon.

Full details of the show and the BBEx/MTA awards will be in the March issue of Boating Business.

BBEx runs today - its second day - at Bournemouth's BIC from 10.00 to 17.00.