Italian Powerboat Cranchi

It laid claim, among many other impressive statistics, to the record of London's largest annual event. With more than 500 exhibitors showing their wares, the show took 13 days to set up.

Type 42 Destroyer HMS Exeter

Almost as impressive was the Sunseeker 34 tri-deck motor yacht, priced at a wave-making £11.5million - with the tag of the largest vessel Sunseeker have ever produced. At the other end of the scale was the smallest boat in the show - the 1.5metre Reid Marine’s Starfish dinghy costing a mere £545.

The London Boat Show is 54 years old this year but it is only in the last five years it has swopped the land-locked confines of Earls Court, in west London, for the wide open spaces and Thameside riverbank location of the rejuvenated Docklands. Bigger certainly seems to point to better times for the whole boating world.

When the show opened it predicted an attendance topping 140,000, a turnover of nearly £3billion, exports of almost £1billion and jobs for 35,000 people in 4,300 businesses.

Among the eye-catching floating showstoppers was a £1,300 Laser Bug, described as the “clunk-click” of sailing, because it slots together easily and has been designed to appeal to young sailing enthusiasts and beginners. It features a little wheel under the mast and telescopic “wheelbarrow” handles to make it easy to transport. Just add an outboard motor at £300 and away you go...

For a lot more - £250,000 to be precise - boating fans were offered something completely different in the shape of the Sealine SC35 powerboat, which can sleep eight and zooms through the water at up to 30knots.

For something a little more leisurely, the Southerly 32 six-berth yacht launched at the show caught the imagination with its sleek lines and unique swing keel allowing it to reach the places where keeled boats normally cannot go. At £127,000, this yacht is as robust as any of its competitors and capable of ocean voyages.

Among sailboats of every shape and size was the lustrous white Oyster 655, with a price tag of almost £3million, and a much more modestly priced 31ft Bavaria at just under £50,000.

For something completely different there was the surprisingly elegant inflatable Avon Seasport 430 Jet at £22,000. Avon have been churning out great inflatable craft for half a century and their clients include the Royal Navy and Special Forces. The Seasport has been designed for people wanting the exhilarating experience of skimming the waves at 40knots, so it’s not for the faint-hearted. Seating five, it has a jet engine and features a few home comforts, such as a CD player - although you’d never hear it above the roar of the engine at full throttle - and drinks holders.