Southampton Boat Show

To the Southampton Boat Show where the atmosphere in the small boats ghetto was much chippier than in recent shows. The talk was all of increased orders and investment in new designs.
The new boy was Dad's Boats with a pedal-powered boat for inland waterways (well, mainly inland waterways - apparently an early version was pedalled round the Isle of Wight by its inventor and builder David Williams).
David, the Dad in the company name, started building pedal-powered boats in the 1950s so he could follow his remote control yacht while keeping his hands free for the controls. One of his designs was taken up by Swallow Boats as the 'Winsome' but only a few were ever built.
Now Dad's Boats, based in Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, are trying again with a design more closely modelled on David's original.
She certainly looks comfortable, with yacht-style seats facing each other so the pedalers can chat as the world goes by.
The picture shows director Stephen Pitkethly and his son Joseph showing off the boat, which is available to order as production begins - see dadsboats.com for more.