For a business that has exhibited at Southampton International Boat Show many, many times, bespoke sailmaker Kemp Sails has seen the market go through plenty of cycles. But the current combination of softer new boat sales, cautious customers, higher marina costs and tougher export conditions is forcing the company to look harder at where its next opportunities will come from.
“It’s been challenging, the last few years,” says Rob Kemp, director at Kemp Sails, from the company’s large stand at SIBS 2026. This was Kemp Sails’ 42nd time exhibiting at the show. “We started out in the cheap seats over the far side, and then moved to the middle and then we ended up over here with a four by four for 15 years,” he says.
But the last few of those haven’t been as strident as hoped.
“New boat sales obviously are down,” Kemp notes. Although new boat sales don’t directly affect his business, the add-on products have dipped correspondingly. He lists areas in which the company is traditionally strong, including cruising sails and storm jibs, but says: “That’s just not there at the moment in any magnitude.” Details of all sails are on the company’s website.
The psychological impact of the cost of living crisis
In the company’s general market, which looks more to replace existing boats’ sails, Kemp says there’s also a “reticence” in the marketplace.
“The media bangs on about the cost of living crisis all the time. Lots of our customers in the larger boat sector aren’t that affected by it, but psychologically they are,” he notes, with people keeping tight rein of their finances. Added to this are the costs of marinas – currently “quite high”, says Kemp.
Brexit hits exports
Brexit hasn’t helped the company either, especially in terms of exporting.
“We’ve lost several hundred thousand pounds a year on exports to expat sailors in Greece and Spain and France, where it’s just too difficult to import stuff, so they just buy it in country. Which is a bit annoying.”
But Kemp is sage about the current climate. While he says it’s “quite tough” he notes “we work in a lovely industry, working outside a lot in a sailboat. It’s a first world problem; no one’s bombing us. But it’s tough.”
Overseas competition puts pressure on prices
Kemp’s also noticed a “bit of a resurgence in competitors building overseas.” He says companies which are manufacturing in Thailand and the Philippines can offer lower prices “because they’re not paying pensions, National Insurance, all the health and safety, all that stuff. “It’s not ideal.”
Kemp sees opportunity in sail servicing
That said, he offers a pivot. He says that there’s an area of growth in maintaining people’s sails, and is looking to expand the company’s shed collections on the south coast for that reason.
“Being UK-based, that’s something that we can do really, really well, which the importer sail makers can’t do ’cause they don’t have the infrastructure.”
Five-day turnaround becomes a competitive advantage
One of the key elements in this plan is Kemp’s quick turnaround. He relishes the fact that the business made a sail last week “for a chap with a catamaran who blew his genoa up. He ordered it on the Thursday. We finished it [with] a five-working-day turnaround on a 49-foot boat catamaran.
“If it’s an imported product, you can’t do that.”
For Kemp, the answer is partly about doing something that competitors importing from overseas cannot easily replicate: keeping a UK-based sailmaking and servicing operation close to its customers. A five-day turnaround on a 49ft catamaran sail is the kind of service he believes can turn local infrastructure into a competitive advantage.
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