Southampton Boat Show - 2014

I do like the Boatshow - I think it's the buzz - and I like the fact that it changes very little year to year - and the people - and the pint of Guinness at the Guinness bar - the smell of new boats - and that vague whiff of money, affluence and Cinzano Bianco.... this year was no different, this year though, I attended solo - kids have as much antipathy to the show as they do to sailing, ditto current Mrs Steve the Wargamer, and bro-in-law/sis was on parent sitting duties.... which means I get to spend more time checking out the stalls.... 

Good show again this year I thought - the crowds were big even for the penultimate day, and although the weather was grey and murky/hazy (see above) it was at least warm, and it didn't rain....

I gave up going on big yachts a few years ago - they're all pretty much all the same really when you get below - the differences are primarily in square footage when you get to the prices of these boats - the quality of fit out is the same, you just get more or less of it...  having said that I did see one beauty this year and she takes my best boat of the show prize - not that I'd ever want one though!

Made by Solaris, an Italian yard, [clicky] this is their 48 footer, and what attracted my attention was the hull colour - such a nice change from the universal white.... she looked fantastic...  the gel had a fine layer of glitter in it which sounds hideous but looked brilliant and at a distance a metallic effect...  very nice.... yours for half a million if you want it...

Elsewhere - Clipper [clicky] were there - this is the bunch my bro-in-law works for - she looked.....   "hard worked"...    Not surprising really as she's only just come back from racing round the world...

I was also keen to see the Practical Boat Owner project boat - I'm a subscriber so have been reading the ongoing project with interest and wanted to see the boat in the flesh...  not surprisingly (given the amount of money spent, and also the time invested) she looked absolutely fantastic..

I was talking to Ben (one of the journalists on the magazine) and he mentioned that they were thinking about doing the whole thing again with a new old boat - but this time doing it on a budget - which I think is an excellent idea...  hugely relevant to my boating, and even more useful I think than this project, purely because I couldn't afford some of the the products they used (in quantity!)...  I hope they do it - it will be a brilliant read..

At the end of our chat he turned round and asked me if I sail in Chichester Harbour, turns out he had read my blog (and recognised the boat name from my t-shirt)... gob smacked, but if you're reading this, Ben, nice to meet you...

...and that was largely it - though I did enjoy this beauty...  despite her appearance she's newer than she looks, and was built in Denmark in 1920, but was restored from a derelict in 1988 and since then has appeared in numerous films (Columbus, Frenchman's Creek etc)...   more details here [clicky]

I was also much taken with the Royal Marine Assault craft - more info on that on my wargame blog...

All in all a brilliant day...  got some idea's for the genoa sheet camcleat replacement project....

Swallow boats..

Crabber - like this one..

Smaller Crabber

A chat with the guy on the Barton stand was very informative - he showed me a cam cleat of sufficient size to handle the sheets (a la the Crabber above) but which is also on a swivel base, negating the need for the feeder block.... similar to this....

Finished off with a beer at the Platform Tavern [clicky], and all was definitely right with the world..!