Friday 13th January '12

The London Excel Boat Show

Armed with shopping list and wearing comfortable shoes we set off for the boat show with the usual mixture of excitement and trepidation about how much daylight the credit card would see during a few short hours.  I admit to being immediately distracted by men in uniform!  We stumbled past a stand containing the topmast from HMS Victory with the associated yards and running rigging.  The eager chaps on the stand were coaxing anyone who lingered long enough to have a go at climbing the mast and then the idea was that they clambered along to the end of the yard to ring a little bell that had been placed there as a reward for making it that far.  I declined to have a go simply because I didn't feel like making a complete idiot of myself so early in the day.  I watched with interest as they managed to coax a poor girl into the climbing harness and then sent her aloft.  There was a swarthy gentleman belaying the lines for her and by the time she reached the yard she had quite an audience.  As she struggled out onto the footrope she clung bravely to the yard and leaned over the top of it for additional support.  Sadly, the top she was wearing was not built for working at heights and the view made many an old sailor passing by smile and suffer a sharp poke in the ribs from the long suffering wife.

I was finally dragged away by The Kipper who was clearly bored and eager to get on with looking at much more exciting things like winches and sea anchors.

We spent the day wondering around the show, pointing and staring at various displays, examining things that were way beyond the budget and being talked down to by a gentleman who should know that if you're trying to sell something it is best not to make the customer feel like a chump!  I met a chap who was a skipper on the first Global Challenge yacht race - The British Steel Challenge 1992/93 - I think his name was Ian MacGillivray.  Interesting chap and it was great to speak to him about Challenge Business and that first race.  He said that he was a training skipper alongside Pete Goss - the great man himself.  It was quite an honour to meet him and once again, The Kipper had to drag me away to go and look at much more exciting things like winches and sea anchors.

I am sworn to secrecy about the amount of pennies that were charged to the credit card during this show but they included the above mentioned items - 2 x Lewmar Evo 45 self-tailing winches and a sea anchor that was orange and made of heavy duty plastic and if we ever need to deploy it I'm giving up sailing and taking up camping.  I purchased a new life-line for my lifejacket - one of those stretchy affairs but one without the third clip because all I ever do is thump myself in the face with it.  I tried on a pair of Musto oily trousers but then blanced at the price despite the fact that they had been reduced to near half price.  I decided that my knackered out pair will last me for just one more season.

After a long day trudging around the show and searching in vain for the teak table stand (noticeable only by their absence) we finally admitted defeat and headed for home.  The winches were the most exciting and most expensive purchase (four figures) and were due to be delivered the following week by courier.  The Kipper managed to obtain most things on his shopping list including his courtesy flags for Portugal, Spain and Greece and that bottle of blue stuff for the heads.  After extensive research that included a conversation with the gentleman who secretly thought of us as chumps, we decided that the best and cheapest option for a storm sail was the old fashioned method: get up on the foredeck lugging the storm sail behind you and carry out a sail change while probably getting soaked through.  It's character building after all.

We talked a great deal about sailing in the Med and every time we walked past one of the holiday stands that showed a picture of a yacht at anchor in some secluded paradise with aqua blue seas and white sandy beaches it sent a little jolt of excitement through us to think that in the not too distant future, that will be Petra.