London Boat Show

This week sees the start of the CWM FX Boat Show in London.

http://www.londonboatshow.com/2015/home.aspx

I got two tickets back in September as they were half price back then. So me and Jim can have a day mooching around boats and kit again.

I entered a picture Jim took during our summer cruise to Cowes into a competition the Boat Show is Running, the prize for which is a sailing jacket.

Jim doesn't have any sailing clothing as such, so a decent jacket will be great for him if it wins. I entered the picture and the organisers asked for a more high-res version of the pic, so lets see if Jim wins some new kit!

Anyway, here's hoping I get next Thursday off work so we can go down mid-week without too much in theb way of crowds. Last year was a pain regarding holidays, ending up with me having to take my days off at the end of the year.

Rest assured there will be a more assertive attitude to getting days off this year as I lost a lot of days where the tide and weather were ideal for sailing. I've already booked a week off in July when there are spring tides, the weather is usually fine and the Americas Cup races are on in the Solent.

Ben Ainslie Racing's Americas Cup HQ is currently being built next to the camber in Portsmouth. I went down there this weekend and had a look at the skeleton of the building (complete with Christmas Tree taped to the top!).

It's not as huge as I thought it would be considering the size of the Americas Cup boats, but it'll be interesting to see what it looks like eventually. I'm going to nip down there some time and take a few piccies.

But it's good news to have some water-based development in Portsmouth, especially as the dockyard assembly side is being run down. Destined I suppose to become yet another dry stack shed like the old VT yard accross the harbour.