Outside it is cold and bitter, although not freezing. A strong north-westerly has hit bring cold air down from the north. We had snow last week, but it didn’t feel cold and before that fell I’d enjoyed two lovely sails in bright (warm even) conditions – it was zero degrees on one day – and here I am, munching a cox’s apple from an Essex orchard, thinking about things…
After doing various jobs to Whimbrel’s tender, including re-painting the interior, I realised that with the passage of time, the mast too needed some work. Perhaps I’d not looked at carefully enough…
See earlier blog: http://nickardley.com/ditch-crawler-does-some-end-of-season-dinghy-maintenance/
Doing dinghy maintenance – repainting the hull interior.
But before I get into this, it occurred to me that the month for an event, once the doyen of British Yachting, has passed all but passed by: The London Boat Show used to be held during the second week of January. It was held at Earl’s Court from 1957 to 2004 when it transferred to the Excel Exhibition Centre in 2004. The first was held at Olympia in 1956.
The London Boat Show has been under threat for a number of years with a falling attendance record! In 2002, there were around 152, 000 punters and in 2016 it dropped to around 90, 000. In 2018 it changed to a 5 day format from the original 10 – or long standing – and figures crashed to around 52, 000 people…
The 2019 show was to take place 9-13 January, but was cancelled.
Why? Well, yes indeed, why! My personal thoughts lay with a market saturated by pressure to secure orders for new craft – clearly manufacturers (builders??) need orders to survive. The whole business has moved so far away from a chap and his wife popping down to a local boat yard where they know ‘little’ cruisers are built for a reasonable price. Now it is all sleek marketing, factory runs and ‘hotel-like’ outfit where the thought of a muddy hand getting through the door (companionway) brings horror to some. P.S. where else does one wash their hands…
So, it is my view that with a saturated market and marinas up and down the coast stuffed with immobile craft, the peak has been reached. There are literally thousands of ‘2nd hand’ craft awaiting new or first owners. Many of these boats moulder and fester at the back of a yard or on a mooring, draining money from an owners pocket everywhere.
Some seasons ago, well before various magazines got onto the band-wagon, I did a feature about decent and usable second hand craft awaiting sales at a yard in Woodbridge – bargains galore sat ready for a buff up. For a ‘small’ amount of capital a prospective owner had a wide choice and with a little effort all or most would have ‘dazzled’ as she swung on a mooring, ready…
And then there is equipment … the world wide web has brought the shop counter to ones desk or lap and at a tap of a button that new set of charts or electronic equipment is whizzing to your delivery address, so why go to a show!
When was the last time I went – quite frankly, I can’t remember, but I think I’ve been to the London event twice in the last 25 years. If that is anything to go by, it clearly had little attraction for me or others, clearly!
It is well known that the sailing population is aging with a lack of fresh ‘combatants’ coming up astern, with that in mind the Medway and Swale Boating Association’s bi-annual seminar this year is to focus on this phenomena. I’m not so sure much can be done. It’s like the industry – ‘yachting’ for now seems to have peaked and will decline to an unknown level, but it’ll still be there for those that want it.
Hey ho!
The mast arrived home in my MG with the hood down in early January after a sail in Whimbrel. It was scraped and sanded and put in the conservatory to dry – where else!
Fetching the dinghy mast home…
Sanded and drying out…
Funny how long these jobs can last: each coat needs to dry before applying the next. The mast had large areas stripped back to bare wood and around six coats of thinned varnish were applied, thickening as I went along. It finally had two undiluted coats.
Work ongoing…
Finally, after a couple of days drying, the mast was dressed with the halyard and burgee hoist, ready for the dinghy. All I need to do now is get it back to the club and, hopefully, on a sunny day have a little (cold) sail out in her again!
Mast dressed!
My good wife has been ever so good, not once complaining of the all pervading smell of white spirit and paint working its way around, even though the conservatory door was shut! Last week she had a friend in for coffee and chat … I moved the mast out into the dining room, before hi-tailing to the boat leaving conservatory window open and heaters on high! Christobel said, it was absolutely fine…
My father once built a canoe in his mother’s kitchen … I know people use the same place for winter jobs … and even spare bedrooms. lets face it, its better to be in the warm!
I for one shall continue all of this for as long as life allows me…