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The PSP Southampton Boat Show September 2011.
After all the preparation and planning we have just completed exhibiting at the Southampton Boat Show and after a very apprehensive pre show build up we had a brilliant show and "nailed it" with the help of Lizzie, Freya, Alice and Dave, Patrick and Kevin looking after things back in Portugal.
We took the Santander - Portsmouth ferry, which meant that we only had 700 miles to drive from home and then 24 hours on the ferry. We even got a free upgrade to a x4 berth cabin, luxury. A good crossing of Biscay (just like in the old Merchant Navy days) and she barely moved at all whilst doing 27 knots! Zig the dog came too and was happy as Larry up in the kennels. On landing at Portsmouth it was a quick trip round to our "pad" for the duration, "Tilley" the mobile home in Ringwood, New Forest to drop off a load of stuff and then a drive to Kent to pick up all the exhibition equipment.
Thursday 15th Sept, ready to get the stand up, but first a hearty IKEA, full english breakfast to get us in the mood.
This gave us the day before the show opened to set the stand up, which judging by the state of preparation of the majority of the other stands was ample time. The girls, Lizzie, Freya (back on leave from the Caribbean) and Alice got stuck in and ate all the food and then we got the stand up! like a well oiled machine we had it all out of the boxes and wondering "where does this bit go?"
It's amazing what cable ties and gaffer tape can do. It took about 3 hours to have that empty piece of Mayflower Hall looking like a very professional exhibition stand and ready to take on 10 days of selling to the Great British public.
It was great to have so many of you guys take time out to pay us a visit and to catch up on your sailing exploits for this year. Many sang the praises of sailing in Croatia, be it bareboat or flotilla.
Well it was 10 very full on days with attendance figures down and mixed weather to start with, but we had a blast and were delighted with the uptake on sailing courses, especially for this winter - which is one of our strong points with sailing in the Algarve.
Well, during the show there was Ladies Day, Warships and cruise liners dropping by etc and we loved every minute of it, especially as when the show finished each day, we packed up our bags and drove 30 minutes out into the New Forest to our "home" and could chill out and get ready for the next day.
The last weekend was especially busy for us and we came away with x60 confirmed sailing courses - AMAZING. and lots of new friends who want to "Go Sailing".
We gave ourselves a bit more time to get the stand down at the end of the show and had all of Monday and most of Tuesday to get packed up. Big thank you to Roger for letting us store some of our display stand in his garage as we didn't need to bring it all back to Portugal.
We caught the Tuesday @1700 Portsmouth - Santander ferry back an dthe crossing was like a mill pond all the way, we would certainly recommend that means of travel to anyone.
Landed at Santander at 1800 and got a little lost trying to get out of the town, driver error not the navigator, but escape we did then drove through the night right down Spain, through Valladolid, Salamanca, Caracas, Seville and into Portugal.
We've now got a couple of days off, getting things sorted and all the courses booked in etc. then its time to "Let's go Sailing"
- comments
Ogbonnaya Yes Check out the link below It will answer your qeoitsuns, and even answer qeoitsuns you haven't even thought to ask yet Great site, great information, and even greater encouragement.Happy and Safe Boating!John