Pirates and Treasure are the theme for this year’s 38th Southampton Boat Show held in Mayflower Park. For the official opening on Friday 15th September the Jubilee Sailing Trust’s tall ship “Lord Nelson” was the centre of attraction.
Meanwhile on the jetty members of the Sea Wolf Re-enactment Group and Sheppey Pirates were putting on a show for the visitors. Sheppey Pirates had even brought a full sized working cannon with them which with three or four very LOUD bangs declared the Show open.
Aboard the “Lord Nelson” were “castaway” turned TV presenter Ben Fogle, solo yachtswoman Dee Caffari and Alex Thomson. At 25 he became the youngest skipper of a Round the World when he won the 1998/99 Clipper Race. Earlier in the year Dee had twice visited the Isle of Wight. First of all she was taking part in Skandia Cowes Week, followed a few weeks later by a tour of the Island on bicycle, preparing for her next challenge.
“Lord Nelson”was on show and open to the public for a few days until her next voyage from Southampton to Cherbourg. Over the last 20 years she has taken over 22,000 people to sea.
The Jubilee Sailing Trust’s second vessel “Tenacious” will take the place of “Lord Nelson” for the rest of the Show. She is the largest wooden tall ship built in the UK in the last 100 years. Polo shirts for the Trust are supplied by Ocean World, based in Cowes High Street.
Trust President, TV presenter Peter Snow was also on board “Lord Nelson” for the Show’s opening and told us how imperative it was to research subjects thoroughly before attempting to talk about them on TV.
Around the Show there were several stands with Island connections; Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology were to be found on Stand A051. Established in 1991 they recently re-launched their Island presence at Fort Victoria, Yarmouth.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Cowes based Sea Safe Systems were on stand A 082. Their award winning Hypo Hoist man overboard retrieval device took pride of place.
During September the company re-locates from Birmingham Road Cowes to Somerton Business Park.
Those considering a unique form of flotilla sailing in local waters should think about the “Celtic Goodwill Raids”. Participants can join at a number of points. Starting in Wales the fleet visits Scotland, Northern Ireland, the West Country and Brittany. For those with time the voyage takes three months but as much time as you wish can be spent on this adventure. The scheme comes under the Welsh Tourist Board’s Wales Watersports and Island sailors may wish to take part in the Cowes, Channel Islands, France leg which take place in late August. Recently the Channel Islands have voted to keep fuel duty free so they might be worth a visit.
For anyone considering buying a boat at the Show, or at any other time, a visit to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Marine Finance Stand might be useful. Finance deals covering all types of craft can be obtained.
Barrus launched several new engines. On display were Yanmars which power some of the powerboats recently seen off Cowes.
On the Honda Stand more new engines were on show these are used to power the Honda powerboats which were also racing off Cowes in the Powerboat Festival. It is hoped that Cowes will be selected to host a round of next year’s Honda Powerboat races.
There is certainly something for everyone at the Show - but look out for those pirates!