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Sailboat & Windsurf Show 2002 |
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So, let's see, it's 3:30pm on Monday 4 March. Hugh & Jean Stanistreet have just collected ST915 for it's trip back to Windermere and, short of putting a few thing's away, The Sailboat & Windsurf Show 2002 is over. It's been a long but quite successful weekend ! |
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Mind you, last Wednesday I wasn't sure if we were even going to have a dinghy. On Tuesday the 915 boat was still in Fyne Boat Kits paint shop at Bowness-on-Windermere. The hull paint job had gone belly up a few days earlier. The temperature had gone from +5 to -3 over night and 915's Marlin Blue paint had not reacted well. It all had to be rubbed down and repainted. She came out on Tuesday night and arrived at Aquarius SC on Thursday. Having dropped the dinghy off and promising to pick it up again on Monday afternoon, Hugh and Jean then carried on to the Channel, a ferry, and Antwerp for the weekend. |
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I finally got into the Great Hall at Ally Pally at 12:30pm on Friday only to find a contractors lorry parked on our stand. Our pitch was in a row under the Rose Window and shared with the Graduate, Snipe, Gull and British Moth classes. |
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Steve Leeding, the ST Sailing Sec, arrived at 2:30pm. The lorry was moved by the stewards, and we set about building up the SigneT display. Steve had some really good display boards, a VDU display unit and the laptop to run the PowerPoint based slide show. |
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We were a bit worried about rigging ST915. She was so new that apart from some basic fittings (i.e. shroud & stem head plates and genoa sheet sliding blocks) everything else had to be gleaned from elsewhere. She ended up with ST369's spars & standing rigging and ST858's sails. We were far from sure it was all going to fit, but fit it did and she looked great. |
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Probably the dinghy's best feature was the finish. The hull had been sheathed in epoxy, two coats inside and three outside. This had been rolled on, rubbed down and the inside and decks given five coats of varnish. The outer hull, as already mentioned, was painted in Marlin Blue. It looked like it had been sprayed on but Hugh assured me it was vertically hand painted. We finally got away at 5:30pm, straight out into the North Circular traffic. Oh frabduous joy! |
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Saturday was hectic! I've never seen so many people at the show. Many thanks to Steve & Johnathan Leeding, Frank and Joyce Cowern and Roy Melsom for all their help on the stand. We were all kept pretty busy. Despite protestations to the contrary Joyce came over 'all unnecessary' when Ben Ainsley wandered onto the stand and signed the Associations visitors book. |
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The stand seemed to have people on it most of the time including many friends who stopped by to admire the new Fyne Boat Kits dinghy. Several trade photographers also thought it worth a few exposures and flashed away to their hearts content. |
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Sunday was marginally less hectic but still very busy. Many thanks to Madeline & Keith Hatton, Jenny & Patrick Overs and Richard Cannon for all their help especially with packing up at the end. If you've never experienced an end of show 'tear down' I can't explain it to you. I can say however that it pays to have a really good team with you, and I had the best. Thanks guy's. |
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It would be most remiss of me not to thank Paul and Hugh Stanistreet, the co owners of Fyne Boat Kits, for the loan of ST915. The guys worked hard to get the boat ready and judging by the speed with which their handouts vanished off the show stand many people were very interested in Fyne's kits. And intrigued by their 'assisted build' option (i.e. build your SigneT in Fyne's spacious boathouse at Bowness and if you get in a pickle, or just need a second opinion, Paul or Hugh will sort you out). |
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I do feel however you might have a little difficulty convincing the wife that a week or two in a boathouse in Cumbria was preferable, in comparison with say, The Bahamas, The Maldives or even Bali ! |
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Me, I settled for a 'half-way house'. Hugh's currently re-decking Over Easy for me and Lyn's not even having to brush the sawdust of her shoes. Retail therapy in Windermere, Ambleside and Hawkshead apparently was far preferable and ensured she never had to get a whiff of marine ply or epoxy resin. Strange creatures women, why wouldn't they want to spend some time in a great boathouse with all it's atmosphere and smells!!! |
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Mike (Over Easy) Baker |