Shrunken Southampton

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Glorfindel

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25 Jun 2007
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Anyone else noticed that Southampton seemed to have imbibed of Lewis Carrol's 'Drink Me' and suddenly become very much smaller. Halls and pontoons. All the nice little 'Thamesable' 30 footers and similar seemed to have vanished as well as a considerable amount of very well known names: Broom, Haines, Trader, Hardy, Linssen & etc.
Still a nice day out but Princess's 50th excepted seemed very low key.
 
I really enjoyed it there on Sunday. Broom were there, I went on one. Val Wyatt were showing their river boats, as were Viking. Sheerline were there, and Haines and Westwood. Linssen had a boat there which was a charter boat from Hobbs of Henley and I definitely saw a Trader. All out on the water.
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Seemed small from up here but still took all day to see most of it.
 
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It seemed to occupy as much space on the ground as in previous years. The exhibitor profile is inevitably going to change over time to reflect changes in the market.
 
Whilst I felt there was some spare floor space in places, the brands you mention were all there. Tingdene were definitely there with Broom and Viking. Perhaps you missed a pontoon as the Broom, Sheerline, Haines etc were all together along with Val Wyatt. Viking were off around the corner pontoon along with the large dutch style barge.

Also I believe both Tingdene (at Thames and Kennet) and Val Wyatt are bringing their show boats back to the Thames in the two weeks following the show for some sort of mini "see the boats on the Thames" trials/open days for prospective customers and people who missed out at Southampton (Its only a belief, I would contact the respective marinas for details)
 
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What possessed the RYA to move the members lounge from the main showground to one of the secondary sites? We could not face walking back and ended up making do with an overpriced burger.
 
maby said:
What possessed the RYA to move the members lounge from the main showground to one of the secondary sites? We could not face walking back and ended up making do with an overpriced burger.
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Understand your comment but I preferred it this way. The facilities were better and it gave an opportunity to relax away from the crowds before heading home.
 
Talulah said:
Understand your comment but I preferred it this way. The facilities were better and it gave an opportunity to relax away from the crowds before heading home.
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Being forced to enter via the smaller sites and then to cross two bridges to get into the main site was bad enough - we certainly were not going to do it all over again in the opposite direction to get a meal!
 
Richard Shead said:
Plenty of very good places to eat on site. The RYA lounge has never offered anything other than a seat (sometimes)
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Sorry - I don't agree - the RYA lounge was never cordon bleu, but it is head and shoulders above most of the very mediocre and overpriced places selling fast food.
 
I went last Monday; weather not good but I had an engine and a folding prop to buy. I hadn't been since the early 90's, preferring LIBS, but can see SIBS is now much better.
 
Richard Shead said:
Erm it's all run by the same catering firm ....
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That may be the case at the organisational level, but it doesn't alter the fact that the RYA lounge has always been the only place offering a proper meal in an environment where you can sit and relax. Putting it outside the main area didn't make sense. For that matter, the decision to make the only entrance in one of the satellite sites and force us all to climb two flights of stairs to reach the main area could easily convince us to stay away next year.
 
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