Taking up my position

Wednesday 14 – Thursday 15 September

This was never going to be easy, and in the end Skipper was persuaded to enlist the help of several strong men to help guide me into a very narrow berth at the Southampton Boat Show.  We’re all packed in like sardines so the visiting public doesn’t have too far to travel between boats, but it makes manoeuvring tricky.  At least once we’re in and tied up, we don’t go anywhere until the end of the show.

Now it was time for my cosmetic overhaul, and the crew spent the next two days washing, scrubbing, cleaning, polishing, buffing, waxing and oiling me inside and out until I shone, almost like new instead of the two-year-old I now am.  Friendly security guards kept my crew entertained as they worked, commenting that I must be an owner’s boat, as nobody else would be seen cleaning decks with a toothbrush.  Mate sewed me into a smart new leather wheel cover, until it was too dark to see where the needle was going.