August 24, 2012September 11, 2021 by Erica

The Boat Show

The Boat Show – Inside Local Knowledge

The Boat Show in question is the Southampton Boat Show. The Boat Show is an annual event hosted by the vibrant port of Southampton in Hampshire, UK. I live just 10 minutes from this wonderful city and would like to impart my local knowledge to the readers regarding the boat show, how to get to the Boat Show, where to stay, where to eat and the best places to park.

The Boat Show – Dates:

2021: 10 – 19 September 10:00 – 18:30

The Boat Show – Venue:

The Boat Show incorporates 3 main areas, Mayflower Park, Herbert Walker Avenue, and West Quay Road. Stairs and raised walkways carry visitors over the two roads and to each area of the Boat Show. There is disabled access to each area if the stairs cannot be used.

Entrance to the show can be found in front of The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex. For mapping purposes use – SO15 1AJ this is the show entrance, but you cannot park here. See below for details on where to park.

How to Get to the Boat Show

Train

Southampton Central is the nearest mainline railway station to the Boat Show. It is approximately 1 mile from the station to the Boat Show, but it is an easy, flat walk through shopping areas. Alternatively, there are usually plenty of taxis waiting outside the station if you would prefer not to walk.

Trains from Waterloo, Portsmouth and Weymouth have direct lines through to Southampton Central. If you are travelling from the West you can change at Salisbury and any Northern routes can change at London Waterloo, Basingstoke or Reading. When leaving the station leave by the South entrance and turn left towards the pedestrian crossing just after the footbridge. Cross over and follow the path ahead which runs up the side of ToysRus. Head across the car park towards Furniture Village and then walk around FV to the left towards JD Sport and Decathlon. Walk around to the left of Decathlon and then follow the path ahead, past the car park entrance, until you see the entrance of the show.

Park and Ride

There no longer seems to be a park and ride scheme in operation for the boat show.

Coach

There is a National Express Coach Station between 1/2 and 3/4 of a mile from the Boat Show entrance. The station address is National Express, Harbour Parade, Southampton, SO51. See the map below for the location of the coach station.

Car

Southampton is easily accessible from both the M3 and M27. The AA is very good at providing signage for the show and indeed their yellow signs are in place weeks before the event, so I won’t give you alternative directions for travel into the city, just head for junction 3 of the M27.

Parking

There are approximately 10,000 car parking spaces in Southampton but with approximately 100,000 visitors coming into the city to attend the Boat Show over the 10 days, some inside knowledge would be helpful. If you can, try and park in one of the city council car parks. Their prices are reasonable and they will not be increased during the duration of the show, unlike some of the privately-owned car parks in the city. All the city council car parks are open for 24-hour stays and most charges apply from Monday to Saturday 08:30 – 17:30 and Sundays 12noon to 17:30, however, there are some exceptions so please check.

The city council car parks nearest to the Boat Show are:

The Quays South; Albion Place; Castle Way; Bargate Stree; Harbour Parade; The Quays North.

Southampton City Council has details of other city council car parks.

West Quay Shopping Centre car park is very close to the entrance and in my view is the best. This is privately owned but doesn’t raise its prices and I’ve parked here a few times. Currently, they are offering all-day parking for just £5. It is, however, the main car park for the shops in the West Quay Shopping Centre so it can get very busy.

AVOID the NCP car parks, they have been known to raise their prices just for the 10 days of the Boat Show.

Parkopedia have a very good website detailing all the car parks and their charges.

Places to Stay

Living so close to Southampton I have not needed to stay overnight for the Boat Show. However, along the West Quay Road in Southampton, just along from the Boat Show there are a great many hotels. The best of all is the Devere Grand Harbour Hotel. Within crawling distance of the Boat Show, this is the place to stay if you have money to burn! Within a stone’s throw of the Boat Show, there is the Holiday Inn, and opposite the entrance a Premier Inn and a new Moxy hotel. Further along West Quay Road, there are numerous cheaper hotels such as Novotel, Etap and Ibis. I know all the hotels near to the Boat Show get booked up very quickly so you need to book well in advance and you may see a price hike too. You could consider staying a little out of Southampton in one of the surrounding towns. Romsey is a lovely market town with Broadlands Estate, home to Lord Mountbatten. There are a few hostelries in the town namely The White Horse in the centre, and The Dairy, or The Mortimer Arms Inn a little further out.

Places to Eat

There are plenty of food outlets inside the Boat Show, and if you are planning to spend all day at the show then this will be your easiest option. The organisers of the Boat Show, in their infinite wisdom, do not allow re-entry to the show. Once you have left they did not allow to come back in. The vast majority of the food outlet can be a little pricey but do try and find the Mayflower Park Kiosk. This is a small cafe that usually serves the visitors to the park, but when the Boat Show comes to town the cafe is swallowed up inside the showground. However, their prices remain reasonable and they do a roaring trade during the duration of the show. There is a small playground for young children too. The cafe can be found over in the furthest section of the showground. When you come down the last set of stairs and onto the tarmac turn left and head between the Beneteau and Jeanneau stands towards the food outlet area, walk just a little further on and you will see the cafe tucked away on the left next to the playground.

The Boat Show is very close (2 minutes walk) to the West Quay Shopping Centre in Southampton, 90 stores over 3 floors and a food terrace on the 3rd floor. There is the new West Quay complex right next to the show with restaurants and a cinema. So before or after visiting the show, you will have plenty of restaurants to pick from. West Quay is also near to the old city shops, so there is a wealth of eateries. A cheap option would be the Ikea Restaurant. You can’t miss the big blue and yellow building close to the Boat Show, and the restaurant is close to the main entrance so you don’t have to traipse around the store to reach it. They have a fantastic view of Southampton Water and the Cinema! My favourite is the John Lewis Cafe. This is in the West Quay complex on the top floor and has a great view too, at least it did before Ikea popped up! Kuti’s is a pan Asian Thai restaurant located at the Royal Thai Pier (sandwiched between the showground and the Red Funnel ferry terminal). This is a very popular place to eat so booking in advance is recommended. One last place to try would be Ocean Village. A 15-minute walk from the showground. If the weather is good you can sit out here overlooking the marina. Admire the many boats and watch all the watery activities.

I hope you have found this article helpful, please re-post for others to share. Related articles: Southampton Boat Show 2013 – What’s new this year, Southampton Boat Show 2014

Erica

Lovesail.com – Dating and Social Networking for sailing, boating and yachting enthusiasts and crew.

in Events

August 8, 2012September 7, 2021 by Erica

Olympic Sailing 2012 – Weymouth, Dorset

Weymouth 2012 – Venue of the Olympic Sailing Events

As we near the end of the Olympic sailing events in Weymouth, the town can be congratulated for its fantastic organisation. Everything has operated like clockwork and nothing has been too much trouble. The crowds, granted not all from Weymouth, have shown the world what a friendly, welcoming, supportive, tolerant, bunch we are, not to mention our great sporting prowess!

Olympic Sailing Event Still to Go

If you can, do try and get down to the last of the events. Thursday 9th sees the Women’s Elliot 6m semis with the final on Saturday 11th and Friday 10th the Women’s 470 medal race.

Olympic Sailing Results so Far

Medal Count as at 08.08.12

How to Get Down to Weymouth

Weymouth is found on the beautiful Dorset coast, called the Jurassic Coast and a World Heritage Site. Weymouth can be reached by car, an excellent park and ride service is in operation, train or bus.

Featured Image courtesy of CarolineG2011’s Photostream

Lovesail.com is the place to meet other like-minded sailing souls for dating, friendships and crewing opportunities. Join today and find your sailing soul mate from our database of high calibre sailing enthusiasts. Only for single sailors our site has quality sailing enthusiasts for you to meet.

in Events

August 1, 2012September 7, 2021 by Erica

Cruising the Dodecanese Islands

Cruising the Dodecanese Islands One Weeks Sailing on Excellence of Dart a Beneteau 57 Leaving from Rhodes.

Excellence of Dart is a Beneteau 57 which has just taken part in the East Mediterranean Yacht Rally. She is now running a few cruising trips around Greece and Turkey and has some late availability. Be quick though, one week leaving from Rhodes on 4th August 2012 cruising the Dodecanese Islands.

The Dodecanese Islands (literally translated means 12 islands) are a group of 12 larger Greek islands plus around 150 smaller ones. They are located around the South-East corner of the Aegean Sea near to the Turkish coast, and are known as a “Sailor’s Paradise”. The Meltemi, a prevailing wind blows during the summer months and makes for great sailing.

The Excellence of Dart runs many other trips too. There are plenty of opportunities for families and friends, single-sex sailing weeks and mixed group cruises, gentle island hopping and more challenging sailing adventures. You can take a relaxing week of pottering, join a windward adventure or sign up for a leg or more of the rally and sail to places you’ve never even dreamed you’d visit and along the way learn about Middle Eastern cultures and history.

For bookings, further information and to take a look at Excellence of Dart

in Lifestyle

March 1, 2012September 7, 2021 by Erica

A Sailing Artist – Seascapes

It never ceases to amaze me when I realise the talented members that I have on the Lovesail site. Brendan Chandler is one such member. Here is a little piece about this sailing artist and a gallery of his wonderful seascapes.

I began sailing as a boy about 50 years ago in Cork. After a career in The City, I began ocean sailing 12 years ago, and now a sailing artist.

I have always been fascinated by the sea and whilst living on a yacht in the North Atlantic my fascination kept growing. I now have a second career, delivering sailing yachts on ocean passages and spend months each year at sea, studying the sea, waves, their colours shapes and sizes all of which change from minute to minute.

As a Buddhist, I am conscious of and frequently meditate on the impermanence of everything and watching the sea hour after hour is a reminder of impermanence and the source of my obsession with waves and my attempts to capture the changing forms and colour.

The Buddha said ‘Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form’ and when I look at the ocean which combines emptiness and form I am awed by the emptiness of the oceans and have tried to capture this in some of my paintings.

I have never had the good fortune to study painting or art until my obsession led me to approach Jeremy Rugge-Price, a wonderful Suffolk sailing artist, an ex-mariner who is also obsessed by the sea, last year. He seems to have adopted me as a student and we spend hours discussing the sea and waves as he teaches me how to capture the essence of the waves.

My friend, the artist and art teacher Brigett Hill taught me what she considered some of the basics of painting.

The artist Megan Anderson sailed with me from the Azores to the UK this year and we spent many hours observing and discussing the sea, the waves and the colours of sea and sky. After our safe arrival in the UK, despite ‘blowing out’ the mainsail we spent some days in the 15th-century Scottish castle she lives in teaching me the art of ‘glazing’.

Recently I began to paint what I thought would be a series of 4 paintings depicting the same area of sea in each of the seasons. So far I have completed 6 in with seas in green, blue, turquoise, silver, orange. Four of the series are on display here and I have come to realise that each of these could be painted with a variety of skies and with an infinite number of sea states so it seems that I have enough subjects to keep me painting seas for several lifetimes.

I hope you enjoy my efforts.

Many thanks to Brendan for allowing us to reproduce his fantastic work. If you have a talent that you would like to showcase on the blog, them please get in contact with me via the contact page found at the bottom of the Lovesail Homepage.

Erica

in Discover

February 13, 2012September 7, 2021 by Erica

St Valentines Day Offer

St Valentines Day

What better way to celebrate St Valentines Day than with a fabulous membership offer.

Throughout Valentines Day 2012, a Gold membership to the Lovesail site can be bought for the reduced price of £39.95/$59.92ish (exchange rates may fluctuate). A Gold membership offers unlimited access to the site for an unlimited time. All we ask is that you keep your account active by logging on once in every 90 days.

Don’t worry if you have missed this offer, Gold membership can be bought for £44.95/$67.42(ish) and offers great value for money.

Lovesail – Dating and Social Networking

Lovesail is an online dating and social networking site for people that are passionate about sailing. All our members are sailing and boating enthusiasts looking for partners, friends or crew to sail with. So hop aboard today.

It’s free to join, construct a profile and look around. When you upgrade to our Gold Membership you have unlimited access to the whole site, no hidden extras to pay, and for as long as you wish provided you keep your account active.

We have members from all walks of life, from novice to experienced sailors and from all around the globe. If you want to learn how to sail, why not join and make friends with like-minded people? If you are planning a trip, use the site to find crew and get in touch with fellow sailors with local knowledge of your chosen ports and destination. And if you’re looking for that special someone to share your journey with, Lovesail could be where you find them.

Join today! It could open up a whole new world.

www.lovesail.com

in Lifestyle

January 25, 2012October 12, 2021 by Erica

Gypsy Venus – Sailing so far…….

One of the Lovesail members has kindly sent her sailing story so far, please read and enjoy…

Hi Young Salts, sailing enthusiasts

and all of you for whom the Sea is in your blood

~~~~~~~~~

I hope that this blog will find you well and happy, bobbing on the water somewhere, warm and cosy.

It’s been a magical year for me and I hope that the same has been for you. You contributed to my happiness too, since you helped to set me off on my sailing dream. For that I sincerely thank you.

A year ago when my sailing campaign started I had no idea what it might bring. Since then I spent all of my 6 weeks holiday sailing in the UK, Baltics, Nordics and Canaries with the people I met for the first time. They all would be happy to have me back, we stayed friends, I plan to sail with them again.

I sailed more than 1000 nautical miles and had some memorable experiences. From the cosiness of the cockpit I was watching the death approaching fast. AIS was sounding an alarm for 18nm ferry that will be right upon us in 8 minutes. I thought I was going to die.

There were many good moments worth remembering too. I sunbathed everywhere and at every opportunity: in a cockpit, on a pulpit, along the beaches, while walking: dressed, topless or naked. We sipped wine under moonlight in secluded anchorages, walked in baking sunshine to deserted coves, and soaked ourselves in marina pools. I danced, sang and even smoked a cigar and then fell in love with Mr Sea. I am now suffering the consequences of it. I left my soul off the Portuguese coast and it is still rocking somewhere out there. I hope that one of the skippers will rescue her one day.

I was so inspired by my sailing experiences that I enrolled at the Coastal Skipper course in September. I have just passed the theory exam with the Cruising Association. I am thrilled and about to enrol on the practical course in February. I bought good thermal gear and will be sailing this winter – my preferred sailing time.

Not only that, I also asked for additional 5 weeks holiday, giving me 10 weeks in total for sailing trips. I will be over the moon and the whole of the solar system if this were to be approved! As well as looking for sailing opportunities I am now looking for someone who would be happy to assist me / coach me on my path to gaining the Coastal Skipper qualification.

On the personal side – ah there is a lot to tell and even more to hide! None of this is on LinkedIn or Facebook but inside my heart. Few men rocked my boat in the past years, providing entertainment and challenges, enriching my life. I remain happily single, surrounded with many loving friends, truly feeling free, loved, admired, adored, happy and fulfilled from within and besotted with Mr Sea. My heart radiates sunshine at his vast expanse.

My ambition is to become a Naked Skipperess and Temptress of the High Seas – some of the qualification for which I already have! Others I am in a process of acquiring… You wonder which. Having been brought up in Socialism and after “amassing a great wealth” in Capitalism I feel the time is ripe to shed it all off and to go for a different approach. It might take me some time ….

My sailing campaign continues in earnest. A little Contessa 32 is happily rocking somewhere, waiting for me.

Sending you many salty regards with my sincerest best wishes for A Happy New Year!

Hope you will stay in touch even after this rather open write up. Don’t get alarmed – my life happened in between those lines. Feel free to ask about my 2011 Year’s Highlights:

February encounter with Mr Sea
Cried in happiness with Adonis
Portuguese horizon
Stripy dress for BBC Waterways
Medieval Wells-next-the-Sea
In bed with Julian
Steam engines and vintage car ride
GEM vertical and horizontal thinking
Racing in Plymouth Sounds
Paper games with Jason
Alicia on Swedish rocks
Room with a 360 sea-view
Birthday jazz
Night-watch with oil-rigs
VW dress for Sue’s wedding
Fishy Skipper’s soul
Watch death approaching by ferry
Surreal deck cigar with wind farms
Sailing into Gothenburg sunshine
Under a blanket of Swedish stars
Heads shower & hairy sensuality
Copenhagen bus ride to jazz night
Kalmar deadly grass bugs
Coastal cycle rides
Baltic rock & roll
Pulpit sunbathing
United with friends under olive trees
The Tower’s cold black marble
Lobos moonscape & moonlight
Scared to death by black Mini
Mothers embrace and love
Tantric love in tears
Holiday Romance

PS: On a professional side – With my usual enthusiasm and tenacity I found a position within a new division that was formed last year. I spent a year grappling with complexities of many global Client and Portfolio systems trying to make some sense of it all. It’s been a hell of a ride but one that I enjoyed much. Most of my colleagues by now have dropped off, while I am left to spell out global client data approach and then to work on its deliverables. What a bliss, I hope that I (and the financial world) will survive it! This is where I find myself: mastering client data and evangelically sticking with MDM mantra. I found my professional calling again, or so it seems.

Gypsy Venus

One Hull Good Three Hulls Better

A Summer Sailing Trip by Roger Dee

in Discover

December 26, 2011October 30, 2024 by Erica

Photo Competition Winner

Congratulations to Caribejohn who has won the Lovesail Photo Competition with this picture of Lucy his dog. He wins a year’s gold membership to the site.

Please keep checking the blog, twitter or our Facebook page for details of our next competition when we will be giving away another Gold membership.

Lovesail is an online dating and social networking site for single sailing enthusiasts. Our friendly sailing community meet up with other solo sailors for dating and friendships. Our members are from all walks of life and located around the world. They range from professional to novice sailors, but they all have one thing in common, a passion for sailing.

Fed up with sailing solo or single-handed? Exasperated with meeting matches that refuse to step onboard a boat? Then join our friendly community and connect with sailing women and men who are ready for their next sailing adventure. Some of our members are liveaboards, some are weekend sailors. Whatever you are looking for you could find it on Lovesail. It’s quick and easy to join and once you have been approved as a genuine sailing enthusiast then you can build a profile and add sailing pictures to your profile. So join in the fun today.

in Events

December 13, 2011September 7, 2021 by Erica

Photo Competition

Thank’s to those of you that have sent in your sailing pet pictures for the Lovesail photo competition. The prize for the best photo is a years gold membership to the site. Below is the gallery of entrants:

Fantastic entrants for the photo competition I think you will agree.

Not familiar with Lovesail? We have been established since 2004 and are the original dating and social networking site for single saling enthusiasts. We have a database full of single sailing women and men waiting to meet up for sailing and dating, friendships and crewing opportunities around the world. Our members are for all different walks of life with a variety of sailing experience. Join our friendly sailing community now. It’s quick and easy to sign up, and once you have been approved (we only let genuine sailors onboard) then you have access to the whole database. Look around and when you are ready to chat just subscribe to one our many memberships. We even have a lifetime membership, unheard of in the world of dating. The lifetime membership is our most popular and allows you to take your time searching for your sailing match. So whether you are looking for a cruising companion, a liveaboard lover or a weekend wanderer, find them on Lovesail today.

in Events

November 29, 2011September 7, 2021 by Erica

Day 9 – Gybing

Gybing

Day 9 – Gybing already!

Hi everyone,

Beautiful morning spent lazing around. This afternoon it was a bit cloudy and we took the pole down to check for wear and tear and then gybed. This evening the wind has picked up and we are up to 20 plus knots.

We have participated in the SSB net, which allows us to share experiences and wind tactics. (Nigel the net controller is a bit of a legend on Casamara!) Our SSB appeared to work well today as we have problems with the net hearing us.

We have seen no other yachts, just sea and more sea. We have finished our first twenty litre wine box and on to the next. We expect to be half way tomorrow lunch time (GMT)

I am just about to go on watch and it is very dark. The moon hardly appears and sets very early. SP

Food wise, it’s been fish and more fish just recently! As soon as Tim, our resident comic (and believe me he is funny) puts his line in the water, he comes up with something! We have attached a photo (above left) of his most recent conquest, although he is not one of the two in the shot, out of sheer modesty! It is in fact our charismatic skipper Simon and technical wizard Iain.

The Dorado was filleted and in the pan within minutes despite the gybing. It was done with a little butter and herbs with the skin on, it doesn’t require de-scaling and the skin is in fact one of the tastiest bits.

We are all feeling replete and pretty healthy. Supper tonight was Tortellini pasta with chorizo sausage and pesto sauce, a favorite of Paul’s, along with a little white wine!

Tomorrow is my preferred watch day, it gives me 6 daylight hours off, so I will have time to bake a cake and make some soup. I have my beautiful wife to thank for the cake recipe I plan to do tomorrow, as she regularly does the cakes in our house and having regaled the boys about how good they are, they are all now eager to see if I too can pull it off!

We are approaching half way and the food stocks are holding up very well indeed. We will have no problems at all with the fresh food diet we have planned for ourselves during the crossing, thanks to the vacuum packing and rotation of stock with the fridge/freezer, it all seems to be working nicely to plan.

I will talk a little more over the next few days about the integrated system my business partner Ralph originally came up with for the yacht’s galley, which started our company GN Espace five years ago. It truly does revolutionise the way you can cater and cook whilst afloat and if interested in good food and especially safety in the galley, it is a must in my opinion for any off shore experience! JK

I have just one question….when SP says they expect to be half way by lunchtime, does this refer to the voyage or second winebox?!

Image: Crescent Moon courtesy of El coleccionista de instantes Photostream

in Events

October 18, 2011September 7, 2021 by Erica

Love in the Middle of the Ocean

A story about love

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many Guest Blog Spots for the Lovesail Blog. This week we have truly romantic tale “Love in the Middle of the Ocean” about a serendipitous voyage from one of our Lovesail members Tor: