More years ago than I care to admit, my flatmates and I discovered sailing.  Being young and impoverished we shared the cost of charter holidays in the West Country, happily ignorant of the fact that a seven berth yacht is not really designed for seven people. We chartered out of season when prices were low, for reasons we discovered by degrees and which failed to dampen our enthusiasm in spite of leaky borrowed oilskins.

Novice sailors…… yes, that is me with the silly hat on.  Skipper John Watts thought the pipe would make him look more properly salty.

After surviving a few gale-blighted holidays we considered ourselves proper sailors and visited the London Boat Show each year to choose our charter yacht for the holiday to come. The game was to march up to a boat we liked the look of and pretend to be buyers, which fooled the bored salesmen not a bit but gave us immense pleasure. One year we looked over a bilge keel Moody 33 and decided that would be our boat of choice for the next holiday – a choice that backfired when taking the ground against the harbour wall in St Mary’s, Scilly Isles. The boat show model may have been twin keeled, but our charter boat was fin, a difference we discovered when the tide went out and the boat fell over.

Thirty years on and the London Boat Show continues, now in the echoing aisles of Excel, a shadow of the former bustle of Earls Court where the packed chandlery section resembled a Moroccan souk with wellies.  I don’t think you can blame the economy for the decline – sailors still sail, recession or no, especially at the cheap and muddy end of the boating business. I think the internet is partly to blame for the decline, as you no longer have to go in person to a show to buy your discount deckies and the latest gadget for picking up a tricky mooring. You can now do all that online, along with chatting to other like minded souls about whether the latest Mudhopper really can be towed behind a Fiat Panda and whether a Moody 33 sometimes has a fin keel instead of twin.

My son James and I visited the show on its opening day last week.  The main bustle was around the bookshops like the wonderful Kelvin Hughes, where it’s always good to catch up with salty authors Sam Llewellyn and Tom Cunliffe amongst others, and of course there was also a bit of a party going on amongst the wooden varnished boats on the Classic Boat stand.

I did spend money – not on cheap deck shoes or a nifty boat hook, but on a giant blue bean bag.  Not an item to be found on many, or indeed any, boats, but just the job for James’ chair-less room at university.  There was no difficulty carrying it to the hotel, which was across the road from Excel (yes, we really did get a cheap laterooms booking just before coming down – another sign of the times).  The problem began when both of us, along with bean bag, tried to get into the small hotel lift. The lift doors were closing as I shoved and James pulled, but we made it in the end.  I seem to remember that one year ‘The Big Blue’ was the theme for the show, but I don’t think it was bean bags the organisers had in mind!

The beanbag was from www.bigboy.com by the way – very comfortable it is too!

It’s boat show time again; we’re here in Southampton for ten days of mixing business with pleasure, trying to sell stuff, meeting up with old friends and finding out what’s going on in the sailing world.  So this post  is a few snapshots that for me sum up what the show is about – not the media perception of ‘yachting’ with its monolithic white superyachts, but interesting people, unusual boats and worthwhile projects.

The first sight to greet you as you walk through the doors is, reassuringly, a small wooden gaff cutter, on show from a traditional boatyard in the Orkneys.

It’s in good company; a delightful selection of small boats and their builders remind us that the smaller the boat, the bigger the fun (and the less the expense!).

Here’s Roger Wilkinson who builds the beautiful Kittiwake Boats (http://www.kittiwakeboats.co.uk/).  There’s  not much Roger doesn’t know about having maximum fun on the water in small boats.  Ask his dog.

Then there’s Swallow Boats from West Wales, run by Nick and Matt Newland, who know how to combine traditional looks with modern technology for a very distinctive look.

Now let’s move indoors to the wonderful nautical bookseller Kelvin Hughes who sell every salty book you could possibly think of (including all of mine), and many you never thought existed.  Their staff are lovely, knowledgeable people who know exactly how much gin and tonic an author needs during a book signing session.  Here’s Sam Llewellyn, thriller writer, yachting columnist and editor of the illustrious marine quarterly… (www.samllewellyn.com)

Rachel and Paul Chandler hit the headlines when they were kidnapped by Somali pirates and held for over a year.  Now grateful to be home again with their boat returned, they were signing copies of their book ‘Hostage’, and fascinating to chat to.

On the trail of interesting people, quadriplegic yachtsman and all round get-things-done chap Geoff Holt has come up with a practical and fast powerboat for wheelchair users….

The boat is called ‘Wetwheels’ and you can find out more on Geoff’s website http://geoffholt.com/2011/05/project-wetwheels/

And finally…. because it’s been a long day today with another long day tomorrow….  the lovely Brixham trawler ‘Leader’ was at the show at the weekend.

The last time I was on board ‘Leader’ was in the Western Isles, umpteen years ago, starry eyed and more than a little drunk on whiskey.  These days ‘Leader’ is doing a fantastic job taking disadvantaged children sailing, and needs all the support she can get.  You don’t have to be a hoodie to have a go – she hosts charter parties for grown ups to.  Find out more on http://www.trinitysailingtrust.org/.

Who stole August?  I’ve done so well posting at least a blog a month, and somehow this year it was July one minute and September the next.  Various domestic dramas and setbacks have intervened this summer, it’s true, but with each year that passes why do the days go faster with more stuff in them?

‘Nuff whingeing – the unwritten rule of blogs is that they be the shiny tip of the iceberg of life.  There was more to August than gloom and ironing (no, I’m not houseproud, but most of our lovely holiday guests were only with us for a day or two).  August bank holiday found me joyfully abandoning an Everest of ironing and heading north to Holyhead Festival of Traditional Sail, a delightful and sociable event full of unusual boats, interesting people, pirates and hussars, knot tyers and kippers.   There may also have been a glass or two of wine.  I was there for several reasons – firstly as a roving reporter for Classic Boat magazine (so you’ll be able to read a full report in December’s issue, all being well).  Secondly, I was selling my books and bits in Trinity Court alongside the other marine craftsmen and last but not least, I was there to catch up with old friends, make new ones and be around my favourite things, boats.

If you want to know anything at all about ropes and knots, Des Pawson MBE is your man.  He spent a busy weekend introducing children to the simple but ingenious ropewalk, so they all had a piece of rope to take home that they’d made themselves.  Des and Liz’s website is http://www.despawson.com/ if you’re interested in all things knotty.

It’s good to see youngsters included in the festival in so many ways.  Pupils from the local primary school who entered a poster competition were invited on board brigantine Zebu and were slightly bemused to receive their prizes from a well known pirate…..

You can see Blackbeard was fascinated by me blathering on about marine conservation as I presented a copy of Go Green to the school headmistress for their library.

Finally, here’s the lovely Scott Metcalfe, shipwright and artist, on his even lovelier schooner Vilma.  Scott is delighted that I’m featuring Vilma in one of my children’s adventure stories, and already has visions of his boat being chartered for the feature film.  Move over, Pirates of the Caribbean…… such faith, Scott. Given that the book is still a mad jumble of scribbled notes and false starts in a large folder called Treasure Island, he might have to wait some time.

Moving rapidly on…….. from old boats to new.  September is all about Southampton Boat Show, which is why we’re now drowning in boxes of stuff and lists of things to do, as well as laundry.  One thing on my list was ‘update blog’ – oh good, nearly done, but not quite.  Next on the list is ‘plan Children’s Log Book Launch’…..

Children’s Log Book Launch

The original Log Book for Children finally sold out earlier this year, so we decided to give it a thorough refit as well as a reprint. In consultation with the Cruising Department of the RYA, we’ve tweaked a few things and added more pages.  Better still, we now know a lot more about publishing than we did in 2004, so we’ve been able to get the price down a bit by doing the binding ourselves.  It means that Perry is spending this week in the workshop listening to Radio 2 and drinking rather a lot of coffee with a binding machine that squeaks every time you pull the handle, but the pile of books is growing.

If you’re at Southampton Boat Show on the first Saturday, 17th September at 3pm, come along to Starfish Books stand J040 in Mayflower Hall (opposite Kelvin Hughes) where we’ll be popping a cork or two to launch the new edition.  Any excuse!

Authors Live

Here’s another thing on my list – I’m booked to do a 20 minute slot on the stage at the boat show as part of the Authors Live event. This is on Tuesday 20th at 3.15, so come along and be rent-a-mob if you need a sit down inbetween buying deck shoes and widgets.  I’ve promised to be entertaining and talk about my books, and my family have promised to unplug the mike if I try and sing any sea shanties.  Not sure what I’m going to say yet, but will make sure there are plenty of cartoon images on the screen in case of boredom.  Nothing like a informed lecture from a sailing expert, is there?  Nothing like, indeed!  If you want to see the full programme of events, have a look at http://goo.gl/wlwqU .

I can tell when I’ve lost my grip on life when I look in the fridge and find it full of things that are no longer fit to eat.  You know the kind of thing – lots of helpful plastic pots with leftovers in, well intentioned but now growing an interesting variety of mould.  (Why are there always two spoonfuls of gravy left after sausage and mash?  And why do we carefully keep it and put it in the fridge?)  Then, moving down to the bottom shelf, an assortment of salads and greens, turning brown or reduced to a puddle in their plastic bag.  When the fridge is in this state, it takes more courage than mine to open the salad drawer, which is full of strange shapes that may once have been green peppers.

It’s shameful, I know, to be wasting food at all and most of the time it’s not that chaotic.  But there are so many more interesting things to do in life than clear out the fridge – like attending a watercolour workshop on tuesday with Elizabeth Haines, who has an inspirational studio in the Preseli hills and a profound understanding of how art works (http://www.elizabethhaines.co.uk/). She is particularly good at getting students to try new ways of working, experiment and see where the painting wants to go.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable day, playing with paint in ways that I don’t often let myself do at home when I’m focussing on drawing or painting whatever pays the bills.

It’s good to take the pressure off sometimes and lay paint on the page without any pre-thought about how it’s going to end up.  It’s very freeing, and nothing you do is ever wasted; everything experimental feeds the creative furnace which is often in danger of spluttering to a halt.

I often tell my students that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.  Sometimes it’s good to take my own advice!

So what else has conspired to turn my fridge into bacteria heaven?  We’ve also been exhibiting at Beale Park Boat Show, an annual event in Pangbourne, on a lake by the river Thames.  It’s a small, friendly show, a celebration of the quirky and enthusiastic small boat scene with a refreshing absence of flashiness, big budget boats and pretentiousness. You’ll find everything from the home made and unlikely (a paddle wheel canoe, for example) to highly polished and professional boatbuilders like Henwood and Dean (http://www.henwoodanddean.co.uk/#).  The first two days were great; the third rained and rained, and then rained some more.  We all packed up early; it’s slightly surreal struggling to dismantle a sodden marquee in the driving rain while a steel band plays ‘Island in the Sun’ at high volume and with no trace of irony.

Beale Park Boat Show is over for another year, but life is still a bit hectic – I’m off to Greece on friday to spend a week falling in the water. It’s work, honest. I was expecting the call at some stage, as I’ve been asked to write RYA Go Windsurfing and having made my feelings on the subject of falling into chilly UK water very plain, Neilson holidays have stepped in and are sending me to one of their beach activity centres to go through the beginner’s syllabus and find out everything I need to know to write the book. Given that my last research trip was three days in the rain on a canal in the Midlands, perhaps my career is looking up after all!

Do you think I’d better clean the fridge before I go?

I meant to say, before I too hastily posted the last blog post, that Beaulieu boat jumble was about more than ’stuff’, it was about people too.  I was introduced to Giacomo de Stefano, a quietly spoken Italian with a small boat and a mission to sail and row across Europe to the Black Sea.  His passion, and his message, is care for the water and the world we live on and I’m sure he’ll attract support and friendship along the way.  Sometimes it’s the quietest people who do the most extraordinary things, which is rather refreshing in a world where hype is all.  Here’s the link to Giacomo’s website, anyway, make of it what you will!  http://www.manontheriver.com/

His boat is called ‘Clodia’ by the way – a good name, say I.  Shame about the spelling!

It’s that time of year again.  Not for the garden, which in our household is ignored for a year and then in a fit of guilt attacked with a chain saw. For those  of us addicted to all things nautical, spring is boat jumble season.

Anyone who thinks that sailing is posh should be forced to attend Beaulieu Boat Jumble at opening time. It’s a stampede of several thousand bargain hunters, some armed with wheelbarrows, and all prepared to haggle to the death over a pile of rusty shackles and a coil of manky rope.  Forget cocktails on the poop deck and matching wellies;  this is what sailing is really all about.

Five minutes to go……

A few essential bargains……..

Boat jumbles are gloriously immune to the vagaries of world economics and technological advances. There are always rusty shackles, ancient electronics and mis-shapen fenders along with oversized nav lights and tatty mirror dinghies. And of course the ships’ wheels, destined for theme pub walls.

Trade stands are part of the mix at Beaulieu, as long as you’ve got some bargains on offer, so we had a good day selling reasonable amounts of  ’stuff’.  It was quite a good day for selling books and as ever it was a delight to meet the youngsters who read my books and sign copies for them.  We managed to spend slightly less than we earned….. well, it was a bargain!  A few boat bits and some cheap deckies were sensible purchases, but I was also on the lookout for interesting things to turn into art.

Yachting columnist Dave Selby has a great article in the current issue of Practical Boat Owner – here’s the cartoon I did to go with it:

“A tenner?  But I sold it to you for a fiver!”

The next task is to apply all our bargain tins of varnish and packs of economy sandpaper to the essential and neglected parts of the boat….. glamorous stuff, yachting!

Now I feel silly. Burbling on in my last blog post about how much I was looking forward to some fizz at my book launch and actually there wasn’t any. Steen (RYA publishing whizz) must have seen the look on my face when he said there would be no bubbly, as he very reasonably pointed out that the event would be on stage and it would be rather difficult to provide drinks for the entire audience.  Fair enough, as it meant that ’Go Green’ was indeed launched at the weekend to a large audience at the Dinghy Show with a the help of TV wildlife guru Chris Packham and sailing superstar Mike Golding, along with several children and some cardboard boxes. It was fantastic that Chris took time out from his schedule to add his support and talk about the importance of marine conservation for us all.

On stage (right to left): Chris Packham, Mike Golding (hidden behind presenter Tracy Clarke), young volunteers from the audience, Dr Susie Thomson (environmental expert and consulting editor).   And me.

If you’re wondering what the cardboard boxes were for, the youngsters had to pick out items of rubbish from a large box and try to sort them according to how long they take to biodegrade.  Most of the plastics, sadly, take around 500 years.  Since writing the book I’ve become so much more aware of how much plastic and packaging fills our world and chokes the life out of the seas.  I’m the one in the supermarket with loose apples and vegetables rolling around and causing havoc at the checkout, wondering why checkout assistants always say ‘Are you sure?’ when you say ‘No bags, please’.  Of course I’m sure! Otherwise I wouldn’t have said it.  I’m already feeling guilty at the checkout for buying blueberries which I adore and keep the winter bugs away, but can only be bought in non-recyclable plastic punnets. One day I’ll behave really badly and pounce on the next shopper I see stuffing a bunch of bananas in a plastic bag.  ”Look, you muppet, they’re already wrapped in a skin.  They don’t need any more packaging!”

But don’t worry, it’s not a preachy sort of book.  And all the jokes are fully recycled….

While I’m getting in practice for being a grumpy old woman (though according to Perry I already am), here’s a grump of the day.  There’s a new scheme for the over 50’s which is a special helpline to ring in the event of a power cut.  Eh?  Over 50?  Since when has 50 become the age that you suddenly need helpful little leaflets for the elderly?  A different government department to the one that says you’re only half way through your working life at 50 and don’t need a pension for… ooh, ages yet, if at all.  Anyone who thinks I’m a little old lady will get a smack in the mouth and a reminder that, actually, I was a late starter.  Having spent most of my twenties and thirties living in damp bedsits or leaky boats, or drifting around being spiritual, I didn’t get round to the family phase of life until much later.  So it was in my late forties that I started thinking about a sort of career, which is why at the splendid age of umpty-umph I’m just getting into my stride.  I’ll have your leaflets for the elderly when I’m ninety and not a day earlier.  With a bit of luck I might have retired by then!

Don’t you just hate blogs that grumble?  Mm, so do I.  Better stop now.  See what happens when I’m deprived of fizzy wine for too long?

I wonder how and when fizzy wine became associated with celebration.  I always have a bottle in the fridge, just in case (Tesco’s Cava, special offer), and if nothing exciting happens during the year, it gets poured at Christmas breakfast.  But launch parties are the best.  Boats or books, a new one is always worth celebrating.

Whether books or boats, the anticipation of the launch keeps you going during the long hard months of writing and planning, or, in the case of boats, sanding, scraping and varnishing.  But the reality is not always the crowning jewel of achievement that you imagine.  When we finally launched our wooden cutter ‘Torhilda’ after rescuing her from the chainsaw and spending six years and all our savings on a keel-up rebuild, we were exhausted, broke and it rained all day. We didn’t exactly sail off into the sunset; for a start it took another five months to get the mast and spars sorted, but it was still a milestone and the fizz tasted good.  I think we all need to mark our achievements in some way, even if just to prove to ourselves and our friends that we really can see a project through.

January 2004, Maldon town quay.  Looking stressed because the crane was just about to pick ‘Torhilda’ up…

Eight tons of boat safely landed.  Do you think we had enough fenders out??

My first book launch was a huge buzz.  Being a niche market has its advantages – small fish, small pond, which means plenty of friendly faces and hopefully no sharks.  ’Go Sailing’ was launched at the 2005 Southampton Boat Show in style; local tv and radio, the Olympic team, lots of interviews and a queue of face painted children to sign copies for. Cakes, tea shirts, balloons and of course, fizz.  Isn’t it funny how half an hour of sheer pleasure can balance out a year or so of long solitary hours, frustration, struggle, endless editing and redrawing.

I couldn’t find any photos anywhere of the launch of Go Sailing, so this is the follow up, Go Cruising, September 2006.  Tom Cunliffe really is an impossibly tall person and yes, that cake was shaped like a boat.

Not all launches have gone quite to plan.  I’ll gloss over the one where a tv presenter was drafted in to present the book and did such a good job that my presence wasn’t needed at all – I had to elbow through the crowd to get my half glass of fizz.  Or the one at an outdoor event where it rained and all I remember is a lot of mud, a cup of lukewarm pimms and one book signed.

It doesn’t do to be precious about these things; life rarely turns out as expected.  If it did, there would be nothing interesting to blog about!

The reason launches are on my mind is that there’s a bit of a party for ‘Go Green’ next Saturday (5th March) at the Dinghy Show in London.  I know I’ve mentioned it already, but I’m hoping this is going to be one of the more enjoyable ones.  The RYA marketing team are rallying round, fizz  is promised, and at least there’s no mud in Ally Pally.  There will be hordes of over-excited children, cleverly orchestrated by the dulcet tones of presenter Tracy Clarke. Mike Golding, awesome sailor and staunch supporter of the Green Blue, will be on hand too.   There’s a rumour that Chris Packham, tv’s wildlife expert, may well be around during the day too. So if you’re going to the show, come and say hello.

If you had fizz every day, it would stop being special and high points in life are only high because of all the day to day stuff inbetween.  I’ll try and remember that when I’m knee deep in the next book and spend all my blog posts complaining about it!

Children play; adults usually don’t.  At least, not in the same way.  Adults play an instrument, or tennis, but they don’t often ‘play’ like children do, to learn, to find out what happens if….., which is a shame. Children play to learn, not because they don’t have proper jobs or a hundred chores to do before breakfast like grown ups do.  To play is to learn, and learning is a serious business. To learn to paint, you need to play around with the materials, not feel pressurised to come up with a finished painting every time.  To be a writer, you have to play around with words, follow them and see where they take you.

So why don’t we play?  Perhaps as adults we’re expected to be competent, and we don’t like feeling silly.  Playing to learn can look silly, and it doesn’t always lead to perfect results.  We like to get things wrong in a discreet and dignified way.

I decided long ago that if I was afraid of looking silly, I’d never dare do anything at all.    But learning to play with silver is particularly challenging because I’m not used to messing with something that’s so expensive to waste!  I’m making progress, but the cost of silver is inhibiting and I’ve got a pot of failed unfired pieces to chop up and reconstitute if I can.

This was the result of playing with string, silicon, resin and silver clay.  Uncharted territory for me, so the first attempt failed but I was happier with this one.  It’s interesting to work with new materials, learning the craft (how to handle the materials) as well as the art (design elements).

Me, an artist?  Nah, I’m just playing at it!

Only three weeks to go until the Dinghy Show at Alexander Palace – always a nice family show.  There’s a bit of a party on to launch my book on the Saturday afternoon so I hope there’s a bottle or two of fizz involved.  The struggle of working all day every day on ‘Go Green’ seems a long time ago now, but the anticipation of that glass of fizz and a bit of a buzz kept me going when I was struggling with how to draw sea squirts and write about sea defences in a fun, fascinating way.

Hope to see you there!

There’s good timing and there’s bad timing.  Recently back from the ten day marathon that is the Southampton Boat Show, good timing is when you walk onto a stand just as champagne is being popped and all the people you need to meet are there and free to talk. 

Bad timing is when, after a long day at the show and arriving back at our friends’ house in Hamble, we discovered that our hosts were out for the evening and our spare key was safely attached to Perry’s car keys.  Which were on the dressing table.  In the house.  Great.  At least, thanks to the wonders of wifi, we were able to check emails whilst parked outside the house.  But this had to be the night that, after a quiet few weeks on the email front, my inbox unleashed a flurry of messages with last minute edits and queries on my book, currently at the typesetters.  Sitting in a car in the dark is not the ideal place to write the back blurb for the book, remember what cover design we finally agreed on, and suggest a way of getting rid of the blank page after chapter 7.  I did have my working copy of the book with me – but it was in the house, along with the password and log in details for the project management programme that we’re using to communicate between all those involved.

I did the best I could in the circumstances before we gave up and headed off to the pub for some much needed supper.  So if you wonder what the two figures lit only by the glow of a laptop were doing in a Fiat Punto in Hamble last Wednesday night, now you know.   By the time we finished supper, our hosts were home and we were able to go inside and relax, making sure we didn’t forget the keys again.  Of course, for the rest of the week my emails, diligently checked every evening, contained nothing urgent at all.  That’s life.

The boat show gave me the opportunity to have a productive meeting with my bosses at the RYA.  I’ve decided that the two nicest things a publisher can say to an author are:

1.  “We’d like to commission to you write a book about…….”

2.  “We’d like to hear your ideas for the launch party…..”

It’s the nine months slog inbetween these two conversations that are the hard bit.

If my frantic laptop activity in the Fiat Punto succeeded, I’ll have an image of the front cover to post on the blog fairly soon. Meanwhile, here’s me looking zonked at the show.  The wine is purely medicinal.

And the title of this blog?  Apparently Aristotle said it, along with ’excellence is not an act but a habit’.  I can’t think of anything remotely witty or profound to say about it for now, so I’ll quite while I’m ahead.  Time for another glass of something, I think.