A brilliant few days at the Southampton boat show and a new boat

A good afternoon to you all its Motoko here *waves and sips green tea* and it’s my turn to post a blog now I think, as Jenny has been blogging more than I have around here of late. But like always let’s check out the weather for our part of Cumbria!

Well it’s a typical Cumbrian forecast isn’t it as you can see, then again it could be wetter and has been wetter. So then now let’s get to the matter at hand now we have got though the weather forecast, the topic today is our trip to the Southampton Boat Show. The show this year as just as great as other years that we have been going to them, and this year was made even better as it was full family trip.

I, my fantastic wife Jenny, our daughter Amanda and my super little sister Becky all piled into my Jeep and we headed for Southampton. It’s been a long time since I have had a few days away with Becky so that brought us closer together again, even though I work with her and see her a lot. It’s always wonderful to spend time with her outside of work as well, it’s just a shame that my older sister Sarah and her daughter Charlotte couldn’t come down with us to the show as well this year. Another person made the visit to the show even better was seeing Kyoto Wolf again, seeing him once this month when we went to the Morgan factory was amazing, but seeing him at the show as well makes seeing him twice in one month a rare occasion and it was a pleasure to spend the day with him again.

Our plan was to spend the first day checking out the new Beneteau boats which were close the entrance to the show after you go over a few foot bridges. Reason why we wanted to check out the new Beneteau boats first is because we wanted a buy a new one. You see, we have been playing with the idea of getting a new boat for a year and a half now and this year we decide to go ahead and buy one. Our old boat has now been sold and is owned by two very good friends of ours, Sam Mia and her wife Moria. Both of which are keen sailors and I would go as far as to say that they are fantastic sailors, and are part of the sailing team that I and Jenny are in. It’s nice to know that our old boat is with people who will enjoy owning it as much as I and Jenny did.

So then we set about popping in and out of all the new Beneteau’s at their stand and I and Jenny already made a very long list in our note books as to what type and style of Beneteau that we wanted. After spending a lot of time, we at last came to a joint decision that we wanted to go for a smaller boat than our older one. Even though the bigger ones were amazing inside and out, we wanted something that was small, lower cost to run, but every bit as elegant as the bigger ones. We ended up getting a new Beneteau First 30 sailing yacht and my word what a fun, well styled and playful boat she is too, and the moment I, Jenny and Amanda (and even Becky) saw it we fell in love with it.

The Beneteau First 30 sailing yacht is a fat, sleek boat and is very sporty and well styled. It has a tiller to steer the boat rather than a wheel, and has very nice body work and lines to her.

The wood inside is a wonderful colour and has plenty of storage and places to put things.

Has a big cabin at the front and a good sized on in the back. It’s just the right size for my family and has room for about two guests to stay onboard as well, as the guests can sleep in the galley area. Amanda will sleep in the back cabin and I and Jenny shall sleep in the front.

The cabins are very well thought out and both front and back cabins have a lot of storage and room to move about in without having to duck or knock into things. Each has its own little wardrobe and the front cabin has a mini wardrobe either side of the bed, and the back cabin has a single wardrobe in the back by the door. The beds them selves are very comfortable as I tested them out and if I find them comfortable they must be good, as I am a little bit fussy about what I sleep on.

The head is also a nice little room, and is a nice bright white colour with a nice sized sink and a very nice big mirror which is bigger than our own bathroom mirror. It’s a nice sized room, and has plenty of head height and so once again you don’t have to duck or bump into any obstacles. The toilet it’s self is a standard one really but it’s a modern one and so is better to use and to operate than our old boats toilet. It has a funky see though compass in the back wall of the head, although you can’t see though to the desk it lets the let in and casts a really great funky light inside the head, I found that to be really great, which is a little odd but there you go he he.

After a good two hours of talking to the sales man, ticking boxes and picking what we wanted added to the boat as extra we at last got down to the number crunching and the whole package of the boat as standard with the added extras I and Jenny wanted added on came to just under £100.000. Sounds a lot but if we had gone for one of the bigger ones, it would have been a lot more, so it’s not that costly when you think of it like that. Also if we had not picked what extras things we wanted, it would have been a lower cost. But we both wanted to add the extras so the cost went up a lot. Below is a video I filmed of our new boat, isn’t she amazing?!

Second day came of the boat show and this was the day that we had arranged to meet up with Kyoto Wolf, which is why we wanted to get our new boat on the first day so we had the whole of the second day to spend looking at the show properly, and to spend the day looking around with Kyoto Wolf.

He picked by luck the best day to come and visit us as HSM Bulwark arrived and what an entrance, it was a pleasure to watch that majestic ship sail into the boat show.

It’s a shame that we did not get a chance to go on board the boat, but it had only just arrived and was only open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the show. I and my family left the show Thursday evening for home, if we had not had to go home we would have stayed another day at the show and gone onboard the HSM Bulwark.

HMS Bulwark is the new flag ship of the Royal Navy or soon will be and it’s a really great ship, and a big one at that. It’s been kitted out with new gear since it first came into service and has been made fully modern with the newest up to date kit. I took a few pictures for our friend Sam Mia who is an Ex Royal navy Warfare Officer. Kyoto Wolf took a lot more pictures of it than I did as my camera ran out of power soon after I took a few pictures, as I used my camera a lot to film our new boat and take pictures of that.

So head on over to Kyoto Wolfs blog to see more pictures of HMS Bulwark and also a video, as I know Kyoto Wolf is blogging about the show this very minute, I know this as I am talking to him via MSN Messenger!

It’s safe to say that our few days at the boat show was really welcoming and we feel totally relaxed and refreshed, and Jenny’s arm didn’t play up or hurt her at all. But her arm is giving her a little pain now though, but that’s because she was getting in and out of boats the whole time. She is taking it easy today though and is only working Mondays at the moment, so she is being sensible and not over doing it.

That is all about it for the blog this afternoon but We shall blog again real soon, so take care!

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Motoko & Jenny Carterr

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Nothing Like Simply Messing Around In Boats

Hello everyone and tonight its Motoko blogging, just as well as Jenny is fast asleep and her arm is somewhat sore at the moment. Her arm been ok for a while but in the last few days it has been a bit sore and keeping her awake at night. We had a big problem at work and Jenny come on the yard (She is still off work at the moment) to give us a hand and well I think that her working set date back on her arm to heal. But she is a brave strong girl and I am sure she will be better in no time. As always with the blogs that I and Jenny do below is the forecast for our area of Cumbria.

Yes the weather is very Cumbrian indeed and to tell you the honest truth it has been this wet all week here. I spent most of the time at work in either Ocean Waterproofs or 66N waterproofs, which kept me dry and warm though they are not breathable so got a little to warm then had to remove my waterproofs clothing to cool down. Then I had to gear up fast again as the next rain shower showed up.

Tomorrow I, Jenny and our fantastic daughter Amanda are going to spend a few days on mine and Jenny’s Beneteau First 35, which is a fantastic little sailing boat. We have had it for years but the time has come for us to think about getting a new boat. We already have friends who would like to buy it and so this is our last small trip we shall have in our great little sea going craft. Our friends are keen sailing girls as well and I know that Sam Mia and her wife Moria would look after the boat well. Spending time on our boat for the lat time will be a soggy and rainy one going by the weather forecast but it shall be a fantastic few days away. We not going to go far when we sail and we shall always return to the marina at night. Thinking about it now we may only go for a day’s sailing and then spend rest of the time in the marina. This is because we are all sleepy and a bit worn out from work very hard at the moment and secondly we need to clear the boat out and take all our things with us once we finished our short holiday.

This month is the month that the Southampton Boat Show is going on and is from the Friday 16th September to Sunday 25th September, and I, Jenny and our daughter Amanda are all going to drop in and check out all the boats and stands as we always do. Amanda is really looking forward to it as she has never been to any of the UK boat shows. It’s always a great time and so many great deals at the stands and we always come away with fantastic deals on many great brands and products. . Also coming with us is a very close friend of ours and Sam Mia and Moria.

But another reason of us going is that we are heading for the Beneteau stand and with full views to buying another Beneteau. We are either going to get a Beneteau First 30, which is smaller than the one we got now but still is a fantastic craft and would suit every need we need as a family. Yes it is smaller but its stylish, low cost, fantastic stats and because it is smaller it will be easier and cheaper to keep it at a marina. Our second option is going for a Beneteau Oceanis 37 which is bigger than the one we have at the moment and it is really very nicely designed and thought out indeed. It has plenty of mod-cons and is well styled and has room for friends and guests as well. But it would cost more to keep it at a marina, these are just a few of the things we have to think about. Each has its own set of pros and cons.

At the moment we are all thinking we should get a Beneteau First 30, and down scale and get something that is every bit as stylish as bigger Beneteau’s and the cost of things are going up so running a small boat would be a very wise idea. There would be a cabin for Amanda and then one for me and Jenny. The sofas in the boat can become a bed if need be and so that could be for guests.

The Beneteau Oceanis 37 has much more storage and is well appointed with plenty of things that me and Jenny would find useful that the Beneteau First 30 doesn’t have. But we could fit it with a few of the things that the Beneteau Oceanis 37 has to offer. The Beneteau Oceanis 37 also has three cabins so the guests we have onboard would have more of a privet sleeping area. It is within our cost and it really would suit us down to the ground but at the same time because it is bigger it would mean more to keep and run so as I said we have a lot to think about and so think we shall.

So for now we shall enjoy the boat we have just one last time and then after the show if we buy a new boat our friends can buy our old boat of us and we hope that it will bring them as much pleasure as it has given me and Jenny over the years.

That is all about it for the blog tonight but We shall blog again real soon, so take care!

Click the banner to learn about our wonderful paradise in England, which Is Cumbria.

As always we are supporting the RNLI, click the banner below to find out what the RNLI is all about and what do can do to help and support them.

Motoko & Jenny Carterr

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