A Sunny Southampton Boat Show - Ellen MacArthur

I had a great day Friday at the Southampton Boat Show - and it even stopped raining for a bit!

In the morning, I joined Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Lady Pippa Blake, actress Kate O’Mara (known for her role in the ’80s TV series Howards Way) and powerboat racer Steve Curtis on the main stage to represent boating through the decades since the 1960s. It was really fantastic to see Suhaili, Sir Robin’s teak-hulled ketch on display - what a fine, sturdy-looking boat she is!

It was also nice to see all the Team GB Olympic sailors led onto the stage by Ben Ainslie - they were looking understandably tired - it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for them - but in very good spirits.

I then had time to visit some of the stands and catch up with our sailing team sponsors, including Paul Honess at Marlow Ropes who has been doing some interesting development work with Yvan Joucla, our rigger on the BT Open 60, in preparation for the Vendée Globe.

I was also really pleased to go to Geoff Holt’s book launch. Geoff gave me a copy of “Walking on Water” when he kindly asked me to write the afterword for it and I have to say I couldn’t put it down. He really is the most amazing man and it’s a really incredible book. You must read it!

Ellen