Boat Show and Banks

So Thursday Bru, Patrick and I had a long day at the London Boat Show. Bru had some electronic bits and pieces that he wanted so we were hopeful that we could get a good deal by combining our order. In the end there weren't really any deals to be had other than a measly 1% discount on web prices on electronics, but we saved the cost of postage. We decided on the Raymarine eS7 Multi Function Display with both touchscreen and keypad control over either the 7 or 9 inch A-series MFD's. The A7 was discounted as it didn't support NMEA 0183 which we needed to be able to connect it to our AIS (the system that allows us to view large ships on our chartplotter). We then couldn't justify an additional £300 for the larger screen when we also have the iPad as backup navigation which can connect to the eS7 via wifi and be used as a second larger screen.

We also wanted to find a good deal on the Rocna 15 anchor (as well as finalising this choice over the 20kg one). After seeing the Rocna 20 in the flesh and also talking to the nice people on the Rocna stand we were sold on the 15kg version. The Rocna people sent us over to the other side of the Boat Show to speak with Mark Nunn of Seamark Nunn as they are our nearest supplier. On talking with Mark he matched Jimmy Green's online price and offered free delivery if we were prepared to wait until they had a job in Burnham which was a bit of a result as Jimmy Green were quoting £65 for delivery of the anchor and 80m of 8mm chain.

Other than that we joined the Cruising association with 25% discount thanks to mentioning that we knew Lisa Pini, and also bought some First Aid and Diesel Engine diagnostic quick reference cards that seemed useful, and forgot to go back to the diablo toasted sandwich maker stand which probably was for the best.

Finally the highlight of the day for me was meeting Kass Schmitt who I had met via the Facebook Group "Women Who Sail". She now owns the boat that Patrick and I met on and is currentlypreparing for the 2017 OSTAR race, 21 days and 3,000 miles non-stop and alone across the North Atlantic. https://sailingwithzest.com/
Hopefully we will get the chance to take Kass up on her offer of a sail on Zest before we leave in the summer.

A disproportionate amount of time was spent at the weekend sitting in Metro Bank opening new bank accounts in readiness for the trip as they are the only UK bank that doesn't charge fee's on either cash withdrawals or purchases in Europe. The bank was really child friendly and every penny counts over the next two years but it was a painful 2.5 hours which actually took out most of the day once we'd made the obligitary visit to Toys R Us as a reward to the kids for being so patient. Luckily they had vouchers from Christmas and chose very small toys so everybody came home happy.