“Trip hazard, it’s becoming a trip hazard,” Boatwif heard herself nagging a few weeks ago. The rubber mat on the front deck just outside the front doors had developed curly corners. Whichever way it was laid down there would always be a corner rearing itself up ready to catch any less than surefooted boater.

Cleddau and crew had set off for a mini adventure along the South Oxford Canal and found themselves moored outside Midland Chandlers in Braunston on their second night. A replacement chimney coolie cap was bought – and also a solution to the trip hazard problem was found, a coir doormat that held the rubber mat in position. (https://www.boatwif.co.uk/boat-update/memories-stirred)

There was little choice of size or design, nothing so suitable as a boat on a mat, just a caravan…

Weeks later the mat has become a familiar and much-loved item. Why, when hemmed in at Crick Marina during the course of the Annual Boat Show, the boat had become a floating caravan…

The build up to the Crick Show is slickly managed: marquees, tents, temporary metal road tracks and festival-style toilet blocks are positioned on the Show field; owners’ boats still moored on the pontoons allocated to the Show are relocated to a different marina berth; vehicles belonging to moorers must be removed from the marina car parks and quay sides; exhibitor stands and tents are put in place around the main car park; more gazebos are erected for the boatbuilders close to where the show boats are…

Two days before the Show opened to the public the Cleddau crew followed the last boat in to arrive by road.

Down at the quayside residence was taken up on the ‘Cleddau floating caravan’, which provided a fine viewpoint for waterside action. Two old heritage boats chugged in. Great teamwork and a skilful helmsman saw nb Sculptor (usually moored outside the Stoke Bruerne Museum) neatly moored right opposite the gleaming top end show boats…

On Show Day minus 2 the view from Cleddau’s home mooring was of bright shiny boats sardined together, exhibitors’ banners waving in the wind and boat builders’ staff resolutely engaged in last minute washing, polishing and paintwork touch ups.

A security fence separated Cleddau’s mooring from the long line of Show boats. As Trade and Preview Day ticked closer so the preparations became even more intense. Why, one boatbuilder crew were sawing and banging until well into mid-evening…

Large numbers of visitors are expected each year at the Crick Boat Show and many Crick moorers stayed to enjoy the festival atmosphere. Though not part of the Show why pass up an opportunity to raise the flags…

Many boaters arrive by water and take up pre-booked mooring slots on the canal outside the marina.

A number of folk book a campsite slot (“We’re here in our campervan,” said a pair of would-be boaters up from South Wales). Then there are those who drive in on the day, queueing to get into the Show and park on the designated grassy field (which fortunately this year did not become a sodden mud park…)

Trade Day dawned and soon earnest folk began to queue to take a guided tour into the shiny boats.

Who would not pause to glance at beautifully painted boats?

*Lettering and pattern decoration being painted while visitors looked on…*

Live music drifted across the water from the Aquavista hospitality tent.

The top car park had been transformed into a kind of Engineers Alley: batteries, solar power, water filtration systems, boat engines, boat canopies and brass tiller pins. Here too were several marinas promoting their facilities, services and access to routes.

Then there was Crafted Boats whose display showed a very familiar interior*…

Over on the Show Field the vast Crick Tavern was a magnet for many. Apart from the ciders, perries, gins and ales there was live music there every afternoon and evening.

Saturday night headliners, an ABBA tribute band, played a good hour’s set, (photos courtesy of a much taller person who could see past audience heads!)

If you’re not in the market for a boat there are plenty of other retail opportunities at the Crick Show– boaty stuff in the vast Waterways World marquee (“We’re really pleased we ordered our new boat mattress from you last year,” the Captain explained at the Ship Shape Bedding stand https://shipshapebedding.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOor_r-wa7kmuNLHFWSH6RtofPtVypFIaS9q2cRBtpFlPKl7E5Jx6). There were bed sofas, windows, windlasses, toilets (the Cinderella incinerator unit is an astonishing cost) and much, much more.

Need a new jacket? Or trousers? How about a wicker basket? Some cheese? Or a piece of jewellery? A composting toilet? An electric bike? A drone? Rope and fenders…?

It was at a stall selling camping and caravan ware that the Captain fell in love with a higher-backed sturdy outdoor chair. There was much discussion about where to store it on the boat – but in the end permission was given for it to be “an early birthday present”… (https://camperhappy.co.uk/)

Masterclasses and seminars ran throughout the three public days of the Show. Free boat trips ran during Show public hours - and one evening, in a Crick version of the Oxford /Cambridge Boat Race, canoeist pairs representing boatbuilders, traders and marinas fought to race round a mooring buoy, without falling in…

On the field were just three land-based boats this year. One was a plastic narrowboat (Formation Plastics World First HDPE Narrowboat https://formationplastics.co.uk/our-biggest-project-yet/ ). Sceptics and the curious buzzed around it but the queues to see inside were always too long to join…

Not exactly Show novices this year, was the experience as good as last year? It was! The jostling through the crowds to battle your way into a crowded sales marquee and the avoidance of dogs and dog leads can seem a negative - but what was so enjoyable was the conversations with others, the fellow moorers, the boater acquaintances, trade specialists and would-be boat owners… Anecdotes were exchanged, advice sought (and given), boating moments shared.

Crick 2025 may have been very breezy but despite the showers it remained mud-free. All absolutely brilliant!

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* Crafted Boats ( https://www.craftedboats.co.uk/ )were the builders of nb Tentatrice, whose owners shared many of Cleddau’s tidal adventures

Nights aboard ‘the floating caravan’ 5; miles cruised 0; locks negotiated 0

Boats galore at Crick

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Fluff balls and frisky lambs