Skipjack, a little unrealistic when you are trying to reach out to the public and not just a special interest group. The public might not hear the good stuff and what they do hear will be on land but how many punters could you get on a ship in a way they could enjoy it and how many of those could be safely accomodated "at sea" without it becomming a minority instererest holiday of sorts. If the public were to see the good stuff as you prefer it, that would probably turn the Hull, Swansea and Liverpool events into the kind of nightmare you make Brest sound, 300,000 people plus would drown out more than the singing. As far as 30 shanty groups all singing at the same time and drowning each other out I don't see that, 30 groups singing for 4 days at the same time and at the same venue, don't see that

As far as the International label go's ships attending from at least 8 nations kind of fits the bill in my book, not as big as Brest say but from your picture of the event maybe its big enough. Its also not just booze laden Brits that get off those ferries these days, a great many Spaniards and French do, amongst others, why not give them something to enjoy.

Portsmouth, as have many other cities has undergone a lot of change in recent years, the biggest employer, the MOD has reduced the numbers it looks after so the slack has to be taken up somewhere, events like this are part of that rebuilding.

Its also a good job that you wouldn't spend your four pence on this, as the tickets must have gone up in price somewhat.

Regards

Sledge