But some things I was told were going to happen seem to have disappeared completely.

So I still have no idea what this show will look like.

The ECBS began by trouncing the National Boat Shows (NBS) PR machine roundly as Egham took the decision to ignore the show. All NBS offered was its video of Top Chaps backing ExCeL.

That and the roadshows that offered excellent research, but little promise of what was to come for the January 2008 show.

And this is, quite simply, the most important event this industry has ever put on.

I – and others - expected a confidence-building campaign from Egham. It never appeared.

But fears of a sound drubbing for the federation forces may also have disappeared as, coming down the stretch, the ECBS ran out of steam.

The Lymington PR machine came to a grinding halt in June and very little of interest has appeared since.

So as we near the days of reckoning for both shows, it appears Egham may get away with it.

In the same way the Lymington PR machine stopped, the ECBS advertising campaign seems also to be offering readers little of substance.

Just as the show was sold to the trade on the basis of two words – 'Earls' and 'Court' – so the advertising I've seen seems to be hoping the same will work for the visitors.

The NBS campaign is brighter and brassier and has lots of images of boating to grab the attention.

We're back to hoping the two shows are so different the ECBS audience will feel it needs also to go to ExCeL to see the boat show it hoped it might see at Earls Court.