The RBW boat party on the River Thames will not be happening in 2011, according to an unofficial announcement by Miyabi on the UKfur forums (registration required).

Reasons cited for the cancellation include prior staff commitments and a lack of boat availability on the desired dates.

RBW, once the UK's largest furry convention, was cancelled early this year due to declining attendance. The boat party was originally intended to continue, and Miyabi has confirmed that staff still hope to put it on in 2012.

British furry convention RBW will not be held in 2011, according to an announcement on its Twitter feed. [Markos/FNN]

The group cite a lukewarm response to a three-day residential event in London, and competition from LondonFurs, who host tri-weekly meets.

[...] for the last three years we've been left worrying right up until the last month or two whether we'll have enough attendees to cover the cost of the event. We'd hoped that the successes of previous years would fix that problem, but the number of attendees hasn't changed significantly.

Organizers still intend to run the popular boat party on the Thames, and perhaps other events.

The London Evening Standard, a free daily newspaper, has run a piece on animal costumers.

Included in the coverage are kigurumi wearers and makers, local furs Lupus and Jackal, and professional animal costumer Alex Kovas – better known as "Humanimal". Mentioned in passing is local convention RBW and the regular LondonFur meets.

Like the recent Halifax article, the newspaper contacted furs beforehand; Lupus admitted to using the opportunity to "[give] them what we wanted to give them."

UK furs – and a major software company – have shown their appreciation for Huskies, Malamutes and Samoyeds in a big way at this year's RBW.

The London-based convention raised £6396.90 (~US$9922) for Sled Dog Welfare, exceeding ConFuzzled's £6200 donation earlier this year, despite attracting only 216 attendees.

The figure includes a donation from Bariki's employer, Microsoft UK, which matches yearly fundraising of up to £7500 per employee, totaling over £250,000 this year.

Even without the match, the sum donated was £1330 higher than in 2009.

The logo for RBW 2009: "Good Vibrations"

RBW, the London-based furry convention famed for it's Thames boat party, has opened registration for the 2009 event.

Themed Good Vibrations, this year's convention takes us back nearly fifty years to the time of the 1960's for a "Rather Brilliant Weekend".

Registration prices have risen, with the lowest-priced ticket now costing £100, due to financial issues in the 2008 convention.

London furry convention RBW was hit by some fairly big website bugs in the month of September, bringing the site, support systems and registration offline for a number of weeks. This prompted a number of complaints about lack of support and slowness of staff to properly rectify problems. The RBW website had to move to an alternative domain during this time and many sections of the site were unavailable.

The problem now appears to be rectified.

Recent news from conventions near and far.

RBW 2008 co-chairman Foxberance is "excited"; three days after opening registration, over 100 tickets of varying levels have been sold. If 350 are sold, he promises to hire a bouncy castle.^[1]

With over eight months to go, the convention is close to matching half of the 242 tickets sold for RBW 2007. This figure includes over twenty Platinum sponsor tickets at £150 (~US$300) each, which offer the holder: access to the hospitality suite; a free meal, signed print, and trip on the London Eye with the Guests of Honor; a T-shirt; express sign-in; and access to the traditional boat party.^[2]

The first confirmed Guest of Honor for 2008 is popular fursuit maker Latin Vixen. A number of guests are yet to be announced, including at least two other Guests of Honor. RBW 2008 will have a number of other Guests and VIPs, including Timothy Albee and Fatkraken.^[3]

Organizers today opened registration for British furry event RBW 2008, which this year runs from 27-30 November and is based at the Royal National Hotel in the heart of London^[1]

One of the main events of the weekend will be the traditional night-time boat trip along the River Thames. While previous years featured live acts on board, this year the trip will be restricted to music, conversation and sightseeing.^[2]

Red Blue & White plans to make a splash with 'Furs in Black', to be hosted December 1-2 on board a River Thames party boat.^[1][2]

The meetup is headed by Rapido of the Londonfurs, who has hopes of doubling last December's attendance of 85.^[3][4] This year's boat, the Golden Jubilee, can hold up to 240 guests, and has a built-in DJ booth and dance floor.^[5] Non-boat events will be held on both days at the City Golf Bar in Blackfriars.