On a ‘cold and wet and very windy’ weekend in July (well the 16th to be precise), the tranquil setting of Island Harbour Marina was broken with the crackle of the VHF.............. Yes it had begun!!!!! The Broom owners association were arriving on mass closely followed by the Fairey owners association, and of course as you can imagine.... not a flicker of rivalry between them!

The berths and pontoons slowly filled up with friends old and new and the gauntlet that had been thrown down by The Fairey owners club to a cricket match on the Sunday................

With the weather clearing up on the Saturday evening all thanks to ‘God’ otherwise known as Frank Gelder the Harbourmaster! a Bar-B-Que ensued which I have to admit looked absolutely lovely, however due to keeping an eye on my ‘svelte like figure’ I had to refrain from indulging !
The tension was growing as each club eyed the other up, looking for ‘weak spots’ in the opposition, who was the prospective ‘Beefy Bothams’ etc, needless to say I wouldn’t dare comment on that one ! But a lovely time was had by everyone and many memories and stories were told under a cloud free sky as the sun set.

The day of the now ‘infamous’ cricket match seems to be a blur as also does the winner and as Harbourmaster, I know which side my bread is buttered so I couldn’t possibly comment on the outcome? However it was rumoured that a certain Mr Felix McHendry had a bell installed in the ball!!! But obviously this is pure speculation?

It has to be mentioned that not a million miles away were The Hardway sailing club, eyeing up the competiton, we suspect a challenge isn’t far away? Guys it was a pleasure to see you all here enjoying yourself.

The weekend finished with many new friends being made and a lovely time had by all despite the awful weather, so much so that a number of club members decided to stay on for a day or two, and so we are fortunate to enjoy their company for a longer period. We also welcomed Mr Geoff Creber who has had his beautiful Moody 47 sailed all the way from Northern Italy, to become an annual berth holder here at Island harbour Marina, welcome Geoff.

My personal thanks go out to Felix and Wanda McHendry from the Fairy owners club and to Gill and Steve Oldham from the Broom owners club for both organising this events, long may they continue and we all look forward to seeing you all in the future....................... Someone was even rumoured to have heard mention of ‘The Harbourmasters eleven’? Was it a rumour?

Talk to Frank