This year’s Menai Boat Run proved to be a runaway success, with 34 BSAC club RIBs and over 220 members taking to the Anglesey Strait to blow away the cobwebs and raise an impressive £1,000 for the RNLI.
The start of the dive season boat run has fast become an annual BSAC tradition, with clubs coming from the East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire and North West Regions to take part.
Now in its 10th year, the East Cheshire SAC- organised boat run has grown from an original two boats going out for a pre-dive season trial to 15 boats in 2016 – with 2017 more than doubling the number of RIBs on the water.
Here, Kevin Phillips, Diving Officer with East Cheshire SAC (ECSAC) and this year's boat run coordinator reports on a glorious early April day out on the Strait:
What a day out! Amazing weather, 220+ people and 34 boats blasted up the Menai Straits and donated £1,010 to the RNLI. Thanks to the team of ECSAC volunteers it ran like clockwork and despite being the largest Menai Run ever (double previous years) the dayMenai Boat Run 2017 went smoothly and great fun was had by all.
We had a fantastic team of marshals organising the 31 boats we needed to launch at Y Felinheli. A huge thank you to all of them, Steve W, Andy Mc, Dave Moss, Jon & Gill, Alison, Janice, Clive, Ken, Karen and Julie. It was a very slick operation and gained a lot of praise from the other clubs taking part.
We did have a slight glitch in the military precision-like plan we had put together when the Lifeboat got called out on a shout (and hence we had a bit of a delay and had to present the cheque without them or the boat on hand) but we did give the cheque to the Beaumaris Lifeboat Station Manager Phil Greville and got the majority of the boat run participants present on the beach in front of the Lifeboat Station for a group photo.
After our fish and chips in Beaumaris hadMenai Boat Run 2017 settled we then set off for Caernarvon led by the Lifeboat (after they returned from saving a stranded speedboat off Penmon Point). By the time we got to Caernarvon the sky was blue and cloudless which of course made the ice cream taste all the better.
It seems other clubs also had a great time as well. Thanks have been flooding in for the ECSAC team from many of the clubs taking part and also a LOT of coverage on Facebook for the event. We also had Mary Tetley the BSAC Chief Executive join this year’s trip after she heard what a great day out it was.
I am already looking forward to next year, although even I will admit that launching 31 boats down the Dinas slip and 34 boats on the water is enough and my ambitions do not extend to a larger event next year!
