Two Key Events in One Day at Fisherrow Yacht Club

Fisherrow Yacht Club, FYC, welcomed the return of the Musselburgh Festival Day Ride Out on Saturday 30th by providing morning refreshments for Provost Clir John McMillan and his 50 guests. For the FYC hospitality hosts it was a busy one-hour turnaround receiving the guests in through the front door and saying farewell as the guests left out of the back door straight onto the beach to watch the gallop at 12.30. Craig Hunter, Rear Commodore of FYC, sent out thanks to the FYC hospitality team saying “We got a lot of positive feedback from Saturday which was nice to hear.”

At the same time the club also welcomed the muster of Leisure Yacht Owners from the South East of Scotland with boats from as far East as Eli and and as far West as Blackness. The UK Commodore of the British Leisure Association, Steve Blaney, is Eli based. He decided that Fisherrow was fairly equidistant for most Forth area boats and sent out an email in June inviting owners and crews to meet in Fisherrow Harbour on Saturday 30th July to celebrate the 40 th anniversary of the formation of the association. There are already Leisure class yachts permanently moored in Fisherrow: Nautilass (pronounced Naughty Lass), Gypsy Gem, Willow and Abril so that gave the event an excellent start. Abril was recently purchased by a syndicate of four members of Fisherrow Yacht Club and Inez Visser one of the four owners who is also on the club committee invited the muster guests to use the premises for their social gathering.

Commodore, Steve Blaney, was delighted that the 40th Anniversary Celebration had the colourful backdrop of the Musselburgh Festival and for the guest boats that made it to harbour on the Friday afternoon high tide there was the chance to watch the gallop with a ring side seat from the harbour wall on Saturday morning.

Commodore Blaney and Provost McMillan had a few moments to meet one another in the busy schedule of the festival day both acknowledging the significance of their respective events. On Saturday evening the Leisure crews had an indoor supper served in the FYC bar where Inez Visser was presented with the special Leisure 40 th Anniversary pennant. Inez said,

“This pennant belongs to everyone at FYC. The members are so friendly and community minded. Their energy and commitment is amazing. Since October we have refurbished a donated Kinsman yacht, the rear porch has been rebuilt. The training team have put many hours into getting members qualified and keeping our safety rib boats repaired. Many club members do not have their own dinghies and as well as small fleet of dinghies we now have two club Kinsman yachts. Shared use of dinghies and more so yachts requires responsibility but is also brings a special camaraderie when people, who do not know one another, come together to sail.

An added bonus of being a club member has been the possibility for four of us to form a syndicate to buy a Leisure 20. The 40 th anniversary muster of other Leisure yacht owners at Musselburgh during the 2022 Festival was an unexpected bonus.”

FFIC contact Inez
For quote from Provost McMillan
Photos from Commodore Steve Blaney