Lagavulin, Islay Saturday 27th July 2002
Crews from almost
70 yachts made the difficult journey to the remote distillery of Lagavulin on
Islay, for the final party of the 2002 Classic Malts Cruise yesterday and were
rewarded with a ceilidh to remember. The central courtyard of this historic
distillery was crowded with upended casks and happy crews enjoying a sumptuous
buffet of local meats, seafoods and salads before the dancing and singing got
underway.
After a welcome dram of smokey Lagavulin fine malt whisky, distillery manager, Donald Renwick greeted the sailors, and thanked them for making the effort to visit this quite Island at the far south of the Scottish Herbridean chain. Although poor weather with strong winds over the preceding two days had prevented some of the yachts from reaching Islay, it was still one of the largest gatherings at Lagavulin for many years.
By Friday the winds had eased off making Lagavulin Bay a comfortable
anchorage for the 27 yachts there, although the majority of the fleet had opted
to berth at nearby Port Ellen, making use of the newly opened pontoons. The new
pontoons, which are a great boost to tourism in the quiet village of Port
Ellen, were a lovely sight, full of Classic Malts Cruise yachts dressed overall
with flags.
Since Lagavulin Distillery is the final stopover for the Classic Malts
Cruise, it was a great atmosphere ashore amongst the Cruisers, distillery staff
and a host of local visitors gathered for the ceilidh. The evening began with a
traditional piper before the ceilidh band struck up a tune and the floor was
soon crowded with dancers. As the evening drew to a close, the tunes became
faster and the dancing wilder, to the obvious enjoyment of those watching.
There was complete silence when Islay farmer Robert Baker took to the stage and
sang traditional unaccompanied songs or "mouth music" in Gaelic, to
give the band a rest. Other cruisers took their cue from this and there were
renditions of Irish tunes, folk songs and sea shanties with pipes and
accordions for backing.
As midnight came there were fond farewells amongst friends old and new as crews came together for an emotional rendition of Auld Lang Syne - a perfect end to a perfect Classic Malts Cruise
The Classic Malts Cruise is organised by
World Cruising Club, 120 High Street, Cowes, PO31 7AX, England
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