Sir Ben Ainslie made a guest appearance yesterday at the Buckler’s Hard 50th anniversary and redevelopment celebration regatta.
Ainslie, who was keen to embrace the spirit of the event, enjoyed a fun sail up the Beaulieu River in a Scow with the Hon Mary Montagu-Scott at the front end.
In sparkling sunshine and a light fluky breeze, they headed the fleet up the charming, winding river to Buckler’s Hard where celebrations began to mark the completion of the two-year/ £2m redevelopment project.
Following an afternoon of regatta fun, visitors and guests enjoyed a special awards ceremony hosted by Lord Montagu.
To mark the occasion Ainslie was presented with a certificate granting him the Honorary Freedom of Beaulieu River, while fellow special guest Sir Chay Blyth received his certificate for Honorary Freedom of Beaulieu River that was granted to him by Lord Montagu’s father at the original marina opening in 1971, almost 50 years to the day.
Ainslie said: “I just think it is really nice to be able to enjoy the water for enjoyment’s sake. It makes a real change from my professional sailing, which is all very serious. This is all about the grass roots and it doesn’t get any better than this particularly with such glorious weather.
“Beaulieu River is just stunning and I have many fond memories of being on this River, so it is really special to be here today.’’
Talking about plans to enjoy his Freedom of the River, Ainslie added: “I feel honoured to have been granted this privilege and to have a boat here one day would be my dream.”
Lord Montagu commenting on the occasion said: “It is impossible not to be aware of the huge feeling of goodwill amongst all the mooring holders. I don’t think anybody is here out of duty, we are all here because we want to mark this occasion and celebrate all that’s good about the Beaulieu River.
“Although I never doubted the redevelopment would be a good idea, we really didn’t know what obstacles we might run into, particularly environment ones. Thankfully everything came together surprising well. Yes it took two winters to complete and there was disruption and times when the current mooring holders were affected but today shows it’s all ended very well. We now have 66 new marina berths with larger berths to suit vessels up to 20m. We’ve upgraded all the electrical services, improved the Wi-Fi and have a new dedicated visitor area.”