IN PICTURES: Kyle of Lochalsh RNLI’s annual Maritime Day is a great success raising over £5000
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Kyle of Lochalsh RNLI's Maritime Day took place last Saturday (7 September) with the great weather helping draw the large crowds who attended the event.
The Maritime Day began at midday with the Lochalsh Leisure Centre Kyleakin to Kyle swim, which saw 18 competitors take part in the challenging race between the two slipways.
The Lochalsh Junior Pipe Band then played a variety of tunes to entertain the large crowd who had gathered for the event.
The programme of events continued as Kyle, Portree and Mallaig lifeboats put on a display showing what the three different class of lifeboats could do. Unfortunately Mallaig were then called away on service, and so missed the rest of the Maritime day. Throughout the afternoon the Kyle and Portree lifeboats were allowing people to get up close to the two very different types of vessel.
Once again, the local kayaking club were on hand to let people take to the water and try out the sport which proved very popular. Kyle Fire Brigade, Kyle Coastguard, the police and ambulance also made a welcome return, allowing people to look around their vehicles and chat to the crews.
This year also saw the return of the very popular tractor-pulling competition, where teams of six had to compete to pull Kyle RNLI’s launching tractor over a 20-metre distance in the quickest time. The competition was highly competitive with five different teams taking part, with the Kyle RNLI crew retaining their title from last year.
The day was rounded off with the annual Kyle Fire Brigade raft race which was a different format to previous years. All the teams were supplied with the same pieces of basic equipment and had to build their rafts on the slipway as the crowds watched on, before then taking to the water and trying to get around the course. There was a variety of different teams taking part, including two teams from the German Fire Brigade who had come over especially for the event. The highly competitive race drew a massive crowd, who watched the team from SGM Motors in Kyle come home in first place.
During the raft race, Kyle lifeboat was called away on service, after a member of the public got into difficulty in the strong currents whilst swimming in Kyleakin bay.
A great day was had by all and Kyle of Lochalsh RNLI would like to thank everyone who took part, came along to offer support and helped to make it such a success.
