First to berth was the six-month-old 40ft Beneteau Oceanis, Feena, owned by Stuart and Heather Blackley, of Glen Maye.

They tied up their exquisite yacht at 9am, followed shortly by Ian Jones in his motor cruiser Sir John.

After mooring, Mrs Blackley said: 'We have been waiting for this – it will be nice to walk straight down and straight on to the boat. Whereas before you had to climb down the harbour side ladder and across boats to get to your boat.'

Another plus is being able to hook up to electricity, she explained.

Units providing water and electricity have been installed at intervals along the pontoon walkways.

Port manager Captain Peter Best was handed the keys to the marina (to access the boat park and pontoons) by project engineer for the marina's construction, Matt Astall.

Captain Best said: 'I think it's wonderful - it's something that we have needed here for many years and I am glad that it has come now. It's looking good and once we get all the boats on it's going to look ever better.

'We have 80 boats, which have been in Peel, which will be coming on to the pontoons over the next months. Once all the Peel boats are on the pontoons, we will be offering berths to boats from the other harbours in the Island.

'I expect the marina to be completely full by the end of June/beginning of July.'

The pontoons offer 120 berths and demand for a mooring has been high. Priority has been given to Peel boat owners.

Peel Commissioner Iain Skidmore was on-hand to see the Feena and Sir John berth.

'It's been a great development,' he said. 'Peel Town Commissioners have been very pleased with the work that has gone on here and have been supportive of what's gone on.

'It's so nice to see a big development and such a massive capital project undertaken by the Manx Government to improve things on the Island. And I think it's something that people will enjoy for many, many years to come.'

He added: 'It should bring a good deal of income into the town itself and will help to regenerate and capitalise on what we already have with the castle and views and the whole thing that is Peel.

'People are coming from far and wide to visit Peel and certainly the quality of the boats that are coming are something to behold!'

The official opening of the marina is expected to take place in September.

The Department of Transport's engineering works division was the main contractor for the £2.6m scheme – which includes a 2,900-square metre boat park linked via a footbridge to the pontoons.

A temporary toilet and shower block has been erected on the boat park.

Access to the boat park and on to the footbridge is via automated gates controlled by a security card system. A similar system has been in use at Douglas since 2003.

The marina project started in April 2008 and followed on from the water retention and harbour footbridge project.

------------

FACTFILE

• There are a total of 120 berths spread along the sides of the walkways and fingers which jut out from the main walkways.


• The fingers furthest from the boat park will be reserved for larger boats to berth because the water is deeper there.


• The main contractor for the project has been the DoT engineering works division, working from plans drawn up by the department's design services division.


• Subcontractors have included Walcon Marine, which supplied and installed the marina, JCK Ltd provided the infilling for the boat park and SPI did the sheet piling for the boat park.


• Forming the border of the boat park was the most time consuming part of the project. It involved fixing pre-cast concrete units to the face of the steel sheet piles.

------------

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im

YOUR COMMENTS

Brilliant. Well done Peel. Something to be proud of. Now if my friends set sail for the Island I will advise them to head for Peel. I hope their navigation gear is up to scratch!
MIDDLEC