Boats from harbours around the Irish Sea will be heading to Peel this weekend for what organisers expect will be the last Peel Traditional Boat Weekend.

The event has been running since 1990 and the committee, chaired by Mike Clark, are stepping down after the end of the weekend’s festivities.

Mike told Island Life someone else might take it on, but added: ‘We thought we’d rather go out on a high than have the thing fade away over the years.’

Mike explained the Peel event came about after he sailed over to Portaferry in Northern Ireland in 1989 for a gathering of traditional sailing boats from the west coast of Ireland, ‘workhorses’ called Galway Hookers.

‘We were made to feel special at a time when most people thought wooden boat owners were nuts to carry on with wooden boats when fibreglass was so much easier,’ he said.

‘I came back from that really fired up to look after my boat a bit better and a few of us got talking and thought it might be an idea to try and do something here in the island.

‘The following year we did and it’s been going ever since.’

There has only been three years since 1990 that the event hasn’t happened - due to foot and mouth, the harbour being closed for the installation of floodgates, and Covid.

Highlights throughout the weekend’s history include 1996, when they chartered an American square-rig ship to Peel, HMS Rose.

The replica warship could be seen firing her guns off Peel bay.

‘That was spectacular,’ Mike said.

In 2000, a small Viking longboat was built over the course of the weekend.

After being sailed around Peel bay with sails, the longboat was set alight in true Up Helly Aa fashion.

The highest attendance they achieved was 53 boats in 2013, when the weekend was used as the Irish Sea base of the global Old Gaffers’ Association for its 50th anniversary.

The Peel event has got smaller over the years.

‘There just aren’t the boats around anymore,’ Mike said.

‘Young people aren’t interested and the old guys that own them at the moment, some are getting too old to look after them, and if not, too old to sail them over here. The people that do attend have always said they really enjoy coming here but the numbers that come reduce every year.’

There are 20 boats taking part this weekend, lots of regulars as well as some first-timers.

Those include a recently restored schooner from Northern Ireland and some 20ft open boats from Laxey.

The Quick Boat Building Competition is one of the spectacles of the weekend.

It has been moved from Saturday to Sunday due to the forecast.

It sees teams given a few hours to design and build a boat using the plywood, timber, sealant and screws provided. Their seaworthiness will then be put to the test with one team member taking them out on the water for a race in Fenella bay.

The building will take place in Fenella Beach car park from 9am and the boats will be launched at about 3pm.

Prizes are awarded for design and construction as well as the race winner.

‘Some of the craft they create is quite off the wall sometimes,’ Mike said. ‘It’s always a fun event.’

Mike, 69, owned Manx nobby, White Heather, for 34 years until earlier this year.

‘You can’t relax, I found to my cost,’ Mike said. ‘I relaxed for a few years when I was restoring my house and the boat suffered for it quite badly.

‘You just have to keep maintaining them constantly, and the cost of doing that goes up every year.’

It’s also become increasingly difficult to maintain the boats as some of the tools and materials - like red lead paint - are no longer available.

White Heather, which dates back to 1904, was damaged in a storm about six years ago and Mike said he’d struggled to maintain her since then.

A few months ago, Mike gave the Manx sailing boat to a man in Northern Ireland willing to take her on in return for Ocean Dove, a wooden pleasure boat from 1959.

Speaking about the aim of the event, Mike said it wasn’t about racing in the bay.

‘It’s to get people with a common interest so they can socialise with each other, exchange information, techniques, materials, equipment, and go home buoyed up a little bit and look after them for another year.’

• As well as traditional boats, Peel will be busy with the annual Viking longboat races on Saturday.

The event, which sees teams race over 400m in the bay, marks its 60th annual anniversary this year.