OPENING ADDRESS, GIVEN BY JOHN LAMMERTS VAN BUEREN

Ladies and gentlemen: As Cambria’s captain Chris Barkham would say: “beautiful boats attract beautiful people” and, as I look around, how right he is. Thank you all for being here tonight to honour and celebrate the most beautiful boats in the world. Thank you for the honour of having me speak tonight.

I would like to start by taking you back to 1982, to Lymington, and an old Thames barge stuck in the mud near the bridge. I was told the man on board had some old winches I could use for my boat so I went below to meet him and have a look. As I climbed down the companionway, a phone rang. I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation and it went like this: “Hi Harry, Joe here! Hey, I heard you broke up with Sue. That’s too bad. But you know, once you’re married the boat gets in between and you have to make a choice, well, you chose for the boat, you did the right thing believe me!”

Well, that set the