Enormous thanks to everyone who supported our 2026 Bembridge Harbour Family Fun Weekend.  For a 2026 Event Gallery: View Here 

A summary of the weekend:
The weekend kicked off on Friday afternoon at the Duver Marina - 40 marine masterpieces were built at a Paper Boat Building Workshop, ready to take to the water in Saturday’s Great Bembridge Paper Boat Race.

Saturday morning’s skies were a Mediterranean blue and with the tide out, traditional egg and spoon, sack, running, 3-legged and wheelbarrow races were held for different age groups, with the adults enjoying it just as much as the smaller people and with a wet and noisy Family Bucket Relay to finish!   

A Sandcastle Building Competition was hotly(!) contested by 8 family groups of budding architects. 11 artistic Sand-Sculptures included a snowman, a mermaid, an Axolotl and various other sea creatures.  All were beautifully crafted and made it an almost impossible task for the Commodores of Bembridge Sailing Club to Judge the prize winners …     

The action then moved to Brading Haven Yacht Club for the Great Bembridge Paper Boat Race - the weather was beautiful, but the wind was flukey, with gusts blowing boats off the course altogether to speed north towards the Causeway!   The Race Committee extended the finishing line to a handy green buoy near the pontoon, enabling most boats to get over, eventually!!   All boats were safely recovered and honour and prizes were won!    

In the afternoon the Commodore of each club judged the Best Decorated Boat Competition, with designs based on the event theme of “What’s Your Favourite Read?!” in celebration of 2026 being National Year of Reading.  The amount of time and effort made was phenomenal, with boats transformed into “Jurassic Park” (the winner), “Harry Potter’s Hogwarts” (2^nd) and “Book Worms” (a close 3^rd) with Special Mentions for “Elf” and “The Hobbit”.  In the nix was a “Hungry Caterpillar”, “National Geographic”, “Rule Britannia”, another great “Hogwarts”, a “Secret Garden” and “Pirates Love Underpants” (who knew?!).  Prizes were awarded at Saturday evening’s Harbour Party, where there were prizes for Fancy Dress, won by “Matilda”, “Peter Pan”, and “Elf”.  Fabulous DJ Darren from Central Discos kept everyone up and dancing, with competitions and favourite tunes - a wonderful evening!        

The warm-up for Sunday’s Crabbing Competition was the Harbour Staff’s “Wake Up Walk” along the Duver pontoon, firstly with a traditional Wakey Wakey song and then breaking (for reasons unknown) into the Conga, led by a Hungry Staff Caterpillar.  A total of 411 crabs were caught, counted, and then carefully returned into the harbour and there were prizes for the largest number of crabs caught in each age group, the largest crab and the youngest crab catcher.

We all had great fun and hope everyone who joined in did too!!  In the process, you helped us raise over £1,500 for our nominated Island charity, the Sophie Rolf Trust - a very worthwhile amount and we, and they, are so grateful for your support - thank you!

The weekend couldn’t happen without the help of a small army of volunteers and support from Brading Haven Yacht Club, Bembridge Sailing Club and the RNLI Coastal Safety Team who offer free lifejacket / buoyancy aid checks and sea safety advice.  Our very grateful thanks to all, and to the whole Harbour Team, who put heart and soul into making the weekend a success, creating lasting memories all round!