Tugs crews raise funds for cancer centres

The establishments have been looking after two of their long established colleagues, Captain Neil Goldie and Captain Jan Johannes Bekker.

After much deliberation it was decided to stage a relay race in which all of the crew members from the tugs Phenix, Apex and Vortex could participate. The virtually identical rescue boats (MOB) from each tug were used, with the outboard motors removed for the occasion. Each boat was paddled by five men over a lengthy course. All of the off duty crews made themselves available and each boat was paddled six lengths of the course, changing crews three times in true relay fashion. It proved to be a true ‘get intimate with your rescue boat’ event.

The crews really entered into the spirit of the occasion, even those which had been on duty for much of the previous night. After an orderly start, there were many moments of disarray thanks to erratic paddling and a general lack of course stability.

The crew of the tug Vortex won the event and was duly presented with a small silver salver to mark the occasion by a grateful Captain Goldie. But the real triumph was the amount of money raised by the tug crews, their families and many sponsors from the maritime community at the Fawley oil terminal and the Southampton area. At the time of writing the total fund stood at £3,500, to be divided equally between The Fountain Care Centre at Guildford and the The Woolverstone Wish Fund, which raises funds for the Ipswich Hospital Oncology Day Care Centre. Both Captain Goldie and Captain Bekker are suffering with cancer and along with their families have been receiving excellent support from the centres nominated.