Nirvana in action on the South Coast

Welcome to Sea Events ? please take a look at our new video. These shots I hope will give you an excellent insight into what we do best at Sea Events ? the most luxurious and innovative charters on the South Coast of the UK.
Enjoy! Mark Everington, Managing Director/Skipper

Video – thanks to Rob Smith at Studio 2 Media Ltd.

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Cruise News at Sea Events

We welcome you all to the revised ?Fee? page of our website here at Sea Events.

Although, our Full Day and Half Day Charter prices remain the same ? which is good news, we would also like to draw to your attention our finest selection of the most delicious food. There is a choice of six different menus to add to your Full Day Charter. Our food comes from the renowned Beales Gourmet Catering organization and you will find that we have tweaked the menus for added appeal. We hope you will enjoy.

In a Half Day Charter, we now include light refreshments within the price.

For the first time this year, we have mentioned our ?90 Minute Cruise? and ?Evening Sundowner Cruise? on the fee page. In fact, we have been operating similar charters to those now mentioned for some time. Just that now they are easier to request and represent great value, particularly if you?d rather not be out all day or night! For the Evening Sundowner Cruise and at little extra cost, you could make it really special by enjoying a few glasses of Champagne to accompany your evening. Cheers!

Ok ? looking at our Events page there?s a lot going on. If anyone has seen the Bournemouth Air Festival sitting on a boat you?ll know what we mean when we say ?you can wave to the pilot!? – Any lower and they?ll knock the radar off the boat! It is a magnificent site to watch and when you think you?ve had enough we could always wiz off for a late lunch in Studland Bay ? now there?s a thought.

We also do bespoke trips to watch the Cowes Week Regatta ? even if you?re not really into sailing this is another great view from the boat. Watching some of the best skipper?s in the world jockeying for position amongst million?s of boats ? or is that what they cost?! ? Is a truly spectacular sight.

Bournemouth is also lit up on several nights during the course of the summer evenings with their wonderful and exciting displays of fireworks. All the evenings for fireworks events are mentioned on our Events page and it?s not just Bournemouth ? the Sandbanks fireworks can be equally as spectacular.

Whatever you?d like to do this summer – come and do it on the water with Sea Events!?Mark

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‘Summer is coming!’

This is our fourth season at Sea Events and despite difficult financial times which seem to coincide almost on the day we started – things seem to be going from strength to strength with each passing year.

We try to continue to give good value for money and our current offer, freezing 2009/10 pricing making a Full Day Charter – 120 per person,** (based on 10 people sharing ex food and beverage) – we hope is testament to this view.

As a reminder, our boat ‘Nirvana’ is fully MCA licensed and insured to carry up to twelve persons but that has to include a qualified RYA skipper and one crew. Unlike other charter firms we insist on a permanent crew member who is trained to assist the skipper on board as well as attending to all our guests. Leaving you the time to relax and enjoy your charter.

We like to be as flexible as possible and so just because we’re based out of Poole doesn’t mean that we can’t pick up clients from other destinations. So, depending upon our client?s preference and type of sea event, we can also arrange to pick up/land from other places such as Portsmouth, Ocean Village in Southampton, Cowes, Buckler’s Hard – Beaulieu River, Lymington, Yarmouth, as well as Weymouth and others to the west of Poole.

There is a reason why we have chosen to call our business ‘Sea Events‘ – it is, if you like, a thinking man?s or should I say woman?s charter. In that we may follow all the events taking place from May to October – from Portsmouth to Weymouth. Hence, you might like to have a corporate day charter watching the Bournemouth Air Show or a family day charter lunching at Allum Bay gazing at tons of boats during the Cowes Week Regatta. For these and other events you may wish to check out our ‘events’ page on the website where you will find many listed but we know there are a whole lot more. So if you’ve noticed something we’ve missed that you’d like to see – just shout.

Alternatively, you may wish to choose none of the above options, preferring to cruise the infamous Dorset Jurassic coastline in peace whilst quaffing a smooth refreshing glass of rose. Ending up at Lulworth Cove for lunch, perhaps a swim – yes swim! Then return to Poole via Studland Bay after tea. In any event the choice is yours at Sea Events.

When we first set up the business we also recognized that we needed some good food to accompany a day charter. Finding something both practical and tasty while afloat without too many sources to spill all over the decks, proved to be quite a challenge! Then we met a guy who not only serves excellent food, way above our expectations but who also has buckets of experience having worked his magic on 80 footers in the Mediterranean – his name, Tony Beale of Beales Gourmet Catering. Anyone interested or not even interested in food needs to know about this guy. He’s a top man.

By the way – we don’t mind what you’re celebrating or not as the case maybe. Last year we had a wonderful romantic engagement on board and this year I’ve had a few enquiries to celebrate divorce! – I hasten to add it was not the same couple. But I think you get our drift if you excuse that dreadful pun! We’ll give you an excellent Corporate day out and even a mini conference on board to a fun family occasion to celebrate Dad’s 50th or Tim’s Stag do.

Ok – so if you book a charter with Sea Events a lot of people will ask – what if the weather is bad on the day. Well, the skipper has the final word on safety and will not put to sea in adverse weather conditions. We want you to enjoy your day not make it a trial! So, if the skipper cancels, it will be for all the right reasons but then you will have a choice of what to do next. Both a full refund of your money or an alternative date/time agreed between client and Sea Events will be offered. (For further details on all of our terms and conditions it would be advisable to click on ‘terms and conditions’ at the bottom of our application form on the website www.seaevents.co.uk).

We aim to give you a great day out on the water no matter what the occasion and if you’re having fun then we know we’ve done our job properly.

We very much look forward to seeing you some sunny day – this year!

Mark

** Offer on until 1st April 2011

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Poole Harbour & Sandbanks – a personal view

It is perhaps a little known fact that at just under a hundred miles round, Poole Harbour is reputed to be the second largest natural harbour in the world. Second only to Sydney.

I have come for my holidays at Sandbanks every year and in all of my fifty I haven’t yet missed my summer holiday in this idyllic setting. The Sandbanks Beach was just a bucket and spade holiday when I was a kid here and we never contemplated that such a place could ever compete on the world stage of property values. But for me you cannot put a price on the views and surrounding beaches and bays that make for the entrance of the harbour itself.

Within the harbour are five main islands although if you include the muddy banks at low or even high tides there are a feast of others inhabited largely by Poole’s much respected wild life. ‘Stoney Island‘ is the one on the left as we enter the harbour but tends only to be visible at low tides.

In all its splendor Brownsea is the largest island with a 5 mile shoreline and is owned by The National Trust except for the castle. It’s a pretty place to walk as well as being home to the red squirrel and Major-General Robert Baden-Powell’s infamous scout movement, the latter largely based to the west of the island. Interestingly, Brownsea was also used as a decoy to German bombers believing that it was Poole town itself as parts of the island were left to burn at night, no doubt saving many lives in Poole.

Furzey Island is the next biggest at 31 acres and used to be occupied almost entirely by BP who first arrived there in 1984 but have since reduced there holding to 5 acres. Not just on Furzey Island but else where in that part of the harbour, oil exploration has continued ever since. Making it one of the largest ‘on shore’ oil sites in western Europe. To this day oil is pumped from sites in Poole to Fawley near Southampton. Cleverly, much of this industry goes unnoticed to the tourist, shrouded in the natural beauty of its surrounding countryside.

You would be forgiven if you didn’t know the area for asking the question “where is The Isle of Purbeck?” For all intense and purposes it is not an obvious island as such but a beautiful stretch of un-spoilt countryside that forms the mainland to the south and west of the harbour or commonly referred to as “Thomas Hardy country”. Much of it is visible by boat as we tour the harbour itself, including a glimpse the infamous Corfe Castle in the distance which is what we call “real Dorset” and is in marked contrast to the urban area that surrounds Poole.

Green Island is close to Furzey and formally joined to it. At just 25 acres it is the third biggest island. Sadly, like Furzey it is not accessible but one can easily admire the beauty of this island from the boat as we tour around the harbour.

Round Island is 10 acres in total and has a pretty south east facing house built in 1934 with four other cottages originally built for Lord Illiffe’s daughter. He also formally owned Furzey Island prior to BP. It use to be possible to rent a cottage here and I trust that might still be the case as I can think of no place quieter in the world.

That leaves Long Island which is in site of Poole town itself as well as butting on to the northern edge of Round Island. It’s a low lying flat area covering some 7 acres in total and no house resides but for a house boat rammed against the shoreline on a high tide. Apart from a small peat ‘industry’ mentioned in old books many years ago, there is little else to mention of this quiet sanctuary. However, it does mark the entrance to Arne Bay, a delightful stopping point for afternoon tea for but a view boats. An exciting site is a glimpse of a pair or even one seal sometimes found popping its dog like head out of the water. Or better still catching the creature lying full length on a small square shaped raft seemingly left by the owner off round island pier – rent free! But you have to be lucky.

Since I have been running Sea Events, to date, I have not had to cancel a single charter through adverse weather conditions and one of the main stays of this record is the safety and shelter that Poole Harbour offers. At almost any state of the wind strength, direction or wave height, it is nearly always possible to find a bay, beach or island to hide behind to enjoy your lunch and still keep your sun hat on! That has to be a boaters dream. For kids too or early learning dinghy sailors much of the harbour is no deeper than Dad’s height. If one ever capsized you’d have to be pretty unlucky not to hit a beach or shallow water before being swept out to sea, such is the natural safety that surrounds this beautiful place.

Sea for yourself! Take a trip around Poole Harbour or out to sea with Sea Events!

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Sea Events featured in Lloyds Living the Dream

Here are a few quotes from a fabulous article in Issue 24 of Lloyds Living the Dream magazine:

“My love of boats had been discovered ever since my mother had first taught me how to sail in a 10ft clinker-built dinghy at the age of seven. A hot sunny Southampton Boat Show in 2006 would see me looking at much larger vessels but now with one thing in mind, ‘How to combine a passion with a job?’ I suddenly became very excited by the prospect of an entirely new career, I would buy a bigger boat and conduct corporate and private day charters based out of Poole”.

“Tony Beale at Beales Gourmet catering in Canford Cliffs provides an outstanding quality of foods for all occasions and quite simply excellent. The pre-ordered food is from a choice of six menus ranging from buffet food from the ‘dash & splash’ menus, through to the ‘World Cruise’ menu which is not for the faint hearted. It’s all delicious from the ‘Italian deli cuts’ to the ‘lobster salad’ and ‘fresh strawberries and local ice cream’. Wines and champagne of all types are available.”

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Events onboard Nirvana

Charlotte & Andrew joined us yesterday for a fabulous day to celebrate their engagement. The weather was perfect and the sunset was one of the best this summer.

“Having just got engaged I can think of no better way to celebrate than a romantic cruise around the South Coast onboard Nirvana! Whilst the beautiful coast and setting sun set the backdrop, the experience was made all the more memorable by Mark?s knowledge of the coastline, Keeley?s friendly but discrete service and the amazing canap?s and champagne we enjoyed. Add all of this to the thrill of being out on the sea in a genuine performance motor boat and it made this an experience we?ll never forget. In fact, it was so good we?re going again next year!” Andrew Dodson

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Compass South article

There is a nice article about Sea Events in the September issue of Compass South. Penny Davage writes “It’s not often I get the chance to go on a boat so, even though I’m not known for my sea legs, when I was offered the opportunity to cruise with lunch on Nirvana, Mark Everington’s luxury Bavaria motor yacht, I didn’t need asking twice. The boat is just under 40 feet long, and impressive; I couldn’t believe so many amenities could be so luxuriously packed into such a small space. It can comfortable hold 12 people.”

“For our lunch we spent a delightful hour or so touring the stunning Jurassic coastline before reaching our destination of Harry’s Rocks, where we dropped anchor and were served champagne while basking in the sun, the sea gently lapping at the sides of the boat: a seafood platter of fresh Dorset lobster, crab, langoustines and king prawns. Another platter was filled with Italian cuts, Scottish smoked salmon and retro prawn-filled avocados marie rose, and wild mushrooms, Dorset goat’s cheese and pesto tartlets, wild rocket and sun-blushed tomatoes. This was followed by a platter of desserts: chocolate fudge brownies, melon kebabs, raspberry and cream tartlets and miniture scones with jam and scones.”

“It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon. Mark describes Sea Events as the ‘thinking man’s charter’, well I didn’t do much thinking, I just chilled”.

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