THE THREAT OF high winds this weekend has forced organisers of a local harbour festival to cancel celebrations.
Hopeman Harbour Day was due to take place this weekend – but yesterday organisers called a halt as weather forecasters predicted winds of between 30mph and 40mph.
That would have prevented visitors from enjoying most of the attractions planned and prompted organisers to call an early halt.
“Everyone puts a lot of work to make this event as good as it can be,” organiser Nigel Gunter said, adding: “The high winds being forecast would have stopped a lot of our activities. We cannot have young people trying our sailing and kayaking, many for the first time, under such conditions.”
Mr Gunter added that even highly trained instructors would find such conditions “potentially dangerous”, with the proposed visit by the Buckie Lifeboat also under threat as it would have issues navigating the narrow harbour entrance in high winds.
The Harbour Day was introduced to the local events calendar two years ago to raise funding for local charities and restoration work on the harbour itself.
It is hoped that an alternative day for the event can be found later in the summer.