A Challenge We Won’t Forget

Unless you’ve been living under the most remote of rocks, you’ll be aware that the Manxman sailed into Manx waters a little over a week ago.

This week, she hosted a welcome ceremony which saw some VIPs and islanders have a tour, alongside a presentation of the work that brought her and her crew from South Korea to Douglas.

While that work has been well documented, there was one other challenge this weekend that was solved by a local firm, how do you turn a cargo deck into a conference centre.

That challenge was undertaken by Gear Industries, with the company installing lighting and sound equipment, as well as an LED wall, to provide the Steam Packet with the ideal spot.

For Gear Industries, this provided a unique difficulty, namely that they had to wait for their venue to arrive. Setting up came up with the equally unusual difficulty of the Manxman going in and out of the harbour to make way for the Ben-my-Chree or to allow the crews to get in more time in completing their training.

Company director Josh Clague told Gef: ‘It was a new challenge for us and one we certainly won’t forget. We just want to say thanks to all the crew for making us welcome and to the Steam Packet for allowing us to play our part in this once in a generation event for our island.’

The kit had to be even more secure than usual as most venues don’t move and roll about