High winds prevented the Somers Isles making her maiden voyage into Dockyard this morning.

It was not so much that the container ship could not make it into the flagship berth, but the fact that the crane tasked with unloading the nine racing yachts from the vessel was not able to travel from Hamilton to Dockyard yesterday owing to the weather.

Instead the Somers Isles is scheduled to miss Dockyard out this morning and head straight to Hamilton to unload the RC44s, 12 containers of regatta team supplies and its usual cargo.

Her arrival at the docks will bring to an end a journey that began on Christmas Eve when she left the Island and travelled to the British Virgin Islands to pick up the regatta equipment and supplies before sailing to Florida and back to Bermuda.

‘We are proud of our crew who were able to deliver the vessel to Tortola in time to collect this cargo while also maintaining our regular scheduled service to Fernandina Beach Florida and back to Bermuda,” said Howard Pitcher, vice-president of Container Ship Management, which manages Somers Isles Shipping.

“The crossing was very rough and not an ideal way to spend Christmas, but they enjoyed the challenge.

“Somers Isles is excited to be a part of the RC44 regatta coming to Bermuda. The more people we can share the island with, the better.

“We literally went out of our way to help make this event happen, and hope it will be a success that brings in visitors.”

He added: “Although disappointed that we were unable to discharge in Dockyard directly, we knew we couldn’t fight Mother Nature.

“Stevedoring Services were ready for us no matter what port we called, but would not have been able to transfer the needed equipment in time due to the high winds we have been experiencing.”