It's Official - Black Diamond Accordions are "Objects of Desire" ...

There's a nice plug for Black Diamond Accordions in the May 2013 issue of Classic Boat magazine. A 72-bass BDA is one of this month's 'Objects of Desire' - the editor's selection of the best must-have items for boating people.

As you can see, there's also a little mention for our chum Gavin Atkin, whose excellent boating interest blog you can find here and whose melodeon playing is showcased here. 

Sailing Round the Isle of Wight with Accordions: Crew photos

We've just had these pics taken for our Sailing Round the Isle of Wight with Accordions escapade. We think they're rather good!

Crew: Greg Dunn, Skipper; James Delarre, Mate; Tig Martin, Sail Trimmer; Hugo Doyle, Bowman; Juliet Doyle, Shore Crew and PR.

We're doing this to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - saving lives at sea every day.

Donate to the RNLI via our JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/BlackDiamond. Thank you!

Photos by http://www.jjdoyle.com/

Sailing Round the Isle of Wight with Accordions

Don't forget! We'll be sailing round the Isle of Wight with Accordions (something no-one's ever attempted before!) on 30th June.

A gruelling 12-hour sailing and musical challenge, raising funds for the RNLI.

Please visit our Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/BlackDiamond.

Every single weeny little £ will help!

Sailing round the Isle of Wight - with accordions!

Beautiful classic boat Black Diamond celebrates her Golden Jubilee in this, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.

We wanted to mark her 50th birthday by doing something that would challenge both the boat and her crew to the full, while at the same time raising funds for the RNLI  - a cause very close to the hearts of all who sail the coastal waters of the UK.

So we decided to enter Black Diamond in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race 2012 on 30th June.

Skipper Greg is a veteran of the event, having completed the RTIR 2011 on the trimaran Strontium Dog. The rest of the crew are first-timers in the Solent. As is Black Diamond herself.

To make things even more fun, and because just getting round the gruelling RTIR in a 30-foot, 50-year-old plywood boat isn’t quite enough of a challenge, we’re adding another dimension . . .

A musical one!

So, to celebrate the fact that Black Diamond Accordions are ‘The Only Range of Musical Instruments Named After a Boat’, Greg and fellow crew-member James Delarre of the fabulous folk-rock band Mawkin will be playing Black Diamond Accordions and Melodeons at every possible opportunity, both ashore and afloat.　

Bearing in mind that squeezeboxes are not waterproof, conditions may prevent a lot of bellows action during the race itself. But, come what may, the boys will be playing their accordions on the boat and ashore, before and after the race, so if you are going to be in Cowes, do listen out for us and come and join the fun.

As residents of Mersea Island, we are constantly in awe of the amazing dedication and professionalism of our own West Mersea Lifeboat Crew  – all of them volunteers who give up huge amounts of their time to train and practise, and respond to emergency calls, day and night.

Sailors like us depend on the RNLI.

The RNLI depends entirely on donations.

And that is why we have dedicated our Round the Island Race sailing and musical adventure to the RNLI, whose volunteer lifeboat crews rescue an average of 22 people every day in the UK.

OUR JUSTGIVING PAGE IS AT www.justgiving.com/BlackDiamond.

All donations to the life-saving work of the RNLI will be very gratefully received.

Here are some pics of Black Diamond, along with some amazing photos of previous Round the Island races, and a few additional snippets of info relating to this madcap musical/sailing adventure:

Black Diamond is a Yachting World Diamond (formerly known as YW Keelboat), designed by Jack Holt (of Mirror Dinghy fame) in response to a brief from Yachting World to draw a 30ft keelboat, capable of being home-built. It was a deliberate attempt to open up the ‘elitist’ world of yacht racing to the working man, and Holt delivered the mother of all sports boats, the first keelboat capable of planing. Like the Mirror, it was a stitch-and-glue, hard chine plywood design, and was a contender for the Olympic keelboat class.　Black Diamond has survived until 2012 owing to a restoration that encapsulated the hull in epoxy resin, which will hopefully remain viable for the next 50 years.

Skipper Greg Dunn, co-founder of Black Diamond Accordions, is Chairman of Mersea Week 2012 – the biggest sailing regatta on the East Coast.

Mate James Delarre plays fiddle in one of Brit-folk’s most exciting bands, Mawkin . Currently touring to promote their new album, ‘Crow’, Mawkin will be appearing in the second series of Adrian Edmonson’s ‘Ade in Britain’, as well as a forthcoming Jools Holland documentary with Eliza Carthy.

You can hear world-music legend Sam Pirt playing a Black Diamond Accordion on  YouTube.

The Black Diamond Accordions trade stand is appearing at folk and other music festivals throughout the UK in 2012. Forthcoming dates include: Mersea Island Food, Drink and Leisure Festival, 2–3 June; Leigh Folk Festival, 24 June; Warwick Folk Festival, 26–29 July; Sidmouth Folk Week, 3–10 August and Whitby Folk Week, 18–24 August.

Mersea Island is Britain’s most easterly inhabited island, famed for its oysters since Roman times.

Sailing round the Isle of Wight with Black Diamond Accordions

Two Black Diamond Accordions will be aboard Black Diamond (the boat) in this year's Round the Island Race on Saturday 30th June. 

And with any luck - conditions permitting - they will be played as the boat sets off and as she crosses the finishing line, by skipper Greg Dunn and helmsman James Delarre (more usually heard playing the fiddle in the exuberant brit-folk band Mawkin ).

The whole mad adventure will be raising funds for the RNLI - a cause very close to our hearts here on Mersea Island - as well as celebrating the boat's Golden Jubilee (though it's a bit of a shame someone didn't think to build her ten years earlier!)

Visit again soon for lots more news about this unique Black Diamond collaboration.

Meanwhile, here's the JP Morgan Round the Island Race website , where we get a mention (under 'Music While You Work'):