It seemed like a never-ending task to complete “Smuggler” in time for the event at Buckler’s Hard at Beaulieu, 2006. We finished, literally hours before needing to leave. Tired and weary from the task, I had to rely on my wife Anne to manoeuvre the trailered boat through very tricky terrain out onto the main roads, no mean feat I might add. After some rest my son Adam and I left for Beaulieu leaving Anne, Mathew and Ellie to follow after having had some sleep. Unfortunately, disaster struck part way down the M6 motorway and our Land Rover broke down, leaving us stranded on the M6 towing a Vintage Boat. Our thanks must go out here to the extremely prompt action of the rescue service who were able to tow both the car and the boat onto the nearby car park at the service station. Unbelievably, they were able to come back within a few hours with spare parts for the car and we were once again on our way. In the meantime, Anne had caught up with us, panic stricken at seeing us broken down on the motorway. Many hours later, as we got into Beaulieu village, we had a tyre blow out on our trailer. Not the best journey we’ve ever had, however we managed to get to Buckler’s Hard and park “Smuggler’ up in a safe Car Park area. The next morning we put the finishing touches to “Smuggler”, she looked stunning in the wonderful sunshine of the early morning and we were pleased to be there.

In 2006, B26/ML117 ‘Smuggler’ attended an event on the Beaulieu River at Buckler’s Hard, where we hoped to launch her in the company of Veteran WW2 Marine Craft of ‘RAF Coastal Command’. This event was in memory of John Thomas Cooke DSM and hosted by the Coastal Motorboat Heritage Trust. Sadly and due to adverse tidal conditions, we couldn’t launch or fully test the engine at Beaulieu so ‘Smuggler’ remained on static display at “Bucklers Hard” for a fortnight, whereafter she was then visited by no less than 200 Ex-Service Personnel including Lt. Cdr. Eric Archer, WW2 Skipper of MGB 81 amongst many others.

 Flying the Flag and ready to be viewed, we decided to leave “Smuggler” in the capable hands of Damian Byrne for a two week period - he agreed to assist by chaperoning anyone who wished to visit “Smuggler” and she was well received by the WW2 Veterans during these two weeks, many of whom remembered similar craft from their service days.