Youth Day Steps On Boaties' Toes
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday March 10, 2008
HORSE trainers at Randwick Racecourse are not the only ones being displaced by the Vatican's World Youth Day festival.
Nervous organisers of the Sydney International Boat Show say their marina at Darling Harbour, displaying 300 luxurious vessels, has been forced to make way for a floating stage for World Youth Day's Stations of the Cross re-enactment.The six-day show, the largest marine event in the southern hemisphere, is set down for July 31 - 10 days after the Pope closes World Youth Day.But a marina displaying the latest in boats takes 24 days to build and set up, leaving show organisers fearing at one stage they may have had to stage a substandard event without it.The Boating Industry Association, which says it was only made aware of the clash of dates in August, says it is not seeking a compensation claim.The association has been waiting weeks to hear whether the World Youth Day Co-ordination Authority agreed to a proposal to build half the marina in May before the youth day and complete it in the 10 days before the show. The tight schedule would require the church to dismantle the floating stage, measuring 30 metres wide and eight metres high, within two days of the July 18 re-creation of Christ's last days.Only after the Herald inquired did the co-ordination authority offer the association a verbal undertaking that all stage structures would be removed by midnight on July 20.The boat show brings in $500 million in sales.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
