Two yacht club members in £320K court fight over 80ft Dutch houseboat: Captain 'harassed commodore after accusing him of dodging barge mooring fees'

By JON BRADY, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 10:00, 29 June 2026 | Updated: 10:05, 29 June 2026 A former captain at a top yacht club is being sued after being accused of harassing his commodore after a row over an 80ft houseboat dubbed 'Barge-gate'. Ex-Greenwich Yacht Club cruiser captain Stefan Oloffs is alleged to have hounded his senior officer, commodore Richard Phillips, with claims he received 'preferential treatment' when trying to moor his 'whopping' barge at the club. Mr Oloffs is said to have accused Mr Phillips of 'misusing his position within the club' in order to avoid paying hefty mooring fees - and allegedly launched a smear campaign in order to undermine his position. The cruiser captain is said to have published his claims on a WhatsApp group with 230 members and on a website about him called 'Barge-gate', after the Watergate scandal, while also making a formal complaint to the Port of London Authority. Mr Phillips is now suing Oloffs for £20,000 in damages, saying he was on the receiving end of a 'public campaign of harassment' causing him 'significant distress, loss of sleep, anxiety and public embarrassment'. The commodore - who the court heard could also seek £300,000 in legal fees - also claimed to have suffered 'humiliation and loss of dignity'. But Mr Oloffs, 54, a foreign language teacher, is bidding to have the claim struck out, labelling it 'wholly unnecessary' and motivated by Mr Phillips' wish for 'recrimination and financial oppression' against him. London's High Court heard that the two sailors had each held positions on the yacht club's council, with Mr Phillips, 60, starting out as head of IT before being appointed Rear Commodore, and finally full Commodore in December 2022. Stefan Oloffs (seen outside the High Court) is alleged to have embarked on a campaign of harassment against his senior officer at Greenwich Yacht Club in a row over a barge The row centred on the Verandering (pictured), a Dutch barge owned by club commodore Richard Phillips that he was trying to sell Mr Phillips (pictured) is seeking £20,000 in damages over the alleged harassment campaign, as well as up to £300,000 in legal fees Mr Oloffs was later expelled from the yacht club in 2024, while Mr Phillips stood down from his commodore post earlier this year. But the duo clashed when Mr Phillips, who runs a health service software firm, relocated his 80-foot barge, Verandering, to London with a view to selling it. Mr Oloffs began criticising his senior officer for allegedly 'underpaying' mooring fees for his vessel at the club in June 2023, the court heard. And while an internal investigation is said to have exonerated the commodore of any wrongdoing, his lawyers say the captain embarked upon a 'public campaign of harassment' in order to blacken his name. Mr Oloffs' lawyers have labelled the claim 'wholly unnecessary', labelling it a 'vendetta' motivated by a wish for 'recrimination and financial oppression'. Speaking before Mrs Justice Hill last week, Mr Phillips' barrister Mariyam Kamil said: 'Over a substantial period of time, the defendant ran a campaign of harassment against Mr Phillips which entailed the deliberate and malicious making of serious and public allegations. 'These allegations were false, Mr Oloffs knew them to be false, and he had been informed that they were false.' She claimed Mr Phillips had been forced to defend himself to fellow club members and was 'criticised, berated, questioned' and even shouted at.  But David Hirst - for Mr Oloffs - said the claim had to be seen against the background of wrangling between the pair, adding that his client has previously offered an apology to Mr Phillips and agreed to end any conduct 'targeting' the commodore. While the senior officer should have been prepared for 'robust' criticism as a person in a position of responsibility, the barrister said his client ceased his campaigning in February 2024 following a formal complaint. Mr Oloffs was expelled from the club at around the same time after a 'perfunctory hearing' presided over by Mr Phillips himself. His appeal to the club against the expulsion order has yet to be determined. Following a day in court, the judge reserved her decision on whether or not to 'strike out' the harassment claim against Mr Oloffs. Greenwich Yacht Club is located around three miles downriver from Tower Bridge and has a roll call of over 400 members. Originally founded by Thames watermen and river workers in 1908, the club was once based in a riverside hut but in 2000 relocated to its current platform on the river itself. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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