Swan voyages!
Posted: Wednesday, 18 January 2006 |
Well, it is inevitable that this blog is here. Herman fae Orkney will have been expecting it for long.
This is the Swan blog.
To explain, the Swan is a Shetland herring boat, a Fifie, built in Lerwick over 100 years ago, now restored and used as a sail training vessel. I have been many trips on the Swan, and have helped to organise two previous Swan trips to Norway for young people. My first was with the Scalloway youth club in Shetland, the second with the St Andrews youth club (a parish in Orkney, not to be confused with the Fife St Andrews).
This summer we're doing a trip for nine young people from Unst.
We have now raised enough funds to pay for the voyage, both by applying for some grants, and also by sheer hard slog. The bairns themselves have done a lot of work for this; mostly bag packing at the checkout in the Co-Op in Lerwick, then there was a barbeque at the Uyeasoond regatta, the chip suppers, the bottle stalls…….. the list goes on. It’s good to see them working for this.
The photos in this blog are from my previous trip with the St Andrew youth club in Orkney, and they were taken mostly by Andrew Halcrow, the skipper at the time, and one or two by myself. There are many more on the Swan website!
It’s hard to say why sail training is so special, but it is. Anyone that has been voyage crew on the Swan, or any of the thousands of other sail training vessels around will say the same. You come back a different person.
This is the Swan blog.
To explain, the Swan is a Shetland herring boat, a Fifie, built in Lerwick over 100 years ago, now restored and used as a sail training vessel. I have been many trips on the Swan, and have helped to organise two previous Swan trips to Norway for young people. My first was with the Scalloway youth club in Shetland, the second with the St Andrews youth club (a parish in Orkney, not to be confused with the Fife St Andrews).
This summer we're doing a trip for nine young people from Unst.
We have now raised enough funds to pay for the voyage, both by applying for some grants, and also by sheer hard slog. The bairns themselves have done a lot of work for this; mostly bag packing at the checkout in the Co-Op in Lerwick, then there was a barbeque at the Uyeasoond regatta, the chip suppers, the bottle stalls…….. the list goes on. It’s good to see them working for this.
The photos in this blog are from my previous trip with the St Andrew youth club in Orkney, and they were taken mostly by Andrew Halcrow, the skipper at the time, and one or two by myself. There are many more on the Swan website!
It’s hard to say why sail training is so special, but it is. Anyone that has been voyage crew on the Swan, or any of the thousands of other sail training vessels around will say the same. You come back a different person.
Comments
Very cheery photos, well taken. Those youngsters in Unst are certainly lucky to have you around. From what you write, your youngsters seem to be very deserving of praise. We could use Soothmothers/Ferryloupers in Nuevo Mexico!! Tried hard to find a female who looked somewhat older than a teenager, but I have been stumped. Give me a hint!! My wife (who has a better eye for such things) will help me when she gets home in ten days' time: she left yesterday for Belgium to visit my parents (nah, I was not born/raised there:my parents settled in Bruxelles after I had left for uni.) and then to see our daughter rowing in the first 8 for Somerville College next week (the Torpids last four days). Sooo - gimme a hint, and I'll solve the problem by myself (no help needed - yet - Heman: "I'll do it my way!"). Are there good commercial outfits which teach sailing in the Shetlands or Orkneys? Anything out of Stromness or Baltasound?
mjc from NM, USA
Ruthodanort: are you the apparition in the blue parka in numero uno, the lone one in the splash outfit in number 7 and, again, forefront left in blue parka with life vest (second picture from bottom)? I looked for someone both good and responsible looking (eh?!?).
mjc from NM,USA
Is that you, Ruthodanort, up there in the riggings - trying not to look "doon"? Beautiful shot from atop the cliff. Where in Norway?.
mjc from NM, USA
numero seven is correct. and yup, that's me in the bosun's chair. The cliff is the Preikestolen in Lysefjord and it's 604 metres high. It's also called the Pulpit Rock.
Ruthodanort from Unst
Blogs fae a thirty-something mum of 4 born in Fife, brought up in Orkney, and living in Unst.
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