Marine / Twelve young trainees ready to set sail
TWELVE young sailors have been picked to participate in this summer’s tall ship races on board Shetland’s own Swanas well as the Norwegian three-masted barque Statsraad Lehmkuhl.
Local charity Sail Training Shetland is again supporting the young adults with the help of a number of local sponsors.
Ten of the trainees will leave Lerwick on board the Swanon 28 June to make their way across the North Sea to Aalborg in Denmark, where they will join the fleet of other tall ships on 3 July.
Following the ‘parade of sail’, vessels will then race to Fredrikstad in Norway.
The other two trainees will join the StatsraadLehmkuhlin early July to take part in the same race from Aalborg to Fredrikstad with both groups disembarking on 13 July to start their return journey back home.
The ten trainees onboard the Swanare: Aaron Regler (15) from Setter, Sandwick; Laura Bowles (15) from Gruting, Walls; Xenon Johnson (15) and James Phillips (16) both from Lerwick; Malachi Hendry (16) from Cunningsburgh; Jan Peters (17) from Evie, Orkney; Daniel Sinclair (18) from Cunningsburgh; Michael Noblett (21) from Lerwick; Sarah Kissick (21) from South Nesting and Andrew Manson (23) from Brae.
Abi Marples (21) and Jay Milne (15), both from Lerwick, are joining the crew of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl.
Embarking on her second tall ship adventure Abi said she was fortunate to experience sailing on board the Swanin 2014 thanks to Sail Training Shetland.
“Now I can’t wait to get the chance to push myself further and experience life on board a much larger ship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl,and meet people from all over the world taking part in the tall ships races.
“I hope to learn something new about myself from stepping out of my comfort zone.
“There’s going to be such a fantastic atmosphere ashore and onboard and I’m really excited to see how well we do in the race – last year they won race two in their class. It’s going to be amazing.”
Chairman of Sail Training Shetland Peter Campbell said that working closely with the crew of their allocated ships trainees would be learning a wide range of hands-on skills such as watch-keeping, setting sails and a number of domestic duties necessary for life on board a ship.
“We are delighted we can facilitate these fantastic opportunities again this year helped by generous sponsorship and fundraising activities,” he said.
“We are confident that their time onboard will be very positive and look forward to learning of their sailing stories and race highlights when they return.”
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