by Bex Tappin
08 / 09 / 2009
You may have read a feature in our summer issue of the
magazine that talked about the Ellen MacArthur Trust, which is a fantastic
organisation set up to take young people between 8 and 18 sailing to help them
regain their confidence and aid their path to recovery from illnesses like
cancer, leukaemia and other serious illnesses. One of the yachts was scheduled to make a trip to our shores in Cardigan Bay and
its arrival was eagerly anticipated.
On Saturday 22nd August the Ellen MacArthur Trust
yacht, an Oyster 48 “Scarlet Oyster” arrived in Abersoch at 7.30am, after an
overnight sail under the stars after leaving a windy Holyhead marina at
midnight.
She arrived to a perfect Abersoch day with blue skies and
sunshine, blue sea and a dolphin welcome past St Tudwals Islands.
After mooring for a few hours rest, the crew set sail past
SCYC accompanied by members and local photographer John Wormald of Totally
Abersoch. Despite their early morning arrival and subsequent departure to allow
ample water at Pwllheli marina, many people came out to welcome the 5
youngsters and crew from the Ellen MacArthur Trust.
This included a visit by Bear Grylls, a big thrill for one
young crew-member Ben, who is to re-join the Army next year. Now recovered, he
was diagnosed with cancer, 2 months after his initial sign up.
The boat was accompanied to Pwllheli by Abersoch RNLI, who
went on board so they could have a chat to the youngsters and let them try on
their helmets!
After a clean up of boat and crew at Hafan Pwllheli, the
crew returned to Abersoch for the afternoon. Mike Maylor at Abersoch Sailing
School showed them a great time on the water, with expert tuition from his
instructors the crew sailed darts, kayaks and even fun boats on a mini-race.
SCYC would like to extend their thanks to Mike for this fantastic afternoon.
They all had so much fun!
A second scrub up and the crew returned to SCYC for the
annual Keelboat Class dinner, where they were guests of honour. A 3-course meal
in the Cove was followed by Heads and Tails game, a raffle and auction to raise
money for the Ellen MacArthur Trust. Many thanks to all the local businesses
who donated fantastic raffle prizes for the evening and who helped to raise
£1400.
The evening was completed with dancing to “The Trunk
Monkeys” with plenty of action from the Scarlet Oyster crew on the dance floor.
A weary but happy crew left for Pwllheli Marina at midnight.
Sunday dawned with rain and wind and the skipper decided
that a day spent in Pwllheli would be the best idea. So after a very lazy morning,
some fixing of leaks and a bit of shopping the crew spent the evening Ten Pin
Bowling and relaxing.
On Monday morning the crew awoke to blue skies and sunshine
and a gentle breeze. They departed the marina at 10am and sailed past the
starting fleets at Abersoch Keelboat Week on their trip to Cardiff. As the
forecast for Wednesday included the tail end of a hurricane the crew sailed in
one leg, for 33 hours to Cardiff, in varied conditions, arriving tired but
happy.
Throughout Abersoch Keelboat Week raffle tickets were sold
to win a Round Britain top signed Ellen MacArthur, a signed book and a unique
SCYC hoodie. In addition Wombat Clothing kindly donated the money from the sale
of Abersoch Keelboat Week T-shirts to the Trust and the local Sea Cadet Unit.
With the generosity of all local businesses and the kindness
of SCYC members and visiting sailors during Abersoch Keelboat Week, £2100 was
raised towards the work of the Ellen MacArthur Trust.
SCYC’s Catherine Hartley would like to take this opportunity
to thank everyone who made this visit possible and who gave the kids and crew
of Scarlet Oyster a weekend to remember.
For more photos of their visit, go to the Voyage website www.roundbritain.org including a video made by the crew of their visit to Abersoch.
There are also some great photos from Saturday morning taken
by Jon Wormald and these can be viewed at www.totallyabersoch.co.uk
The Ellen MacArthur Trust Skandia Round Britain Voyage
started on May 3rd from Cowes and involved 70 young people across 17
legs, sailing the 48 foot yacht Scarlet Oyster the 2000 nautical miles
around Britain on a four month voyage stopping at 17 ports around Great Britain. The voyage finishes on
September 12th with a final sail from Southampton Boat Show to UKSA
at Cowes with a welcome home party. For more information on the work of the
Trust go to www.ellenmacarthurtrust.org
