Royal visit for Tall Ships in Liverpool
by Jubilee Sailing Trust 21 Jul 2008 23:32 BST
18 July 2008
Tenacious was purpose built for people of all physical abilities to sail side by side © Jubilee Sailing Trust
On Friday, HRH The Duke of York went aboard STS Lord Nelson, moored in Wellington Dock to meet many of the Captains of the International Tall Ships Fleet. Introduced by Colonel Ron Dadswell, Trustee of Sail Training International, the Royal visit stands out as a highlight at the start of what promises to be a spectacular Tall Ships Race.
Whilst aboard, HRH Prince Andrew met Captain Clare Cupples, who will be in command of Lord Nelson on their historic first leg of the Tall Ships Race, sailing with the first all female crew in the history of the tall ships races.
The visit holds extra significance as The Duke of York who has been the Patron of the Jubilee Sailing Trust since 1984, has been present for many major milestones in the Trust’s intriguing history including the launch of both the Trusts’ ships Lord Nelson and Tenacious.
Both Lord Nelson and Tenacious are impressive tall ships, the only vessels of their kind in the world that have been purpose designed and built to enable people of all physical abilities to sail side by side as equals.
Lord Nelson was designed by internationally renowned naval architect Colin Mudie in the early 1980's after a pilot scheme on board the adapted tall ships TS Royalist and SV Soren Larsen proved how successful integrating able bodied and disabled people through the medium of tall ship sailing could be.
Competing on the race leg from Liverpool, the all female crew will comprise of Girl Guide sail trainees and female merchant navy personnel.
The 40 girls representing the senior section of Girl Guides are all aged between 16 and 25 and come from all over the UK. They comprise of both able bodied and physically disabled individuals including three wheelchair users.
Since her maiden voyage in 1986, the Lord Nelson has taken almost 24,000 people on voyages. Nearly 9,305 of these people have had a physical disability and of these 3,611 were wheelchair users.
The special facilities aboard both Lord Nelson and Tenacious allow the mixed ability crew to play a full and active role in every aspect of running a ship from helming and setting sails to cleaning the ship, known as ‘happy hour’.
For those who are interested to get more hands on, the JST provides year round sailing adventures for all. These amazing opportunities give anyone the chance to sail regardless of physical ability or sailing experience.
Find out more at jst.org.uk