Lord Nelson, owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust,`was one of the Class A ships participating in the Tall Ships Races this year. The Jubilee Sailing Trust is a UK based charity which promotes mixed ability sailing – able-bodied and physically disabled crew sailing side by side in an adapted environment. Lord Nelson's crew is made up of 40 trainees and 10 permanent crew. Thirty of the voyage crew sailing on the delivery leg from Belfast to Waterford were Irish and nine of these were partly funded by the new sail training organization Sail Training Ireland for Youth Development. Thirteen young trainees in total received funding support for voyages on Lord Nelson.
A number of these trainees had their first introduction to tall ship sailing in an initiative organized by the Irish Branch of the Jubilee Sailing Trust, where Transition Year school groups sail aboard Jubilee Sailing Trust vessels for five-day taster trips. 2011 was the second year that Scoil Mhuire, Trim and St. Louis High School , Rathmines participated jointly in the transition year initiative – each having sent 6 students and a teacher on voyages off the south coast of England. Plans for next year's voyage – Southampton to Amsterdam and back up the Thames into London – are underway.
For more information on The Ultimate Transition Year Adventure, contact Fred Arntz 01 4960735 e-mail: [email protected]
Info on the Jubilee Sailing Trust: www.jst.org.uk
