My name is Mark and I will be your skipper for the first half, first three sections, of the East Anglian Sea School Round Britain trip.
I started sailing with my mates enterprise dinghy, on the River Deben, at the age of 9 (I'm now 55). Sailing was a rather loose term as neither of us really knew much. I love sailing craft of all types from dinghys to fast catermarrans to offshore racing yachts. In my younger days I competed at national level on Hobie 16 catermarrans and windsurfing. I still windsurf now days but every year, as time goes on, I find that I used to be better at it (lol). I also now sail my own craft, a fast catermarran and a crusing yacht kept on the fine River Deben.
Before joining East Anglian Sea School I was a programe manager at BT Research where I retired in 2018. Retiring gave me the opportunity to teach sailing and pass my love of sailing to others. I coach and help people gain thier own RYA certifications and sail thier own boats safely.
So what about the East Anglian Sea School Round Britain sailing holiday?
The first week will be sailing from Levington to Inverness. I'm expecting to see much wildlife such as Dolphins, sea birds and maybe, just maybe, even a Minke Whale. We may visit Holy Island and other interesting stops along the way. Such as Hartlepool, Blyth across the firth off fourth and into the moray firth to Inverness.
Week two will be traversing Scotland on the Caledonian Canal, From Inverness, Fort Augustus, Loch Ness, Fort William, Loch Linnhe and other Lochs to Oban. Hopefully with some sailing to the island of Mull and other beautiful islands nearby. Wildlife will be a feature I'm sure, but hopefully no monsters.
Week three will be a trip from Oban to Whitehaven. There are lots of options here all of them interesting, beautifull with blue waters. Such as the Crinan Canal or the sound of Jura. A visit to Scottish Islands, Bangor in Northern Ireland is all possible as is the Isle of Man before we arrive at our destination. Again, I expect to see Dolphins, Basking sharks and sea birds.
August may bring warm weather, warmer breezes from the west and long light evenings. But to a certain extent a sailing boats timetable and destinations must be lead by the wind and weather. But I'm confident we will be seeing some wonderfull places and wildlife.
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