O2C Admin

We had hoped to have Boleh back in the water and fit for purpose in September so that the Portsmouth Sail Training Trust (PSTT), our sister charity who will be taking Boleh on as a sail training vessel, could get the feel of her before the end of this sailing season. In the event technical headwinds have slowed progress and Boleh will not now be fully operational in her new role until the 2015 season. Despite this set back, the high quality restoration continues and PSTT have still been able to start developing sail training programmes for local children using vessels generously provideded for the day. The Boleh Trustees met at the beginning of the month to review the situation and are confident that Project Boleh remains on course for a successful completion.

Funding provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund has helped design and test the sail training programmes for Boleh when she is fully operational. John Gillard, who will become Boleh’s Sailing Master, has been able to take over 40 staff and pupils from Charter Academy to sea.

The taster sessions have been a complete success and the Charter Academy Sailing Club is now up and running.

See pictures of these sessions delivered by our sister charity, Portsmouth Sail Training Trust here. http://portsmouthsailtrainingtrust.org/

As we near completion of the wonderfully crafted teak deck, Boleh is looking better than ever.

The deck is made up of 4 layers from the decorative board, visible from below deck, then covered with a ply layer and epoxy sheathing, before the teak is placed down for the final layer.

4 timber spars crafted by Collars are being assembled at Birdham Pool, near Chichester, to form Boleh’s unique quadruped mast.

Unfortunately the original Douglas fir spars and metal fasteners put together 65 years ago in Singapore are no longer fit for purpose. Tim Gilmore and his team at DolphinQuay Boatyard are skillfully recreating Robin Kilroy’s innovative design using state of the art metalwork crafted by Olly Taylor of Taylor Engineering.

Among those working on the mast is shipwright Jason Rankin, one of our original apprentices who helped strip out and restore Boleh’s hull.

When complete the masts will be installed on Boleh and the standing and running rigging can then be fitted.

Transition funding provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund in April has enabled us to build on our relationship with the Portsmouth Sail Training Trust (PSTT) to develop a partnership which will see the Trust delivering sail training in Boleh. Andy Murray, the Boleh Trust’s Transition Manager, is working closely with PSTT to create a Business Plan for their operation and set up a sailing school. Thanks to the strong support of the Royal Navy, Boleh and the Trust hope to operate from the heritage dockyard where they will fulfil PSTT’s vision of ‘raising aspirations for inner city young people’. Click here for more information on PSTT

As the activity plan and public engagement part of the Boleh Project nears completion, and with our apprentices moving to full time employment or further training, we say goodbye, with regret and thanks, to our Project Coordinator Katy Hutchinson. Katy has been with us from the beginning of the Heritage Lottery Fund project and leaves us to join The National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Katy’s oversight of the activity plan has seen us engage with young people through apprenticeships, research projects for Southampton University students and media projects for local school children at Charter Academy. We have also designed, built and launched an interactive website and have recruited and trained local volunteers to help us put together a fascinating online archive catalogue. During the project we have also held regular public Open Days, where we have met many hundreds of people, including some who had previously sailed onboard Boleh.

Tim Gallier, who has been a volunteer and apprentice mentor for the project will now run the office at Henderson Road. Tim will do this on a part time basis, as we make the last push to complete Boleh’s restoration and move her back in to the water.

Following her build in Singapore, Boleh was registered there, in what was at the time, a British Colony. When Singapore became independent, George Middleton, who was by coincidence serving with the Royal Navy in Singapore, re-registered Boleh to a new home port in the UK. The port of registry chosen was Salcombe, Devon where Robin Kilroy was brought up as a child, and also where Boleh arrived in 1950 after her voyage from Singapore.</p

Now, following her extensive restoration, Boleh is to be registered in Portsmouth where she has been providing opportunities for local young people to gain practical skills and also where she will now offer sail training to continue inspiring young people in Portsmouth.

As we increase the final work on Boleh’s restoration we are pleased to welcome Josh Brookes back to help us complete.

Josh carried out some of his apprenticeship work on Boleh during Stage 1 of the restoration in 2009. Josh says “I am pleased to be back on the project and am glad I have the chance to carry out more of the restoration, like everyone I am really looking forward to seeing her back on the water”

Josh will be working with our other Shipwrights Pete Spurge and Mac Whorlow.

It was announced last week that the UK Government support Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s cup sailing team base in Portsmouth, and have awarded the team £7million of funding for the project.

During his visit to Downing Street, local MP Penny Mourdant introduced Sir Ben to our project and the plans for Boleh’s future with The Portsmouth Sail Training Trust.