News

Boleh’s programme this Summer has included sailing many old friends and it was a special day in August which reconnected Portsmouth’s Charter Academy with the Boleh workshops at Henderson Road. The Boleh Trust worked closely with Academy pupils during the vessel’s restoration and Luke, pictured with fellow former pupil, Laura (now a qualified Skipper), has followed Boleh’s progress since Year 7.

We are grateful to John Gillard, Principal of the charity Oarsome Chance and a former adviser to the Boleh Trust, for arranging this welcome reunion. The Oarsome Chance Foundation (see link below) aims to help young people who are not succeeding in mainstream education. The charity is setting up a boatbuilding facility in Gosport and has similar aims to our own. As Boleh will be based in the Marina there next year, we hope we can work together to our mutual advantage.

www.oarsome-chance.co.uk

The Boleh Trust has fully compliant Safeguarding Policies for children and vulnerable adults. We are proud to say that we have therefore been able to work with the Gwennili Trust during our sailing programme this year.

The charity, which can be found at the link below, sails disadvantaged groups, including from Help for Heroes, and can also take wheelchair users to sea in the specially adapted catamaran Spirit of Scott Bader. Picture shows Gwennili Trust clients enjoying the Hampshire sunshine before setting off for their days sailing in Boleh.

www.gwennili.org.uk

We are happy to say that Boleh’s sailing programme for 2017 involves us with a wide range of ‘customers’. In addition to our prime charity targets (adults as well as young persons), we have bookings from the Combined Cadet Force, Army Sailing, Corporate clients, and Friends of Boleh – some of whom last sailed in Boleh over 50 years ago!

In order to share information with potential users about Boleh and her availability, and to provide a dedicated route for booking enquiries, we have added a ‘Sail Boleh’ feature to our website. Click on the ‘Sail Boleh’ button on the Home page or visit the ‘Sail Boleh’ page. Here you will see general information about Boleh with interior photos and a ‘Submit an Enquiry’ button which then shows her availability calendar and provides the opportunity to send us an enquiry. It should all be very straight forward!

So we hope to receive your enquiry soon and welcome you on board!

We are delighted to report that Boleh has completed a very successful fortnight based in Portland sailing students from the local area. More than 30 young people from 5 Schools have benefited from this experience, in part funded by the Chesil Sailing Trust’s ‘Sail for a Fiver’ scheme. Picture shows students from Dorset Studio School enjoying their day on board Boleh.

We are also very grateful for the support of Dean & Reddyhoff who provided free berthing in their Marina and for the time generously given by 2 of our Boleh volunteer crew, John Tweed and Gordon Fraser. In the words of one School, the programme “…. was a fantastic opportunity to inspire our students and promote a ‘can-do’ attitude ….”. We look forward to returning to Dorset next year.

Once again we are indebted to the Payne Galwey Charitable Trust for a generous donation which will provide Boleh with state-of-the-art equipment. We are also delighted to acknowledge the kind donation from the Ian Agnew Charitable Trust. Thanks to both donations, a new electric outboard motor and inflatable dinghy will now complement Boleh’s innovative diesel electric auxiliary propulsion.

There is no need for onboard petrol stowage as the lightweight 2.5hp Torqeedo 1003CS outboard can be charged from Boleh’s own electrical system. Clean, convenient and environmentally friendly, we are proud this addition to our inventory enhances Boleh’s green credentials.

Come and see us at the Festival! Boleh will be alongside in Haslar Marina as one of the Historic Ships exhibited at this annual community event, open to the public from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 27 May. You can find out more about the many things to do and see at the Festival by visiting the website at www.gosportmarinefestival.org.uk – entry is free. And, of course, we look forward to welcoming you on board Boleh.

We are delighted to have been sent by a well-wisher the 1 March 1952 edition of the French nautical magazine ‘Le Yacht’. Contributors to this edition included the renowned British ocean sailor and designer Captain John Illingworth with an article on ‘Offshore Stratégie’, an early description of constructing a vessel in glass fibre (en fibre de verre moulée), and a full page on Capitane de Frègate Kilroy’s design for his yacht Boleh.

The article on Boleh, entitled ‘Du nouveau dans la conception du yacht de crosière’ (Something new in cruising yacht design), has a detailed description of Boleh’s design and unique rig, illustrated with Robin Kilroy’s drawings of the mast and sail plan. The picture shows the original page in the magazine but Boleh’s unusual wishbone booms seem to defy translation!

We are very pleased and proud to report a good response to our call for professionally qualified volunteers to crew Boleh. Very many thanks to the first 2 batches of volunteer Yachtmasters who have successfully completed the Boleh induction course. The picture shows the first group of 5 Boleh skippers in front of our 2 instructors: lead volunteer skipper and Ocean Yachtmaster Instructor, Kevin Hood; and Yachtmaster and Boleh Naval Architect, Graham Westbrook.

Our volunteer Skippers and Mates are essential to the delivery of our 2017 sailing programme aimed at providing opportunities for disadvantaged children and improving mental wellbeing for adults. We need more volunteers to build up our crewing resources and so increase Boleh’s ability to help people benefit from the experience of sailing in her. If you feel you can help, please contact the Chairman of the Boleh Trust, George Middleton at rewe_farm@hotmail.co.uk or 07545 769421.

We are encouraged by the interest shown over the last few months in the fully operational Boleh and grateful for the response to our call for volunteer skippers and crew – more always welcome. During the 2017 season Boleh will be sailing injured service men and women, inspiring school children and promoting maritime heritage at Open Days, starting with the 27th May Gosport Marine Festival.

To support Boleh’s activities we have produced an A4 brochure summarising her recent history and showing off the quality of her restoration. The brochure includes plan drawings by our Naval Architect, Graham Westbrook and photographs by professional photographer Julian of Blue Harbour Creative Media. There is also a ghosted underlay using some of Robin Kilroy’s original 1949 design drawings.