A yacht which transports youngsters recovering from cancer on an adventure across the coastline has arrived in an Angus port.
The 44ft Moonspray, part of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust boat fleet, has stopped off in Arbroath Harbour as it tours the UK’s shores with the mission of taking 100 youths recovering from the disease to the high seas.
Groups of youngsters aged between eight and 24 have been invited to take part in the boating adventure, doing so for a week at a time to tour seaside towns and cities.
The Moonspray embarked on a round trip from Largs in May, and has passed through both the Crinan and Caledonian canals as part of the Round Britain 2017 project.
Currently there are five kids aged between 11 and 15 on the Moonspray.
The ship is helmed by four permanent crew members, including on-board reporter Tom Roberts – who battled Ewing Sarcoma as a teenager.
He was diagnosed with the condition, a form of bone cancer of the spine, on his 16th birthday; and took to the seas with the trust during his recovery a year-and-a-half afterwards.
Last night the 24-year-old said: “This project that we currently doing is called Round Britain 2017. Overall 100 hundred young people are taking part. We started in Largs on May 20 and we finish in Largs in September.
“Every week or so we get four or five young people from the local area. They come on board as the crew. It is really exciting. The welcomes we have been having have been really, really nice.
“We have done hospital visits to share our story and inspire people in hospital to come on the trip.
“I was diagnosed when I was 16 and had about a year-and-a-half of treatment, and then came on a trip. As part of that recovery process it was a really special experience. I’d never been sailing before.”
The aim of the trips are to rebuild the confidence of young cancer survivors, doing so through activities both on and off the vessel.
Mr Roberts added it was rewarding for youngsters to meet people of the same age going through a “similar experience”.
He said: “When i did it I was really amazed by how many people were in the same sort of position. The trips aren’t as much about sailing.”
Dame Ellen MacArthur, who broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in 20005, is one of Britain’s most famous sailors. She founded the trust in 2003.
The crew made their way to Tayport today before heading on to Edinburgh.
