SUNDAY TIMES FEATURE

Michael Bilton from Southsea, Hampshire joined the Swan with his 12 year old son John for a voyage of discovery in August 2007. Click here to see his story as printed in the Sunday Times Magazine.
Sunday 27th January 2008

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/article3239225.ece

FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE - PLEASURES PURSUED: Puritan Pleasure - Off the beaten tack

By Paul Miles, Financial Times
Published: Nov 04, 2006

"Free off the topping lift," shouts skipper Jane Brander, above the din of a force 5 wind. Despite the cold, grey day, I am warm and my hands are sore after helping the crew haul ropes. The mainsail is now filling with wind. We tack out of Mid Yell Voe towards the uninhabited island of Hascosay.

I am in the Shetland Islands, Britain's most northerly outpost - closer to the Arctic Circle than to London - and the boat I am in is the Swan, a 67ft "smack-rigged fifie". She was built in Lerwick, the capital, in the early 1900s, part of a fleet of herring boats. She has been lovingly restored and is now used as a sail-training boat and for holidays.

Today, her rust-coloured sails are no longer made of canvas, preserved with red ochre and tallow, but they do look the part. We raise the foresail, but not the mizzen or jib, as we are only out on a short afternoon jaunt.

I have been on board one night, sleeping in a cosy bunk (£25 including meals) in what was once the fish-hold, but already I am getting to grips with the jargon of sheets and halyards. Brander even encourages me to have a go at the helm. "Can you feel the groove?" she says as I take the wheel. I can and, surprisingly, find myself wishing that there was more wind so that we could really lean the boat into it.

We glide effortlessly and peacefully through the grey, choppy sea, which sparkles with bursts of autumn sunshine. Porpoises swim close by and shags and gannets fly and dive. Now I begin to understand why Brander, 39, gave up her job as a City lawyer for a life at sea.

The Swan, which can sleep 15 in very basic conditions, takes passengers on half-day trips and sometimes further afield. Brander has anchored in Norway, the Faroes and even in the remote and abandoned isle of St Kilda.

Although the long summer has now ended in the Shetlands and the nights are drawing in fast, the Swan continues to grace pretty harbours and sail around these treeless islands.

The Swan Trust, 01595 697 406. www.swantrust.org.uk

http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=paul+Miles+swan&y=0&aje=false&x=0&id=061104000506&ct=0
www.paulmiles.co.uk.