Last updated on December 10th, 2023
Trinity Sailing is a foundation that gives people, ranging from school-age children to those on retirement, the opportunity to sail amongst a small fleet of old sailing trawlers that hold the same status as vessels like HMS Victory due to their national significance. These hands-on cruises range from £325 to £1,200+ depending on the itinerary.
The trip I’ll be discussing cost around £695 as it was to Brittany, France.
On arrival, every group, whether they have done trips with Trinity Sailing before or not, will receive a safety brief from what to do in case of a fire to how to respond if someone falls over the edge – luckily I have not heard of this actually happening. Next you’re taken to get some waterproofs for the journey; these include some salopettes and an even less fetching pair of yellow wellies. Once kitted out, as a crew, sit down to discuss where you’ll be going on the trip. Our boat was originally hoping to go to the Isles of Scilly but due to the wind being in the wrong direction for that, we had to adapt our plans to go to Brittany instead via the river Dart.
On Monday, after a night on the boat anchored up in the river, we ventured straight across the English Channel that is busy during the night due to many large cargo ships in the shipping lanes. As the trip across takes approximately 24 hours (weather dependent) it is necessary for those on the boat to be put on shifts, usually lasting about 3 hours each, it’s important to find ways of keeping everyone entertained – our boats method was eye spy (rather difficult when you’re just surrounded by water). Night shifts are certainly an experience because although you’re feeling rather exhausted and also perhaps ill if you’re on a smaller vessel, you can’t help but be taken aback by the sheer vastness of the open water as you’re miles away from land, light and noise except that of the creaking boat – this takes star gazing to a new level.
The first stop was Roscoff, this town is smaller than you’d expect, as it is a main port for Brittany Ferry. Roscoff is full of different shops and cafés but I wouldn’t advise to stay there for too long. Later that evening over our meal, (there is a cook on the larger boats), we talked about where we’d next be venturing to – this ended up being Carantec. Carantec, I found, was very pretty especially on a sunny day so it’s worth having a long walk around and admiring the views, it’s also a great place to stock up on snacks and drinks before heading off to a nearby beach.
On the same day of arriving at this French marina we set off again. This meant embarking on another set of night shifts. I feel now is a good time to mention that because some of these boats are over 120 years old there are no automatic sail trimming equipment like you’d find on yachts these days, if you want to trim a sail you have to use the old method of putting in some sweat by changing everything manually. Hoisting the main sail takes the majority of the boat working in sync; although there is time when you’re doing little except looking out from the boat at the views this can certainly be an active holiday. I believe that it is possible to not do these things and get the permanent crew to hoist sails etc. but these tasks are certainly worth a try!
Soon we set our sights on England again, before going back to Brixham we went off to another anchorage on the way. Whilst at this dock we did a few exercises that, along with the information we learnt during the week, went towards us all gaining a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) qualification for competent crew.
Throughout this trip as there was a large group of us we all went on two boats, they don’t always travel together as far as I’m aware but during this trip they did so whenever we anchored those on the vessels could mingle & spend the days in France together.
Finally, on Friday morning we had an early start and sailed to Falmouth marina where we said goodbye to the Trinity crew and left on our way home, weary but full of some great memories. This is such a good experience, I especially recommend it for those with no/little sailing experience as you’re in the hands of great people, many of whom have been seafaring for years.
By Megan Anderson
Hola Parceros,
I’m the founder of Aperlust. I enjoy web development and SEO and am into snowboarding and linguistics. In my spare time, you can find me destroying my opponents in chess across the globe.
