Sailing in Skye, Long way from the Pacific!

Bligh Had rum..We have TALISKER! Sounds good to me!!

Talisker Bounty Boat dawn on Sunday

Talisker and Adventures in SKYE!

It’s Official! TALISKER BOUNTY BOAT. and we are all very excited to have such a fine Sponsor with a very strong commitment to SIF too.  See the “latest news” for the full press release. What an incredible coincidence that my first boat was named Skye, Talisker have been in Skye forever, and even whale boats are descended from Scotland and the Viking raiding vessels that regularly plundered Skye.

 

It was a huge effort by all concerned and a great weekend, with plenty of traditional Scottish hospitality from all at the Talisker distillery. It started early on wed. 10^th picking up the Range Rover from the other side of London and back to Mike’s place at Potters Bar to hook up Bounty Boat. Then it was off to Leeds to spend the night with my Southampton Boat show mate Stuart Keane. Next morning at 7am in the fog, it was off to Liverpool to pick up Stuart Kershaw our 5^th crew member and Video cameraman…arrived at 10 am, then straight to Glasgow arriving at 5pm…we only tow at 50mph!!!....a 10 hour day driving!!

 

Then Friday 13^th, (Black Friday) up and off at 7.44am arriving at 4pm at the OLD Inn on the Isle of Skye. Bought a full KILT!! On the way…very funny to dress in a skirt but quite the part in Scotland...said hi to a few people in the Talisker Distillery. The Isle of Skye is an amazing place…just like the NZ Subantarctic Island. The people are great and it has a strange attraction, but coming from Australia it is another world. Driving weather was not nice..Checked out the BB launch ramps…not very good at all …That night Black Friday kicked in!..the mizzen sail with our very new Talisker logo got lost on the Easy Jet plane, together with the luggage of our  media/PR team who flew up from London…so BIG problem as you cannot do a photo shoot without it..??..everyone VERY worried!!!

 

Saturday, up at 7am in the dark…sorting boat and waiting for Breakfast…they ran out of gas and food at the OLD INN but I loved the place, then a radio interview and BB to the park in front of the Talisker Distillery setting masts up in the rain!! Ready for the McIntyre Clan photos, without Talisker sail, on trailer, but we had a great Talisker flag in place....when done after 10.30am back to get the Kilt on for the Scottish reunion for all the McIntyre Clan and a few drams of Talisker!!…then back in for the food and an Expedition presentation by me for those that were there…I am sure the locals think we are a bit strange hearing of past adventures, but excited about the next.

 

At about 1400hr…back to the Old Inn to get Musto wet weather gear on, still raining and tow BB three miles away to launch in very difficult conditions…was happy to know boat was insured!!...had a fishing boat on standby, then sailed back down the Lock to a mooring …arrived after dark and packed BB up …back into the hotel that night stuffed!.

 

Sunday..The Talisker sail arrived!!!…Up at 6.30am to get down to the boat and rig the new sail in the dark before sunrise, incase of a good photo opp…but it just kept raining!!!..not fun…anyway it eventually cleared and so began sailing first light for Video and photos…did onboard interviews for TV, then when all happy off loaded most, then sailed back down to the boat ramp, only to find we could not get it out as tide too low ..the rest of the team left for Glasgow at 1 pm…Stewart got the car and trailer and we both de-rigged BB on the water……had some problems getting the boat back on the trailer. I went swimming!..sort of fell in!! and it was solved, so got out about 2pm…washed BB down then back to the Old Inn…packed up the room and then packed the boat and covered it for another long road trip…got away about 4pm to start driving through the night for Glasgow to do morning TV…weather was bad, fog, rain, windy roads, but made it to a hotel around 10.30pm…Stewart started editing the video footage, finished at 1.30 am ( big day!) but the internet Wifi was not working ,so could not get it out to Barry our Pr/Media guru….as it turned out no Morning TV….In the morning drove through to Liverpool to Stewarts edit suite to transmit footage to Barry …then I drove onto Bristol arriving at 6pm last night…I had to drop BB there for some electrical work…unfortunately the Hotel did not have Internet again, so not able to update anyone!  Did a story in Bristol with the local area paper and a photo…then arrived back in Potters Bar at 6pm Tuesday 17th

 

Now I am on a Plane back to China at Midday 18^th …all up 1900 miles of driving in some really bad weather with no radio in the car!!!..Good practice for BB...shot some classic Video footage.. Next time BB is sailing will be in February in Sydney for the start of three weeks of training with all our crew assembled together for the first time.

 

Bounty Boat in Scotland!

Well it has been a crazy week getting back to the UK, meetings about the
Doco and Book, plus plenty of laughs catching up with Mike again. He has had
BB at his house while I have been away. I grabbed a very British hire car,
that has no radio!!, headed off to Leeds to see Sturat my boat show buddy
and then the next day over to Liverpool to pick up the fith crew..Stuart
Kershaw...with a heap of camera gear, then set off to Glasgow and a big
sleep. Then today we came across to the Isle of SKYE!...along the way we
climbed up to the Scotish Highlands and past Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis and
Loch Lomond!! All places that I tried to say in a Scotish accent!!! Not with
any skill!!Good fun though....so then we were driving through a place called
Fort Williams and from the Highway we saw a shop with a MacIntyre name that
looked like it might sell Kilts!!! Now there is an idea???...so with Friday
13th big on my mind we stopped , went in and came out looking very Donald
McIntyre!! We found a castle along the way to prove we really are getting
ready for a BIG DAY tomorrow...so come back here to check it out!!!...some
big news is about to be announced here within 24 hours!!!

For $1000 you don't get undies!

You need to read the previous Blog!

Third and fifth man selected, 4th getting close!

For all those crew applicants wondering, Yes I have selected the third crew member and we will announce his details soon. I am now going through the final short list to decide on the fourth and hope to make that decision in the next few days. I arrive in the UK on Saturday and plan to set out with BB in tow for The Isle of Skye early on the morning of 11^th. Hoping for a great McIntyre Clan reunion! I am picking up Stewart Kershaw another Adventurous sole on the way. He is our Fifth crew member and camera man..we will talk more about him later. He is our reserve crew member who will be with us right up till the minute we set out on the 28^th April next year. If something happened to one of the four voyage crew, he is there ready to go. He has rowed the Atlantic with 12 others all in the one boat! He did half that trip with no toilet paper so in many ways he is more experienced than me! He just happens to be a great camera man and film maker also.