Cancer Trust yacht calls in at Arbroath

moonspray: Yacht takes young cancer survivors on adventure around the coast

A yacht that takes youngsters recovering from cancer on an adventure along the coastline has arrived in Arbroath.

The 44ft Moonspray, part of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust boat fleet, stopped off in the Angus town as part of its mission to take 100 youths recovering from the disease out to sea.

The Moonspray embarked on a trip from Largs in May, and has passed through both the Crinan and Caledonian canals as part of the Round Britain 2017 project.

The ship is helmed by four permanent crew members, including on-board reporter Tom Roberts, who battled Ewing Sarcoma as a teenager.

Last night the 24-year-old said: “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 2005, founded the trust in 2003.

The crew’s next destination is Tayport.

We have done hospital visits to share our story and inspire people ... to come on the trips

Grace, Craig and Jess on the Moonspray.