yacht Scooby sails round Wales
Former Rhyl harbour master, Arthur Davies has successfully completed his circumnavigation around Wales by river, canal and sea.
He left the Welsh seaside resort on 31 May and returned 26 days later having sailed 501 miles on his Vivacity 20, Scooby.
Davies’ wife, Sandra, friend Anne Grace and long term sailing partner Tony Parvin joined him on different legs of his voyage.
The adventure took Scooby to the river Mersey, into the Manchester Ship Canal, the boat museum at Ellesmere Port, the Shropshire Union Canal, Stafford and Worcester Canal, river Severn, Gloucester and Sharpness canal, Bristol Channel, Cardigan Bay and the Menai Strait.
Originally, it was planned to navigate the river Dee to Chester via a link to the Shropshire Union Canal, but silting meant the lockgate could not be opened so an alternative route had to be found.
“It was great to get round and into the canal system,” Davies told PBO. “As a result of the coverage about my trip a lot of people recognised Scooby and knew what we were doing. A man in Wolverhampton, who had lived on his barge for 41 years, said he’d never seen a sailboat on the canal.”
Many of the 7ft wide locks were a tight squeeze for Scooby, which is 6ft 10in wide.
“We had to lay tarps to protect the paintwork,” explained Davies, who used the trip to raise funds for the new Shannon-class lifeboat at Rhyl and the St David’s Hospice in Llandudno.
He plans to repeat the circumnavigation in the future at a more leisurely pace.