Teenager to sail solo Round Britain in a 26ft wooden boat
Teenage skipper Katie McCabe has set off on a solo anticlockwise circumnavigation of Britain in a 26ft wooden sailing boat, accompanied by her dad David in his 33ft yawl.
Katie, 14, featured in PBO (October 2020) when she shared her experience of helping to restore a 1950s Morgan Giles-built West Channel One Design sloop, Falanda – in which she is now undertaking her challenge.
If successful she could take the mantle from Timothy Long of being the youngest person to sail solo around Britain.
At the time of going to press, Katie and David were due to set sail in their respective wooden vessels on 30 June or 1 July from the River Exe, in an anticlockwise direction.
David, 54, is a self-taught boatbuilder. The McCabe family used to live aboard a converted fishing trawler, Ros Ailither (PBO, June 2021), which they sailed across the Atlantic and back when Katie was 14 months old. They now live ashore near the River Exe,
Devon. Mum Hazel and brother Reuben, aged 10, will be chasing the voyagers in a campervan, once the school term finishes on 23 July, and expect to catch up with them in Scotland.
While Katie could not be granted official permission to finish school four weeks early, the headteacher told PBO that students were supported and encouraged to engage in activitives that enrich their experiences and skills. She added: “We are so incredibly proud of what Katie is doing.”
Speaking the week before departure, Katie said: “I’ve been doing passage planning most nights. I didn’t realise how many wind farms there were, or how many drying harbours there are up the East
Coast. The forecast is for really strong easterly winds, so I may end up going around clockwise.” She added: “Last summer I sailed to the Isles of Scilly, about 400 miles there and back, single-handed, with my dad sailing nearby in his boat. It’s just nice to be alone sometimes and to sail without having to rely on an engine. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Great Britain. Scotland sounds really nice.”
Katie met record-breaker Timothy Long last summer in Torquay, before he finished his circumnavigation in 28ft Hunter Impala, Alchemy, aged 15 at the time – beating Tom Webb’s record of sailing around Britain aged 17 in 2011. Katie, who saved for her own wooden sailing boat by doing odd jobs and selling painted shells and hair wraps on a stall at Topsham Quay, added: “About two years ago I thought of it and when I looked into it a bit more last year I heard about Timothy Long. I got in touch with him, we met up and it was the first time I realised there was a record for being the youngest person.”
Katie hopes to fundraise £500 for Sea Shepherd UK, a charity that seeks to stop illegal fishing, supports sustainable fishing, and is trying to remove ghost nets – old discarded fishing nets, floats and pots – from the sea: justgiving.com/fundraising/ falanda-roundbritain
Katie is also hoping to raise awareness for charity Lonely Whale, which encourages big businesses to use recycled plastic in their products. Find out more about the charity at www.lonelywhale.org