Onboard SPIRIT OF FAIRBRIDGE VOYAGES . SEAMANSHIP . EQUIPMENT TALL SHIP CRUISING
Piloting a course away from trouble
Born against a background of urban riots, the Liverpool pilot schooner Spirit of Fairbridge is there to turn young lives around. Roger Barnes (neither young nor disadvantaged) shipped aboard
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travel westwards all day, lugging my sea bag across changes of train. And then at last, rumbling down the branch line to Falmouth Docks, I see the harbour cranes rise above the grey rooftops and, among the thicket, two varnished masts with white tops. That must be her: my date with a Liverpool pilot schooner. I find Spirit of Fairbridge lying among the pontoons of Port Pendennis. She’s rafted to the old Brixham trawler Leader. I swing myself over the trawler’s bulwarks and cross her sea-worn deck, to report on board the schooner. There is no one aboard Spirit except the mate, Emma Clifton. After a lumpy three-day passage down from Liverpool, the rest of the crew have gone on a well-earned run ashore.
Emma leads me through the varnished wooden charthouse and down into the saloon and galley area, a lofty, workmanlike space lit by a skylight. Forward of this a corridor leads past the heads and staff cabins, and then the crew’s cabin, with tiers of bunks on each side, twelve in total. I find a spare one and dump my dunnage on it. Back on deck, I eye up my date. She looks sturdy and well able to take care of herself: a shapely 70ft (21.3m) timber hull with a 20ft (6.1m) running bowsprit. Steel stays rise from deep bulwarks to the trucks of the two stout varnished masts. A gaff mainsail, gaff
CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2012
“Young people need someone to believe in them”
foresail and staysail are lashed to their spars. I identify the gear for a main topsail, topmast staysail and jib, as well as running backstays on the main mast. There are no winches: just lots of ropes and blocks and belaying pins. It is going to be hard work taking out this girl. I find the bosun, Kenny Harris, in a quayside inn. In a broad and expressive Scots accent, Kenny tells me about the boat and the charity that runs her. Fairbridge (now working as part of the Prince’s Trust) has centres in 15 urban areas of the UK, and engages with people aged between 13 and 25, most classed as having ‘multiple needs’, such as homelessness, substance misuse or a history of offending. Last year it helped more than 3,500 young people, many of whom spent some time on Spirit as part of their programme. The ship works hard, sailing with parties of young people for 10 months of the year, based mainly at Oban or on the Clyde. “We carefully assess each young person, and only offer a trip on Spirit to those likely to benefit from it,” he says. “But it definitely works: you’ll find that many of the staff on board have come up through the programme – even the Skipper!” Spirit was conceived in Liverpool 30 years ago, as a replica of the lost pilot schooners of that proud port city. Save for her modern interior and the safety equipment demanded by her work, a 19th-century Liverpool pilot would find her as familiar as the approach channels of his home port.
Above: Spirit of Fairbridge: based on a Liverpool pilot schooner; built as a sail training ship. Left: Skipper Campbell Greer “joined Fairbridge at 14”. Right: Hoisting the mainsail
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