HWDT Welcomes New Boat Manager!
We are delighted to introduce Katherine, our new boat manager, to the HWDT team. here Katherine tells us about her past sailing experience, what drew her to this role and why she is so excited about setting sail onboard Silurian…
Tell us about your new role at HWDT!
My official role with the Trust is ‘Boat Manager’. This means that I will be responsible for all things Silurian, the Trust’s trusty sailing survey vessel. I’ll be making sure that she is in the best possible condition to conduct her cetacean surveying duties around the west coast and is ready to welcome our wonderful volunteers onboard.
What appealed to you about working at HWDT?
I have been aware of the amazing work that the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust carry out around our coasts. I have been fortunate that my own sailing and cetacean surveying efforts brought me into contact with the fabulous team at the Trust, so I was aware not just of the great work that they do but what a lovely bunch of people they are too. When the opportunity came up to join the team and use my sailing experience to help in whale and dolphin conservation it couldn’t have been more perfect.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
I am really excited to get to know Silurian. She is such an impressive vessel that I have seen out and about around the coast so often, so it will be really fun to get on board and figure out everything that makes her tick. While I love working on boats, getting out on the ocean is always wonderful and I have to confess that I am looking forward to being on the water surveying and getting to know the crew and volunteers most of all. And of course, seeing cetaceans!
What were you doing before joining HWDT?
I was running expeditions on my own sailing boat ‘Narwhal’. The expeditions ranged between Scotland and Svalbard where we incorporated a conservation element into the expeditions, from cetacean visual surveys to plastic pollution monitoring and beach cleaning remote beaches in the arctic. It was this experience that has made me so passionate about the link between sailing and conservation.
What is your favourite ever sailing experience?
We had just completed a 5-day passage, heading north from the northernmost tip of Norway. Four days into the voyage, icebergs began to pepper the water around us, requiring extra special vigilance around the clock. That night (although it may as well have been a day with the midnight sun still high over-head), the mass of frozen rock that is Svalbard hove into view. Exhausted from the passage, we pulled into a sheltered fjord of Hornsund and put down for a well-deserved rest. Tired as we were it was impossible not to spend some time on deck marvelling at the grandeur of the scenery around us, just rock, snow, ice, and water as far as the eye could see. Enough marvelling it was time for sleep. In charge of a boat at anchor, a small part of my brain always seems to stay awake listening for any noises that might be a tell-tale that something needs attention. A few short hours later and strange noise permeated my consciousness and my brain reluctantly brought itself back to life. This was not a noise that I was used to the boat making. I exchanged a glance with Eric, my partner, and in that unspoken moment, we both know what had woken us. It was a whale song! Narwhal’s hull was acting like a load speaker as it reverberated through the water. We both grabbed our jackets, stuffed feet into wellies, and rushed on deck in time to see a pod of beluga whales making their way up the fjord, their blows misting in the early morning sunlight of the untouched arctic wilderness.
What advice would you give anyone who wants to get into sailing?
Just do it! It sounds like cheesy advice but if there is a little something in your head that makes you think that sailing (or any other sport for that matter) might be the thing for you then I would say, give it a try. Who knows, you could find a lifelong passion that will bring you joy and connect you with a community of like-minded people. One of the great things about sailing is there are so many different aspects to it. You can race dinghies, cruise your local coast in a small day sailor, explore Scotland on your own floating home or cross oceans. Regardless of which area you want to try, I would recommend local clubs as a really great place to start. Most clubs around the UK are friendly groups of people who love talking about sailing and introducing people to sailing nearly as much as they enjoy going on the water themselves, (striped blazers are definitely not required!) Reach out to a club near you and they will be able to point you in the right direction to have a go or get on a training course. Or you could always come and join us onboard Silurian.
How did you get into sailing?
That was all down to a twelve-year-old girl. I was also twelve and my best friend, Jennie, invited me to come sailing with her in her little dinghy on a gravel quarry near our midlands home. Clad in a tracksuit, a hiking waterproof, and a ridiculously oversized foam lifejacket, we laughed, whooped, and got completely soaked as we experienced the freedom of being on the water. I was hooked, that night I badgered my parents to let me go on a training course at the club and the rest, as they say, is history.
Welcome to the team, Katherine! We are so excited to have you ‘onboard’!
If you'd like to sail with Katherine and the rest of the crew onboard Silurian in 2022 register your interest below and we will get back to you soon as the dates are announced in the next few weeks!