Silurian receives some well-deserved TLC!
Thanks to the generous backing of our funders and supporters, our research vessel Silurian has undergone a transformation!
During the winter and spring months, our Boat Manager, Emma Burgess, has undertaken some substantial maintenance on board and Silurian now sports new standing and running rigging, freshly painted masts, and solid improvements to structural and mechanical items. Silurian is a hard working boat, travelling thousands of miles every year to monitor whales, dolphins, porpoises and basking sharks in the Hebrides and we are delighted that we have been able to give her the TLC she deserves!
A freshly painted Silurian sets off for the season in style!
We also have brand new computers for logging and analysing all our vital scientific data, hard drives for keeping the data backed up and secure, and Musto oilies and Baltic safety tethers for the crew and volunteers to make sure everyone stays safe, warm and dry and focussed on spotting cetaceans.
It’s not just the equipment and paint that’s new. We also welcome two new faces to the boat crew this season too. Quentin Dimmer (Skipper) and Brian Condon (First Mate) join the team, and Charlie Triggs (First Mate) returns for another season on board, after sailing round the Southern Ocean over the winter.
Our 2019 crew anchored in Loch Sunart at sunset during their team training last month
We are grateful to our funders and everyone who has helped make this happen, and to those that have joined us on board to contribute to the collection of every single data point. All of this helps provide a better understanding of the animals that inhabit our remarkable seas and the threats that face them. We are really excited for our 17th season monitoring Hebridean seas. It’s not too late to join us on board in 2019!
We’d like to extend our thanks to;
Scottish Natural Heritage for supporting our cetacean monitoring programme, which now includes our new dedicated programme of winter surveys.
Sea-Changers whose support enabled us to purchase some much-needed computer equipment – read more here.
William Grant Foundation and WWF-UK who provided vital funds towards the maintenance work.
Tesco Bags of Help donated £2,000 after we won 2nd place in the voting in our local store in Oban - thanks so much to everyone who voted for us.
Marlow Ropes for their generous donation of running rigging equipment and joining us as a Corporate Supporter.
Chris Sharples, who volunteered with HWDT in 2017, and friends Calum Branstone, Will Neal, Kieran Wragg and Graham Hill, climbed Ben Nevis raised over £1,000 in sponsorship money and donated it towards work on Silurian – read more here.
Jake Walker, Tom Jackson, Nigel Burgess, Matthew Burgess, Ron Stevenson and Jenny Hampson volunteered their time to help with the hard graft during refit.
Crinan Boatyard Ltd. for their support, help and valued expertise during the winter months.