News

Unst lass Heather Gray tells us about her sailing experiences with The Swan, including how she progressed from Trainee to chaperone and her travels around the UK and Norway

The Swan Trust is among 16 charitable organisations which have collectively received over half a million pounds from the Shetland Charitable Trust, with the Swan Trust receiving £14,000. This funding will be used to ready The Swan to offer life changing sail training opportunities in 2021.

In 2021 The Swan Trust will mark 25 years since The Swan was relaunched. In the lead up to this anniversary, we will be featuring personal stories from those who have sailed on The Swan and worked with The Trust. In the first of these, Andrew Manson, The Swan Trust’s Sail Trainee of the Year 2019, reminisces about his trips on Swan and what this means to him.

One of the Swan Trust’s main objectives is to celebrate and keep our heritage alive. Swan Trust Trustee, John Goodlad, looks back at Shetland’s Herring Fishing heritage, and the important part Swan played, and is still playing, in this story.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, resultant government restrictions and event cancellations, the Swan Trust has cancelled all 2020 sailing trips. It is hoped many 2020 trips will be rescheduled to next year, which will be advertised on their website as they are confirmed. To protect its volunteers, the Trust also cancelled maintenance sessions and regular meetings for the time being, but hope to resume these as soon as restrictions allow.

The Swan Trust and Shetland with Laurie are working together for the first time to offer guided tours of Lerwick Harbour aboard Shetlands traditional boat, The Swan. See Jimmy Perez’s house from the sea and hear tales of smugglers, Dutch fishermen and the rise of Lerwick to Shetlands capital.

Sail Training Shetland seeks trainees for Adventure Sail North aboard Swan, Ullapool to Shetland - applications close 27th March 2020

Details of The Swan Trust attending the Arts & Business Scotland Winter Forum to present on their sponsorship with John Lawrie Group, which enabled the #LitterCUBES project to come to Shetland

The Swan Trust is offering a varied 2020 programme of classic sailing trips, which can now be booked online. Swan will visit two festivals on the UK Mainland, cruise down the Caledonian Canal, explore the Western Isles, and hop over to St Kilda. She will also be sailing around Shetland, including half day guided Lerwick Harbour Tours, various Day Trips, a Sessions and Sail voyage and trips to coincide with local Festivals.  In August she will sail to Norway on a trip inspired by the Shetland Bus and then cruise around the Hardangerfjord before returning to Shetland.

September marks the end of Swans 2019 season and we have been home around Shetland, working with schools, carrying out routine maintenance and our last sail of the year from Lerwick to Scalloway.

Swan Sail Trainee of the Year 2019, Drew Manson, is presented with the Vevoe Trophy for his outstanding performance in Race 1 of the Tall Ships Races, Aalborg, Denmark to Fredrikstad, Norway

The Swan Trust and well-known Shetland musician Barry Nisbet are to offer Sessions and Sail in Shetland for the first time. Sailing around the Isles 27th April – 1st May 2020, the trip will also coincide with the 40th Shetland Folk Festival and Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters.