Gordonstoun pupils have almost completed an 80-day circumnavigation of Britain to celebrate the world-famous Moray school’s 80th anniversary.
The school’s sail training vessel, the cutter Ocean Spirit of Moray, set off on the first leg of the “80 Years in 80 Days” voyage from Kyle in Wester Ross in June and, over the course of the trip, around 80 pupils will be involved crewing the yacht.
Since then, it has visited Edinburgh, Ipswich, London, Brighton, Portsmouth, Salcombe, Bristol, Liverpool and has now arrived in Glasgow.
At each of these ports current and former students and their families have been invited on board to celebrate the anniversary, with around 100 people expected to attend the reception in Glasgow tomorrow evening.
Around 11 teenage pupils from the school – which counts several members of the royal family, including Prince Philip and Prince Charles, among its former pupils – are crewing the vessel for each leg of the journey, with seven crew changes.
There are also a number of “old boys”, parents and staff on board.
Richard Devey, who is the school’s campaign director, said: “Sail training is fundamental to what we do and we have this wonderful yacht so this voyage seemed the natural thing to do to celebrate the school’s 80th anniversary.
“Everyone involved has had a fantastic time and we will have had more than 1,000 visitors on board by the time we’ve finished.
“We haven’t had any problems with the boat. Everything is progressing well and we’re bang on schedule.”
He added that junior pupil Ben Schonken, 12, had played the pipes while the boat was under the Clifton Suspension Bridge on its way into Bristol and said he thought the youngsters had particularly enjoyed this part of the trip.
A fresh crew is taking over for the final leg of the voyage from Glasgow to Plockton, where they are due to arrive on Saturday August 16.
The Ocean Spirit’s experienced skipper and mates train students in all aspects of crewing the vessel and provide ongoing help and advice.
When under way, the on-board staff organise the crew in a rotating watch system so everyone has a chance to both sail the boat and to rest.
Other tasks, such as domestic and cooking duties, are shared between the watches.