Scottish Catholic Observer

A Catholic school pupil from Barrhead has expressed his delight at being selected to take part in a race involving some of the world’s most striking sea vessels this summer.

Danny McNeil, an S6 pupil from St Luke’s High School, Barrhead, will participate in the international Tall Ships Race, which takes place annually in July and August and will see the ships sailing by Ireland, the UK, Norway and Sweden.

The St Luke’s pupil will be joined for the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity by Euan Marshall, from Williamwood High School.

Councillor Jim Fletcher, leader of East Renfrewshire Council, explained how the two boys were chosen to take part in this year’s Tall Ships.

“East Renfrewshire Council offered the opportunity of a lifetime, to fund two places for 2011 Races,” Mr Fletcher said.

“The requirements were a spirit of adventure, a can-do attitude, a strong pair of sea legs and the ability to raise £100 towards the cost of their voyage.”

St Luke’s pupil Danny, who is studying art, physical education, and chemistry in his final year at the Barrhead school, explained that taking part in the Tall Ships Race will bring back old family memories of life at sea.

“My mum had a boat when I was a young kid and she had to get rid of it when my brother Sam was born and then my wee sister Lauren,” Danny said.

“My mum is so excited that I’m getting this opportunity and she hasn’t stopped talking about it since we found out.

“It is really amazing. I am excited and nervous at the same time.”

David Gordon, Danny’s depute headteacher at St Luke’s, said that taking part in the Tall Ships Race will help the young pupil’s development, in addition to being a fantastic personal experience.

“Danny is a top pupil and we are delighted that he is getting this incredible opportunity,” Mr Gordon said.

“Danny is very interested in naval architecture, so this is a career development opportunity as well as a personal development opportunity.”

More than 150 boats will take part in the race, which is challenged in three stages. Stage one is between Waterford, Ireland and Greenock, stage two is from the Shetland Isles to Stavangar, Norway, while the final stage is from Stavangar to Inverness, via Halmstad, Sweden.

Danny and Euan do not yet know what stage of the race they will be involved in but, like his St Luke’s counterpart, Euan is both thrilled and a little nervous about participating.

“I just wanted an entirely new challenge,” Euan said.

“I am quite fascinated with engineering, but I am really drawn to the hands-on experience that this challenge will provide and to see how it all works.”

The boys will experience life on a 72-feet ocean-going race yacht. Each boat carries up to six sea staff and 12 young crew.

The yachts are designed to be relatively easy for non-professional sailors to crew and while the boys will be required to work hard as fully fledged members of the sailing crew, they will also be expected to take their turn with all the on-board cooking and cleaning.