After two years of Covid restrictions and poor luck for charter companies across the country, the owner of a Rhu-based boating training centre says the ‘stars aligned’ when he took the decision to launch cruises in Helensburgh and surrounding areas.
You and Sea started offering trips to a number of attractions in and around the Gare Loch and Firth of Clyde on Jola Too last week.
The company purchased a boat in 2019 which went afloat a week before the lockdown in March 2020.
Due to restrictions and a lack of activity, this vessel was sold last winter.
Since then, the company has decided to push forward with its provision of charter trips and began searching for new boats earlier in the year.
Euan Carruthers, owner of You and Sea, said: “I was working away in Ballachulish in January and I was pinging round various sites, and my dad was doing the same.
“We both landed on this boat at the same time – and it was only 15 minutes away, so I went to have a look at it.
“Life moved very quickly after that. Four days later my dad was on board having a look as well; two days later, we had it.
“We’re hopefully on the other side of Covid restrictions now as well.
“Some of the charter companies we worked with on the Clyde and in other parts of Scotland have suffered really heavily with the restrictions and we, touch wood, have come out of it okay because of our commercial training side.
“The boat also came up for sale at the right time, so the stars just aligned.”
You and Sea was launched in 2014, with a primary focus on providing training services.
It was set up as a powerboat school and ran some navigation courses, before expanding into motor cruising and offering commercial training.
Whilst continuing to run these services, You and Sea will now offer cruises of varying length from Thursday to Sunday.
One of the trips available provides passengers with a different view of the Rosneath Peninsula and Faslane, travelling up the Gare Loch.
Customers can also opt for longer three-hour cruises to locations such as Cloch Lighthouse and the Gantocks, Kip Marina, or Glenmallan.
Four-hour trips which cross the Firth of Clyde before following the channel eastwards to the Erskine Bridge will also run on Monday, April 18 and Monday, May 2.
This route takes passengers by Dumbarton Rock and the Titan Crane.
The most popular trip so far, however, has been the trip along Helensburgh shoreline, which then takes passengers out to see the ‘sugar boat’.
The wreck of MV Captayannis has laid on a sandbank in the Firth of Clyde since 1974, when it was caught up in a storm.
Having been moored on the river whilst waiting to unload its cargo at James Watt Dock’s sugar terminal, the poor weather caused the ship to drag its anchor.
Captain Theodorakis Ionnis ordered his crew to start up the engine in an attempt to find more sheltered waters in the Gare Loch.
The high winds blew the vessel towards a BP tanker, with the anchor chains ripping a hole in the hull of the Captayannis, allowing water to pour in.
After heading for a sandbank, the unstable vessel ran aground and eventually settled on its port side.
The 30-strong crew was rescued, and the wreck remains in place today.
Euan added: “I remember looking out to the ‘sugar boat’ for a good few months when I moved to Helensburgh.
“I was trying to explain to someone who is not sold on this lump of wreck that thousands of people are, and I’m one of them.
“I think loads of people will be interested, whether it’s someone who has lived in Helensburgh for 30 years and doesn’t have access to the water or someone just visiting.”
Trips can be booked online at youandsea.com.
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