Highland sailors go round Mull in circles for Children in Need

A crew of hardy Highland sailors will take on a gruelling challenge circumnavigating Mull for a whole week. They hope to raise £10,000 for Children in Need by taking on the 24/seven endeavour from Friday November 8-15. The crew is being skippered by 71-year-old Duror man Joey Gough, who is currently recovering from major surgery and is a cancer survivor. For the past few months, he has been working hard to regain fitness for skippering the Oban yacht Tangle o’ the Isles. The past Commodore of both Oban Sailing Club and Royal Highland Yacht Club has enlisted Twig Olsen, from Taynuilt, Christine MacFarlane Slack, Ballachulish, Colin Campbell, Acharacle, and Robert Bradley from Melbourne. Mr Gough said: “It will be 24/7 as long as the weather allows. We won’t put the boat or the crew at hazard. But that doesn’t mean to say they won’t get cold, wet and miserable. “It’s 80 miles round, we should get round in about 20 hours, depending on the wind. But the tide could slow us down. Having said that, if we get fair winds we could be faster. I would expect to go eight or nine times, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we only do seven. “I’m hoping we will make £10,000. At present we are just short of £2,000, but we haven’t started sailing yet. “Sailing round Mull in summer is something we do for fun. Sailing round in November is a challenge and something worth sponsoring. It might not be fun but there will be satisfaction.”