Tenacious, owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust, is purpose built to enable people of all abilities to take an active part in sailing the ship.
Watching The 2025 Fastnet Race From Shieldhall
2025 saw the start of the 100th Fastnet Race run by the Royal Ocean Sailing Club. The preserved steamship Shieldhall ran a cruise from its base in Southampton to watch the start of the race in the Solent.
As an added bonus, the RAF Red Arrows flew over the assembled sailing boats. The aircraft had displayed at Swanage before flying around the Isle of Wight counter-clockwise to pass down the Solent from the East.
Onboard
Cruising on Shieldhall was an excellent experience, its decks comfortably accommodating the 200 passengers booked on the cruise. Once at sea the ship’s bridge and engine room were continuously open for visits.
The small effort accessing the bridge and engine room via steep ladder staircases was well worth it for the experience. The heat in the engine room was unbelievable on a summer’s day.
With all the tickets sold out, there was still plenty of room on Shieldhall’s decks to find a viewing spot with quite a few photographers bringing along huge cameras. The onboard gift shop and catering did a roaring trade. Top tip, even on a summer’s day, was to take warm clothes as the wind was constant once out to sea. The passengers were a lovely group of people who were all there to enjoy themselves.
The trimarans where huge and zipped along the water as they headed West for Lands End. After that the next waypoint would be the turning point at the Fastnet Rock off the South coast of Ireland. From Fastnet it would then be time to set course for the finish line in Cherbourg, France.
Shieldhall gave a grandstand view of the sailing boats as they tacked all around the ship. The yachts were frequently so close that photographs could easily be taken on mobile phones.
Sea Greyhounds
As the steamship Shieldhall returned to its berth in Southampton Docks two racing greyhounds of the sea passed close by.
There was no opportunity to take a picture of Shieldhall at her home mooring of 110 berth as it is in a crowded, working corner of Southampton docks. It was amazing to watch the ship being expertly handled in and out of her berth.
The preserved MGB 81, a Second World War Royal Navy Motor Gun Boat which was launched in 1942.
Team 26 in their Donzi speedboat roared past Shieldhall.
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