The Homecoming

Vigilance finally arrived back in Brixham in mid-April to a welcome party on the Heritage Pontoon. The boat was skippered by Will Stirling whose shipyard has done such a spectacular job of the repairs, with six of the regular volunteer crew.

She looks rather strange without her masts – which will be refitted in the next few weeks – but the crew reported that everything worked perfectly and took on no water despite some ‘bumpy’ conditions off Prawl Point demonstrating that Vigilance had lost none of her sea-keeping abilities.

Among the welcoming crowd was Helen Wheatley from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund who has done so much to make this day possible. She wasn’t alone in shedding a few tears at the sight of Vigilance tying up in her home port once again – only feet was from where she was first launched 99 years ago. The landfall was made even more poignant because the boat carried the ashes of Colin Mawbey. Colin had skippered the boat when she went down to Plymouth in 2022 and he was very excited at the prospect of bringing her back again. Sadly, Colin died in 2024 but his family agreed that his ashes should be on board for the trip. Now Vigilance is back, there is a great deal of work to be done above and below decks to get her sailing again at the earliest opportunity!