About


Katie Mccabe was brought up on boats, and has lived on her parents’ converted 50’ old fishing trawler her whole life, sailing as much as possible around on school holidays, and on two extended year-long sailing trips with her family. 

Having dreamed of getting her own boat for years, in 2019, after attending Charlestown classic boat festival, she finally found the boat of her dreams, laying forgotten and full of fresh water in a boatyard at Polruan, Fowey.

She spent the winter restoring her, after school and on weekends, with the help of her dad, David Mccabe, a wooden boat builder. After replacing a couple of rotten boards in the hull, most of the cockpit, several broken ribs, and renovating the engine, ‘Falanda’ was finally launched 2 days before the first UK lockdown. Katie was able to spend the whole of lockdown varnishing, painting, scraping, and rebuilding various other parts of the boat.

When restrictions eased, she and her family sailed to the Scilly isles and back, around 400nm. Katie was sailing singlehandedly on her boat ‘Falanda’, while her parents and younger brother sailed nearby in her dad's wooden yawl. She didn’t have any electronics or auto helm, so relied completely on 2 point fixes and chart work.

This year, she is aiming to sail around the UK. She plans to go around anticlockwise, leaving from Exmouth at the end of June, heading up the Channel, crossing the Thames estuary, and up the east coast into Scotland.

She will go through the Caledonian Canal, and back down the west coast, stopping at some of the Scottish islands, the Isle of Man, and Wales. She will round Lands’ End and maybe the Scilly Isles and hopefully arrive back on the river Exe around the end of August.

If she succeeds, she will become the youngest person to sail around Britain singlehandedly. Due to insurance restrictions, her dad will be following her in his boat again, acting as a safely/support vessel, however, she will be doing all of the chart work and navigation herself.

Please support Katie in her venture by visiting the Fundraising page https://falandasailing.blogspot.com/p/fundraising.html?m=1


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