The Tenacious From Southampton

The Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival
Originally uploaded by infomatique

Designed by Tony Castro, TENACIOUS is the largest wooden tall ship of her kind in the world. The innovative wood epoxy laminate build started in 1996 with a team made up of skilled designers, engineers, shipwrights and fitters headed up by ship build director Howard Mackenzie Wilson. These were supplemented by a volunteer force of over 1500 able bodied and disabled people who came on working "Shorewatch" holidays from all over the UK and abroad.

The JST’s, Patron, HRH The Duke of York laid the keel in June 1996. The hull was built upside down and in November 1998, the 280-ton hull was rotated upright prior to fit-out. Tenacious was launched in February 2000, and was named on April 6th by the Honourable Jacquetta Cator, the wife of the president of the JST, in the presence of the Patron. She set sail on her maiden voyage to Jersey from Southampton on 1st September 2000.

The cost of the project was £14.3 million of which £6.5 million was awarded by the Lottery Sports Fund. The balance comes from public, private and corporate fundraising by the JST but there is still £4 million to raise.

Since commencing voyages in September 2000, TENACIOUS has taken 5,764 people to sea. Of these 2,215 people were physically disabled and 773 were wheelchair users. Their disabilities included: Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Spina Bifida, Paraplegia and many more…..

TENACIOUS’ many facilities enable disabled crew to perform their duties independently alongside their able-bodied shipmates.

The ship has access throughout for disabled crew, including wheelchair users, with flat wide decks and powered lifts. There is a speaking compass for the use of blind crew members and bright track radar for partially sighted crew. An induction loop and vibrator alarms have been installed for hard of hearing crew members.

There are special cabins, toilets and shower facilities for disabled crew and the ship is fitted with a mess deck, fully equipped galley, workshop and of course, a well stocked bar and saloon area.