Christian Bugge

[Benbow]

I have just come accross an interesting little book called Passage from Paradise by Helen Smallwood. It is an account of a group of people who restored the Christian Bugge, a wonderful looking Norwegian 'rescue ship' and sailed her from Seychelles to Britain in the 1980's. (I found it slightly frustrating in that they obvioulsy did a great job of restoration and had some very competent sailors on board; but there is little description of the restoration and the account of the voyage is more concerned with the people than the boat.)

I don't suppose anyone knows anything about the subsequent fate of the boat? I googled and found a site in Norwegian with some alarming pictures of her sunk and burned-out. However, my Norwegian is not up to understanding her present state.

Thanks

 

[celandine]

[ QUOTE ]
but there is little description of the restoration and the account of the voyage is more concerned with the people than the boat.)

[/ QUOTE ]

This seems to be so often the case. I find TV programme makers the worst. Anyone interested in boats wants to know about the rig, how she handles, the gear on board etc. but almost invariably the media concentrate on the human-angle, ie the crew - who's doing the cooking, washing up, missing their loved ones etc. I think they must teach them at TV school that going in to any technical detail is nerdy and frightens the viewer. The flaw in their argument is that with the number of channels these days, anyone not actually interested in boats will not be watching in the first place.

Mick

 

[macdonaste]

Christian Bugge from 1987

Hi I was researching an old sailing ship today and found people asking
As to her whereabouts she is the lovely Christian Bugee.
She was originally a Norwegian rescue ship and run to and from
Britain until 1980 she was restored and I can say I had the pleasure
of sailing on her in 1988 she was purchased in Scotland and became
a training ship for young people and YTS trainees.We sailed around the
west coast of Scotland taking in Tarbet , Ailsa Craige and if I can spell
it Tyne a Bruke ? we hooked up in Tarbet for a bit due to a bad storm
and sailed back to port in the storm we had a race home with the other
yaught from Rolls Royce despite the Bugge having only a short
main sail that week as the other got damaged we won hands down.
As far as I know it's still there today harboured on the west coast .

 

[Davepets]

Hi, I appreciate this thread is now about 12 years old!! However, I had the good fortune to sail on the Christian Bugge in about 1984/85. I was maybe 9 years of age and my best mates dad, John Bullock a retired army pt, was looking after her and a Rolls Royce Whitbread yacht called Merlin at Inverkip marina on the West of Scotland. This is going back a fair few years so I’m a bit misty, however I believe his company was called Sail and Adventure Scotland and they used the CBugge to sail the west coast. Our trip was out to Tarbert over a couple of days and the journey has always stuck with me. There were a couple of blokes playing banjos on the deck and my mate and I spent time climbing the rigging and dicking about all over the ship.
Always wondered what became of her and randomly while searching this evening came across this thread. Small world!

 

[RunAgroundHard]

An old thread but so what.

Christian Bugge returned to Norway near the end of the 80's. The halcyon days of sail training were over and boats like Christian Booge, Merlin of Clyde (a RR boat for their apprentices, trainees) were struggling against rising costs. She was berthed in front of me for the 5 years I was there. A memorable session was held onboard when one of her skippers was leaving, maybe even the vessel itself. How I got home is questionable. I boarded the train at inverkip, managed to change trains at Paisley, then proceeded to go up and down between Ayr and Glasgow, where I was woken rudely and told I had one more option, leave with the train to Glasgow or get off at Ayr. My fiancée had been waiting since 18:00, this was 23:30, furious is an underestimate. I was walked up and down Ayr beech until I sobered up as I was not being taken back to her parents house in that state.

They were great years on the Clyde, the 80's, lots of racing, tuition, cruising, sail training, boat deliveries - something for everyone. New boat designs coming thick and fast as well.