Fundraising sail-a-thon gets underway at Brindister Loch

A 24 hour sail-a-thon got underway on the Brindister Loch on Saturday afternoon.

Staged by the Sandwick Boating Club, the exciting test of endurance has been organised to raise funds for new mirror dinghies.

The club wants to buy two new vessels at a total cost of £9,000.

But half of the total raised from the endurance test will go towards the MRI Scanner appeal.

The dinghies are sailing on a shift rota basis

Speaking at the loch was club commodore Ian Bray.

He said the club members were looking forward to the challenge.

“The idea is just to come and have fun. There is a lot of traffic going by and we just thought that with that location this might generate a bit more interest in sailing in Shetland as a sport,” he said.

“Today is essentially a fundraising effort by the Sandwick Boating Club.

“We have five mirror dinghies in total and the older ones within the fleet are coming up to 30 years old.

“They need replaced to help maintain the long-term viability of the club and encourage people to come and sail.

“This is a fundraising effort to try and purchase two new mirror dinghies.

“To get them up here with a reasonable spec you are looking at £9,000 in total for the two. We set a target for of £1,500 in terms of what we would like to raise today.

“Half of what we raise today is going towards the MRI scanner appeal. It’s always a good thing to get them to understand about the benefit of giving to other folk.”

• If you would like to donate, log onto www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brindisail.