Alistair Milne
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Alistair Milne - Moray Sea School, Burghead Scotland, 1969

A group picture taken in 1969 at Burghead....

If I remember correctly I came 9th in the 10 mile race on the second last day!

During the month I was there we had to sail in the Lugger from Burghead to Portmahomack and camp there for the evening.

When we reached Portmahomack it was impossible to sail into the gale that was blowing so we had to re-route to Balintore.

On our way to Balintore the safety boat came alongside, and as we were all ravenous, a large container full of soup was hoisted aboard

I was given the task of opening this container but when I got a whiff of the soup I was violently sick and threw up all down the side of the container!

This however did not deter the crew from demolishing the soup in minutes......

When we eventually got to Balintore, half the crew camped in tents and the other half slept on the boat.

Unfortunately when the tide went out, the lugger capsized and the lads aboard ended up in the water.

No one was injured and everyone mucked in to help each other.

I also remember we had the use of the athletics facilities at Gordonstoun.

The lorry took us from Burghead to Gordonstoun but after a days athletics training we had to run home as the lorry was needed somewhere else.

The weather that month was glorious and I have great memories of running, swimming, orienteering, sailing, rock climbing, abseiling, hill walking, football, camping and loads of other activities.

When I started my month’s stay I was 5’ 7”, when I finished I thought I was 6’ 7”.......

Alistair's group photo from Burghead in 1969 can also be found on our Moray online Flickr gallery here.