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Madcap plan to sail to Isle of Man in pumpkin
IT'S a madcap mission that's straight out of the pages of a nursery book.
A former Welsh Guardsman is planning to sail from North Wales to the Isle of Man — in a giant pumpkin!
Alwyn Williams, 43, has seen action in Iraq and Northern Ireland but his planned voyage in a hollowed out pumpkin from Anglesey to the Isle of Man sounds an altogether more frightening prospect.
The giant pumpkin, weighing at least 700lbs and measuring 14 feet in circumference, will be powered by an outboard motor for its 45-mile trip across the Irish Sea.
It all sounds like a wind-up, especially when you hear that the seeds for the giant pumpkin will be sown on April 1.
But Alwyn, who helps run the family horticulture business in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Llanfair PG for short) in Anglesey, says he's not lost the plot and that pumpkin sailing events have been taking place in the United States for a number of years now.
'It's no April Fool's joke!' he insists.
He's certainly got all the help he needs to grow the giant pumpkin, as his father Medwyn Williams MBE is a 10-times gold medal winner at the Chelsea Flower Show and chairman of the National Vegetable Society.
Alwyn explained that a traditional Welsh nursery rhyme provided the idea for the stunt. 'It goes: "Have you ever been sailing? Yes in a frying pan. The wind blew and blew and blew me to the Isle of Man",' he explained.
If a pumpkin of sufficient size can be grown in time, he intends to set sail for the Isle of Man in September.
But the first test will be to see if he can sail across the Menai Strait, the narrow but turbulent channel which divides Anglesey from the Welsh mainland. He said: 'I've done a bit of canoeing before but nothing quite like this. I'm hoping for an Indian summer so it won't be too choppy!'
Asked how long he expected the trip to take, he admitted: 'I don't know.'
There will be support crew alongside to rescue him if he needs to bail out. The first task, however, is to grow the giant vegetable. He said: 'We've managed to get some seeds from America that could grow one up to 1,560lbs. The world record is 1,600lbs.
'We will sow the seed between April 1 and April 5, which is the key time to get optimum growing conditions. We need to be achieving growth of 35lbs a day in July and August.'
Alwyn, who served with the Welsh Guards for 22 years, rising to the rank of colour sergeant before returning home to help run the family vegetable seeds business in Llanfair PG with his dad Medwyn, intends to use his daring pumpkin voyage to raise funds for Help for Heroes, a charity that helps those wounded in Britain's current conflicts.
Medwyn insisted: 'We're deadly serious about this. We've done a dummy run to get a pumpkin up to 400lbs but we've got to get it to a minimum of 600lbs before it will take the weight of a human. We've studied this quite extensively.'
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im
YOUR COMMENTS
My thoughts are rather difficult to sum up in words… I suppose I'll just leave them at a simple question: Why?
STEVE
Good luck to him fingers crossed he manages it! still the welsh have agreed to not rescind the reciprocal health agreement with us so he will be covered if he has any mishap!!! and if he does manage it-well is this a viable alternative to the steam racket?well they have stated passenger fairs could increase cos they dont want their monopoly threatened by competition!
GARY
I recommend sending Tony Brown out to sea in a giant pumpkin, to meet him half way. If there is a surfeit of pumpkins, I have a short list of other Members of Tynwald, available on request, who might usefully be sent on a one way trip to Wales as well.
ANGRY MANXMAN
Heaven help us. I sincerely hope that he has enough money to stump up for the coastguard rescue that inevitably be required.
PEEJAY
I hope the trip goes well and if the PEEJAY read the post properly he would see that this gent is going to have a support vessel with him. I can also think of a few MHK along with Tony Brown who should be put to sea.
RUKA
Why is this gentleman bringing an over-inflated vegetable to the Isle of Man ? Doesn't he know we have enough of them in Tynwald !? LoL
MR
I wonder if he taking the owl and the pussy cat with him?
EDDIE, (London)
I spoke to this guy to ask him why he would want to do this , his reply to me was 'Well I'm not paying them Steam Packet fares , I'll take my chances in my pumpkin'
SCOTTYDOGGIslands linked by history
Although not linked by conventional ferry, Anglesey and the Isle of Man have had centuries of historic links.
Both are associated in legend with the Celtic seagod Manannan, guardian of the underworld Tir na Nog, where the dead were thought to go to a land of eternal youth. Manannan was Latinised by the Romans to 'Mona' and, confusingly, both islands were given the title in ancient times.
In modern Welsh Anglesey is still called Ynys Mn while the Isle of Man is Ynys Manaw.
In the 5th century, Cunedda, founder of the great North Wales princedom of Gwynedd, is said to have come from 'Manaw'. The Isle of Man and Anglesey were at various times both part of Gwynedd. Merfyn Frych ('The Freckled'), was King of Gwynedd and Ynys Manaw c.780-844.
However, in 836 Merfyn lost the Isle of Man to the Viking ruler Godred mac Fergus and it was never recovered by the Welsh.
In much later times Anglesey was a major destination for the Isle of Man's late 17th and 18th century smuggling trade due to its many sandy beaches providing safe landing points.
Today there are plans for a wind farm between Anglesey and Man that would be visible from the coasts of both isl-ands, but that's for the future.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy showers
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 30 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
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