Vigilance of Brixham

03/05/2026

Ahoy, landlubbers! It’s Brixham Pirate festival day 2!

Don your finest pirate outfit, bring your loudest “Arrr!”, and come find us outside the Prince William pub 🏴‍☠️

02/05/2026

Ahoy there! Aaarrrggh you visiting Brixham Pirate Festival this weekend? If you are, come down and see us!

You’ll find us outside the Prince William pub 🏴‍☠️

15/04/2026

🌟🏆 We did it! 🏆🌟

Last night, Vigilance of Brixham was named Gstaad Yacht Club Centenarian of the Year at the Classic Boat Awards, the category for vessels with over 100 years afloat!

We’re absolutely delighted to receive this award. A huge thank you to the shipwrights at Stirling and Son, our incredible volunteers, and everyone who has voted for and supported us on this journey. On accepting the award Rob Murray, the chair of the Vigilance trustees, also acknowledged the vital support received from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund whose grants have made her current restoration possible.

We can’t wait to celebrate her centenary later this summer, when she’ll be sailing the waters of Tor Bay once again!

13/04/2026

It’s the final countdown to the Classic Boat Awards 2026!

We’re very excited to be representing Vigilance of Brixham at the awards ceremony tomorrow evening and looking forward to catching up with our fellow Classic Boat award nominees.

Wish us luck! 🤞

📷 Francis Alan

12/04/2026

Have you tried the free Brixham Maritime Heritage Trail?

A new free Maritime Heritage Trail has been launched in Brixham to celebrate the centenary of Vigilance of Brixham.

The self guided trail takes visitors on a journey around Brixham Harbour, uncovering centuries of local history— from notorious smugglers and Dutch invaders to the D-Day landings and the town’s vital role in the deep-sea fishing industry.

The route begins at Brixham Heritage Museum and finishes at Vigilance of Brixham, moored on the Heritage Pontoon opposite the The Prince William, Brixham pub.

The free trail guide, designed by Sam Cork of Brixham, is available from Brixham town hall, Brixham library, Brixham Heritage Museum, and participating cafés, pubs and shops along the route.

If you’ve done the trail we’d love to hear about it… drop us a message on here and let us know what you thought! Did you learn anything new?

📸 Trevor Taylor

23/03/2026

⭐️Vigilance has her topmast back!⭐️

After a huge amount of effort, teamwork and a perfectly timed weather window, last week the volunteers on board Vigilance of Brixham successfully raised her topmast back in place.

This is major milestone on her journey back to sailing!

27/02/2026

Vigilance is nearing the end of her epic restoration in her centenary year. Inevitably we are very tight on funds for things like navigation electronics and creature comforts for our passengers.

We have linked up with Give As You Live to give ways for our supporters to help fundraise. If you would like to help there are 4 ways here: https://www.giveasyoulive.com/charity/friends-of-the-vigilance

1. You can link your favourite online retailers so they send us money every time you order, at no cost to you. Every time Just Eat delivers a curry or Laithwaites delivers wine, my guilt is reduced by the fact that they send money to Vigilance!
2. You can simply donate but pressing the relevant button.
3. You can create your own fundraising activities through the platform - perhaps a fun thing to do as the days get longer?
4. You can share this post with your friends so they can help us.

We are trying to Get Vigilance fully up and running for the Brixham Heritage Brixham Heritage Sailing Regatta and Rally. Please help us have her there in action, with everything completed for her centenary sailing celebrations.

Thank you for anything that you can do to help with this last push!

Best wishes
Rob and the other Trustees🙂

Welcome Aboard! Get involved in the Vigilance Story NOW.... Discover a passion for Heritage Sailing. Vigilance is a Brixham Trawler built at Upham’s Yard in Brixham in 1926 - she was the last one ever built. Having had a complete restoration, ready for her centenary, you can have an experience you...

11/02/2026

**Thank you for all your shares! We’ve now found somewhere**

Do you have spare space in a warehouse, workshop or barn near Brixham, Devon?

If so we’d be delighted to hear from you as the barn we were using as a maintenance base is being sold.

Vigilance of Brixham celebrates her centenary this year having undergone a major restoration but we need storage and maintenance facilities for the day-to-day work that keeps her afloat and sailing.

If you can help, or know some who might be able to assist, then do please get in touch. Our volunteers' need is urgent.

Please share widely!

15/01/2026

Exciting news! Vigilance of Brixham has been shortlisted in two categories in the 2026 Classic Boat Awards:

Restoration of the Year – over 40 ft

Gstaad Yacht Club Centenarian of the Year

If you would like to support us then please vote for us here:

https://awards.classicboat.co.uk/award-categories/

11/01/2026

We are looking for one or more IT volunteers to join our friendly team. The main areas of focus will be maintaining our email system, further developing our extranet and assisting with web development. If you are interested please email [email protected] or message us on here and you will receive a very warm welcome. 🙂