May 4th 2026 saw volunteers from Rona Sailing Project and Morvagh Sailing Project joining together for a sail in the Solent and a BBQ at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes to celebrate Helen Mary R turning 40. It was great seeing all the Project boats together and the return of HMR to the fleet for the day.

Helen Mary R was part of the RSP fleet before being sold to Matt Barraud (watch officer in the RSP at the time) who, together with his wife Vicky, started the Morvagh Sailing Project based in the West Country. Many who joined the event had previously sailed on HMR as a trainee or as volunteer afterguard, many of the skippers in the RSP skippered their first voyages aboard her.

In her 40 years HMR has sailed around 120000nm, taken 12,000 young people to sea and upwards of 5000 Afterguard.

Several designs were considered and the final choice was that of the Bowman 57; it was in one of these that John Ridgeway had competed in a Whitbread Round the World race and subsequently sailed a second time around the world. The Project therefore felt that this was a reasonable test of its ability to sail in the English Channel. HMR was bought to replace Gunna who was becoming tired. The Rank Foundation donated a significant amount of money for her build.
Helen and Mary were the daughters of Mr Rank (who donated a large sum of money for the build).

How HMR has impacted individuals:

Spit (RSP skipper) and Pippa met on HMR 30 years ago this month. Steve White (RSP Fleet coordinator) was an apprentice when HMR was built. Nigel Sharpe (RSP skipper) was a buyer at Southern Ocean Shipyard and bought all the materials. He essentially saw HMR in barrels before they moulded her. She competed in Small Ships Race to Cherbourg. Chris Wolley (RSP Skipper and Chief Instructor) took her to the Isles of Scilly and Peter Archer (former fleet coordinator) told him off for going too far.

HMR was bought by Matt and Vicky of Morvargh in May 2010 to continue sail training and developing young people through sail training. Originally based in Plymouth, but now in Fowey changing the lives of young people in Devon and Cornwall.