What is it about wooden boats that attract musicians, artists and crafts people? If Debbie on Tallulah says she has a few folk musicians on board, I think you need to trust her that they will be good. She doesn’t just rustle up a guest with an accordian or tin whistle….she uses Tallulah’s aesthetic charms and thrilling sailing ability to shamelessly attract unique and talented individuals on board. They are professional musicians that happen to love sailing boats with a bit of history.
In the summer we had Phil Beer on board our Paimpol Voyage – one half of ‘Show of Hands’ and recognised all over the folk world for his solo work, collaborations and Folk Boat workshops. This is a musician who can fill the Albert Hall and the Minnack Theatre, stand a watch and steer a straight course across the English Channel. If he hadn’t buggered up his knee before the voyage we would have had pipe player, singer songwriter Lester Simpson on board too.
These wooden boat loving musicians don’t just sing shanties and play traditional music from all over Europe, they understand the history, life struggles and emotions behind the songs. If you sail with them, they are your ship mates and we go out and have nautical adventures together. It is their holiday as much as it yours.
What these musical opportunities on Tallulah voyages have in common are that there a very few places, so they tend to fill up (on the musical grapevine) before we even have a chance to publicise them.
NEXT GIG ON TALLULAH – Alan Lamb and Penny McCarthy – 24-27th October 2026 – a 3 day voyage in Cornwall see below – 2 places left at £499
Voyages with musicians or music festivals
Alan Lamb & Penny McCarthy 24th – 27th October 2025
Tip off for Tallulah’s next floating gig. TWO places left on a musical sailing weekend in Cornwall with Alan Lamb and Penny McCarthy aboard. This is partly skipper Debbie’s birthday bash as she will be 60 in November and it seems appropriate to end the season with a bit of a party.
Alan and Penny played on Tallulah whilst we hauled anchor, set sails and raced Brixham Trawler Pilgrim out to sea in 2024. They stole the scene whilst we were rafted up at Falmouth Classics and wrote the Tallulah crew a song about the Great Squall that sunk the Victory working boat and decimated the Classics racing fleet. They took us to meet their Breton friends at Douarnenez festival for some very traditional singing with some of the best folk singers in France and are clearly loved all over Europe.
They are game for adventure but we need some hearty sailors to keep Tallulah sailing during this 4 day weekend, whilst Penny and Alan sing and play their instruments. We have 2 Tallulah volunteers on board who sing too – Giles and Simon.
Read more below about Alan and Penny below, they are both amazing. Alan has been in Poldark, carved figureheads for the Royal Barge, and does world famous restorations in wood and stone. Penny has collected and researched songs throughout France and Belgium and founded Live Wires – working with young musicians in the West Country to raise the profile of musical traditions in the region. Penny grew up in the Port of Liverpool and they both live on the edge of a river.
Alan Lamb
Alan Lamb plays melodeon, crwth, fiddle and cello, vocals
Alan’s family has had a fiddle player in every generation back to 1740. Alan was born in Ireland, and as a young man farmed and dredged for oysters on the west coast of Galway. Alan now lives in the Welsh Marches, the borders of England and Wales.
For the past 10 years Alan has been Head of Carving at City & Guilds of London Art School, responsible for the UK’s leading graduate and postgraduate courses in stone carving and wood carving. He has recently left this post to concentrate on public and private commissions.
Since 2006 he has been master carver on the “Virtue’s Angels” project at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, working closely with their Sculpture Advisory Group and a team of young sculptors to design and produce over thirty new works for the chapel.
Alan was recently commissioned to design and produce the sculptural work on the Royal Barge for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Pageant.
Other clients include – The National Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, the Corporation of London, the V&A, and individuals as diverse as Lord Leicester and Mick Jagger
Penny McCarthy
Penny McCarthy – clarinet, vocals, renaissance recorders, euphonium.
Originally from the port city of Liverpool, Penny started playing traditional music with her family as a girl, touring in England, France and Belgium. A period at the University of Rennes and membership of the Circle Celtique de Rennes led to an interest in Breton traditional music. Penny also collected many tunes from old players in the Vendee and Auvergne in the 1970s.In the 1990s, she founded Live Wires, a collaboration with Folk South West, working with young musicians in the West Country to raise the profile of musical traditions in the region.
Penny and Alan live on the edge of a river and Founded the Sea Band with Graham Jenkins in 2017
If you love acoustic music try these
The sort of musicians we like to sail with generally have busy touring schedules so we either have to plan a long way ahead, or there are occasional surprise bookings from our musical friends who just want to run away from their agent for a bit and go sailing.
You just have to watch our social media posts like a hawk and subscribe to classic Sailing e-newsletter.
Likely event dates
2026 – Douarnenez – 40th anniversary of Temp Fetes festival
2027 – Brest Festival of the Sea 9-14th July 2027 – no voyage dates released yet
2027 – Paimpol Chant du Marin 6-8th August 2027 – no voyage dates released yet
Phil Beer Folk Boat Workshops – TBA
