Sir John Houghton donates yacht to Aberystwyth Sea Cadets

Sir John Houghton (right) and Donald Harris (far left) on Facit with members of the sea cadets

An eminent scientist and Nobel Peace Prize winner has donated a four-berth yacht to the sea cadets to encourage more young people to take up sailing.

Sir John Houghton, from Aberdyfi, Gwynedd, jointly owned 26ft (8m) long Facit with his friend Donald Harris.

But the pair decided to give her away to Aberystwyth Sea Cadets.

It was as co-chair of the science working group for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that Sir John accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Sir John said he and Mr Harris had owned the yacht for about 20 years. It is worth about £11,500.

"We have enjoyed sailing very much, but we're getting a bit too old for it. You can't do these things forever," he said.

"We thought about what we could do with the yacht and decided we wanted to pass it on to people working with young people to encourage young people to enjoy the sea and sailing.

"The yacht is moored at Aberystwyth marina so it seemed logical to donate it to Aberystwyth Sea Cadets."

Born in Dyserth in Denbighshire, Sir John became professor of atmospheric physics at Oxford and chief executive at the Met Office, where he founded its Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.