During the first day of June 2010 I set sail in 'Equinox' my 24ft 6' Cornish Crabber from Chichester Marina and headed West down the Solent on a once in a lifetime adventure. Three and a half months later I completed my challenge; having sailed solo around the entire UK; visiting the Scillies, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Hebrides; going with huge trepidation over the top via Cape Wrath - the 'big right turn', before the next 'big right turn' heading south, at John o'Groats. This blog is my diary, written most evenings as I took stock of the day's progress; often with a huge lump of Cheddar cheese in hand and a pint of Speckled Hen to keep it company. Sometimes I was almost in tears; tiredness and frustration having taken its toll. Other nights exhuberant after breathtakingly beautiful passages along our stunning coastline with favourable following winds. It describes the ups and downs; the tears and laughter; the extraordinary kindness shown by complete strangers who offered a tired sailor in their midst refuge, solace, warmth and company; their generosity often humbling. My hormones were, I'm sure, in a mess making me perhaps rather vulnerble; as just six months earlier I'd endured the surgical removal of a cancerous prostate gland; laprascopically - a six hour procedure that left me physically weaker than before. You can read the background to the illness and the reasons for the challenge - to raise awareness of this terribe disease; that could have so easily have killed me elsewhere on this blog.

I am indebted to many; and recorded their names elsewhere; but as I reflect on the voyage many months later, I have not fully sung the praise of Cornish Crabbers, the builders of my sturdy little yacht and Roger Dongray the yacht's brilliant designer who drew upon a hull shape that had developed over hundreds of years by men who worked and fished at sea and whose very life depended on their vessel's seaworthiness. It's long keel, sail configuration and weight distribution in seemingly monsterous seas; quite incredible for a yacht so small. A Crabber 24 is not the swiftest yacht to be had for her size, for sure. But what she lacks in that respect she makes up for by her abilty to take heavy weather and harsh conditions in her stride. Built solidly without compromise, Equinox delivered me safely home after a voyage of well over 2500 miles in some of the most hostile and dangerously tidal waters you can find anywhere in Europe. In Wales, for example, the RNLI were phoned by an experienced commercial fisherman watching Equinox from his harbourside office; reporting to them, that a yacht was struggling in heavy seas and a F7 a mile outside the harbour entrance. By the time the lifeboat had been launched, I was tucked up in Aberystwyth marina; a little bruised and battered it has to be said, but safe and sound; I never even saw the lifeboat!

I've recently set up the blog so that readers can cover numerous diary entries in one go. To access earlier diary entries just click on the link 'Older Posts' at the foot of each page. Only a few clicks are needed to get to the entries at the beginning of the voyage and my preparation beforehand.

I hope you enjoy reading it; and if you do, or have done, please be kind enough to leave me a message. For which, in anticipation, I thank you.
The voyage also raised over £10,000 for the Prostate Cancer Charity - not my main goal but those who donated on my 'Just Giving ' page made a huge contribution too; as I was notified by email of each donation as it was made; each raising my spirits immeasurably. My main goal was to encourage 2500 men to get PSA tested - one for each mile sailed; and I beleive that goal was achieved too. And finally, I would also like to thank the growing number of men who have, both during and after the voyage ended, taken a PSA test, as a result of the publicty the voyage attracted; been diagnosed with the disease and taken the time and trouble to email me.

Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Is Colin following me! - July 20th

  Woke to heavy rain yet again and while listened to the news on Radio 4, put together a mental ‘to-do’ list for today. Top of the list will be to empty the lockers yet again and carry on drying the boat out! During a gap in the clouds, a job on one of the Gaff’s halyards which, had become twisted around itself to and from the pulley mounted at the throat. The friction this caused made lowering the whole affair rather torrid and protracted. Standing on the cabin roof with tools in hand, I became distracted by a disturbance in the water nearby. A cormorant, not Colin surely, had caught an eel which, put out at the thought of being swallowed, had wound itself around Colin’s neck like a python! The eel’s head already somewhere deep in Colin’s throat must have been a discomfort and, for all I know, made breathing difficult, for he tried desperately to shake his head and I suppose cough it out or, get it to lose it’s grip around his neck. Stalemate! The eel, which was about 2ft long and as thick as Cumberland sausage remained where he was. Can birds look panic stricken? Still squirming and shaking his head as much as he could, Colin decided to dive which, did the trick, for when he surfaced, a few moments later, the eel had gone – eaten or lost?   
   A chance meeting in the fantastic shower block led to the offer of a lift into town and a shop in the Co-op. Having seen all that there is of this seaside town, I cannot find a single reason whatsoever, to stay here for another moment and will plan the next leg, weather permitting, even if its just to Abersoch, a few miles up the coast.
  As the evening draws in, Its raining again with much worse to come forecasted – indeed flood alerts were announced on the news for Wales tonight.
  A quiet evening aboard seems to be in order. But no sooner was supper frying away merrily, than Flossie, my sister in law, followed shortly afterwards by Neil, her husband phoned; and are driving to Abersoch from Chester for lunch tomorrow at the Sun Inn, an old haunt from my sea kayaking days, near Porth Ceriad.
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