For me, it’s always been about the Deep South – the challenge of the Southern Ocean & Cape Horn. I wanted to sail around the world, but not on a “Tropical Islands trip”.
At seventeen I left my very happy home with a fiver and a bag of clothes looking for adventure. I joined the British Army as an engineer in the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers.
It was with the Army that I first learned to sail. The focus was always on character building, you were supposed to be out of your comfort zone and I had no idea sailing was meant to be enjoyable!
After leaving the Army I sailed and raced on other people’s boats as often as I could. I then had a chance to sail my first circumnavigation in the 2007-08 Clipper Race, this experience got me hooked on the idea long-distance ocean sailing and I started to think about doing it alone.
I’ve always travelled extensively for my work, jumping on and off planes, expecting to be on the far side of the world in just a few hours. Being at sea, moving only with the power of the wind helps me readjust to a more human pace. When you haven’t seen another boat or a plane for days on end, that puts it all back into perspective for me, you realise you’re just a tiny dot on a huge ocean.
In 2015 when I first heard about the ‘new generation’ of Golden Globe Race I wanted to sign up straight away, but with work, life and family commitments the time wasn’t right for me. I watched 2018 race unfold with mounting frustration thinking “I can do that!”.
So, in April 2019 I found myself at the GGR prize-giving event in France, where I met Istvan Koper (who had finished in fourth place in 2018) and I decided to buy his boat Puffin and in doing so I made a huge commitment there and then to competing in 2022 race.
Sally my wife is amazingly supportive, and for the kids (twins Thomas and Owen, 19, and 14-year-old Emma) this is just “What Dad does”.
I’ve probably never spent more than 24 hours in my own company, but strangely that aspect of the race doesn’t worry me. I know the Golden Globe is going to be all about endurance, both physical and mentally, but the best piece of advice I’ve been given so far is that it’s simply about “doing fewer things wrong”.
The moto of my old Army unit was Arte et Marte, By Skill and By Fighting, certainly seems appropriate now for this race.
