My lifelong passion for boats and water started as a young child when I was inspired by my Grandma reading me the children’s adventures of Swallows and Amazons. I guess I learnt the basics of sailing through those pages and so when I got the chance to sail a small dinghy in the English Lake District I was straight off across the lake. I then found a group run by Salford Council that would take me sailing every week and when I was 15 I got a sponsored place for a week thrashing my way around the Irish Sea in the late Autumn. It was rough and freezing – but I was hooked.
By 17 I was lucky enough to set off on my first TransAtlantic crossing to the Caribbean on a 72 foot sailing yacht – an experience that opened the window to see the world that has evolved in to the industry I still enjoy being part of today, 34 years later.
I moved to Plymouth to study a BSc degree in Marine Navigation and to give myself a base to be on the water. I would sail pretty much with anyone and on anything, if it got me on the water. By the end of my first year myself and a friend from University sailed two handed across the Atlantic from Newport to Holland to bring a 40 foot race boat back after the owner had raced in the other direction. We went the great circle route across the grand banks. Not a great idea. I don’t know what we had against a sunshine cruise via Bermuda and the Azores but luckily the boat was solid and we survived.
My first two crossings were completed without GPS let alone effective communication with the outside world. Even as technology came in over the following years, there was still something special about setting off with a group of friends across the ocean – and that was it – the edge of the boat was pretty much the edge of your world bar some pre-arranged call radio calls to friends on other boats via the HF. Whilst I enjoy the videos calls with home today I do miss the isolation of the past when crossing oceans
I have been very lucky to enjoy a wide ranging career from logging performance data as a student to be used as evidence for a high court case through my first job as a ‘Nipper Skipper’ aboard a 18m Swan sailing yacht in my early 20’s through to my current position as Captain aboard the 22,000 HP quadruple jet drive ULTRA G. I have been part of teams racing and winning the Fastnet Race aboard carbon light weight fliers and cruised extensively from the Thailand to the Caribbean aboard some of the finest Amels, Feadship and Heesen built yachts. Every day is new. Every day is a different challenge and I have had the privilege to share it, work with and mentor some amazing crew, in some amazing places and to have a lot of fun.
