In 2007, well on the way to 40 (eek!) I (Jeff) decided to buy a yacht. Neither Rose (my fiancee) or I had ANY sailing knowledge or experience.

Eight months later (with not much more experience), we decided to rent out our home, buy a bigger boat, and move aboard. We've done that now, and as I type this (6th Nov 2009) we're living on Isabella in Sutton Harbour in Plymouth.

A few weeks ago I proposed to Rose while sailing Isabella across Plymouth Sound to Cawsand, where we anchored up for the night and drank Champagne to celebrate the fact that she had said yes.

We decided to get married in autumn 2010, back in our home town of Whitby, North Yorkshire (we were both born and brought up in Whitby) and somehow the crazy plan of actually sailing up to Whitby came into fruition. And further, the plan to continue around the rest of the UK in 2011, to complete a circumnavigation!

We've a lot of preparation to do before our planned departure date in early April 2010!

You can follow our progress by reading (and subscribing if you like) to our blogs here:

Jeff's Blog:
http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=50

Rose's Blog:
http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=51

We decided to create this page because we realised that there's an organisation in the UK (which amazingly is funded entirely by charitable donations - did you know that!?!?) without which our voyage would absolutely not be a consideration, and which we'd like to do our bit to support and promote. That organisation is the RNLI.

The RNLI are awesome. Most of the people who work for them are completely unpaid volunteers who routinely drop what they're doing and risk their lives to help people in trouble. Proper heroes! And there really are people in trouble out there. We listen to channel 16 while we're tootling about in Isabella, and it's amazing how often the RNLI are called out.

SO - if you, or anyone you know (you know us now!) is ever on the beach or out at sea, you can always know that they are 1000 times safer because of the RNLI - and they are there because of people like you, who keep the funds coming in to keep the RNLI operating... so pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease donate.

Find out more about the RNLI here...