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Robyn Harrison was born with a rare condition similar to Cerebral Palsy, Robyn is 9 years old and lives with Mum (Carrie) and her Dad (Lee) in Warrington, Cheshire.  Robyn cannot walk unaided and is visually impaired.  One of the things that we love to do is go to our touring caravan on Anglesey and to go out on our RIB boat, it provides a fabulous escape for us as a family.

One evening I was talking to our caravanning neighbours - yes, drink was taken - and we were discussing Robyn and her future.  We came up with a whizzo scheme, or so it appeared at the time.  Basically it costs £3000.00 per year for the conducters so that Robyn can attend Stick n Step, we thought we would set about raising it for them.

Stick n Step is a brilliant charity that provides intensive support to help improve mobilitity, confidence, self-esteem and well-being in children affected by Cerebral Palsy and related conditions.  The Stick n Step centre is in Wallasey and children from North Wales, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester attend it.  Robyn has been going on a weekly basis for the last couple of years and has improved dramatically - they really do amazing work that helps children to realise their potential and gain independence.  Stick n Step has a weekly overhead of around £4,500 and is a parent led charity which relies solely on fund raising activities to survive.

The mission (we really must have been very drunk to come up with this):

Our aim is to circumnavigate the Isle of Anglesey in a single day.   We plan to do this using 2 4metre RIB boats with only a crew of 2 per boat.  This is a trip of around 80 nautical miles through some of the most treacherous seas in the world.

This trip is not for the faint-hearted, these seas were described by Nelson as “the worst seas in the world”.  There are four particularly fearsome passages on the route, Carmel Head; South Stack; Caernarfon Bar and the deadly Swellies in the Menai Straits.  Many people have attempted this trip,  Anglesey has over 400 ship wrecks in its waters but thankfully several life boat stations!

Please give what you can to this appeal.  We are currently putting together the necessary charts and provisions and we’ll update you as we get into Spring and Summer on our route and our intended day of departure.  You are very welcome to come and cheer!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you so much

Lee Harrison and Andrew Lever  - who are never sitting up together drinking around a fire pit again!

Updates

10/05/10

Last week we took Andrews boat out on seas which were anything but calm around the East side of the island. We spent around 3 Hours holding on and trying to keep the boat the right side up. Thsi we did ok although andrews tractor recovery left alot to be desired.

I have confirmed my boat should have its repairs completed this weekend so hopefully both boats will be on the water.

Rob, one of the crew members hopefully will be joining us this weekend for some well needed training. Possibly practicing recovering someone from the water !!.

28/05/10

The weekend went well and the engine run fine although i think i need a bigger prop as it was hitting the rev limiter, i hope thats a good sign? Man overboard drill went well and my new dry suit held up. Andrews tractor skills were much better.

We have booked in for the VHF radio course on 26th June so will have it ready for the trip (Just in case). We will be spending as much time as our jobs allow in Anglesey this month to get lots of practice in. We have added a video of Andrew on his boat when its calm so we hope you like it. Thankyou all for your continued support.

Job Done

The 1st date of the completion (friday 13th)! was unfortunately or fortunately !  blocked by the coastgaurd due to 70mph winds. The cancellation lasted 2 days so on Sunday 15th August 2010 the attempt started at 06.30 in the morning checking the boats over the final time. All the crew arrived on time. Lee, Andy, Rob and Simon. We put the boats in at Treath Bichan for 0730 and was away for 8. The weather at Moelfre and Dulas was a bit rough and going was slow for the 1st 40 mins as we couldnt get the boats up on the plane without leaving the water due to the waves. Lee lost his hat after 30 seconds !! Linus point wasnt too bad and we must admit its been worse through there. The north side of the island was still wavey due to the previous high winds. North and south stack provided some fantastic views and gave us some tricky conditios of sure as the tide changed. The east side between Holy island and Rhosneiger was completed far off sure some 4 to 5 miles. and we could see whales rising to the side. This section did seem to go on for a long time. Reaching the entrance to the straights at Caernarfon we realised the attempt was far from over. The Bars had created a washing machine effect and was very very tricky and probably the hardest of the trip. The waves stayed bad until we was around a third up the straights where things calmed down. We started to approach the restricted speed area as indicated by a passing boat to us but Andy couldnt here and it wasnt long before he had the coastal rossers chasing him. Luckily enouph he got away with an advisory notice and a stern word !. We didnt laugh too much?. The swellies was a dream and a pleasure to steam through the two bridges, a part Andrew was really looking forward too. At the end of the straights around Puffin island and back on the home straight. Time for flags out and champagne on the beach of treath Bichan. (All photos attached). Total distance 90 Miles, Total time 5 Hours.

Thankyou for all who have supported us and Lee would like to epecially thank Andrew, Rob and Si who risked alot to help a friend.