Many of us view the sea as something to enjoy as part of our social lives – trips to the seaside, sailing, taking a dip to cool off on holiday – but how many of us think about the fact almost everything we own and rely on to go about our daily lives comes to us by sea?  

Without the sea and, more importantly, seafarers we wouldn’t have our cars, our computers or our phones to name just a few things I know I take for granted. Many seafarers are from deprived communities and leave their homes and loved ones for months at a time as their only path out of poverty, often working in poor conditions and risking their health or even their lives. 

The Sailor’s Society recently attended my office to talk about the work they do helping seafarers and their families with much needed practical, welfare and crisis support. We depend on 1.5 million seafarers to transport 90% of the world’s trade. Seafarers can be far from home for up to 12 months at a time with 81% having no internet access at sea to keep in touch with loved ones. In addition to this isolation, they are exposed to the ever growing threat of piracy and terrorism.

As well as explaining more about their work, the focus of the talk was the trip planned for August 2020 to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the charity which relies entirely on voluntary donations. As the sea has always been an important part of my life for a variety of reasons I decided to go along and learn more.

As a result, I have decided to challenge myself and have agreed to do the climb! Anyone who knows me will appreciate this is going to be a huge mental challenge for me and not something I will have taken on lightly. The closest I have ever got to camping is sleeping in a nice warm sleeping bag on board HMS Blazer during my time in the Southampton University Royal Naval Unit (where I woke up to a warm shower and a full English) and my first question when booking a holiday is usually “is there an en suite, and what is it like?”. 

Trekking up a mountain with a group of strangers, sleeping under canvas for the first time and using the ‘facilities’ (google ‘Kilimanjaro long drop’ for the full horrors) are going to require me to dig deep in to my mental reserves! That’s before you even factor in the endurance required to cover the ground – on the final day of the ascent, covering just 8.3 miles can take over 12 hours.

I have, however, decided to push myself to do this (I suppose there could have been worse mid-life crises I could have had!) and raise money for a charity that does not necessarily get the attention of others but does valuable work for those for whom going to sea does not involve the warmth and safety of a Royal Navy ship and her crew like I was lucky enough to have on my side.

Thank you for taking the time to read the above. Any contribution to my fundraising target you would consider making will be greatly appreciated by me and the Sailor’s Society.

You can learn more about the Sailor’s Society and the work they do below and on their website (www.sailors-society.org) and if you have any questions about my trek please do get in touch.

Lucie