Hello,

We are team Cuising Free and in all our madness, are planning to row across the Atlantic in January 2025. It's a 3,200 mile journey from Lanzarote to Antigua in a small ocean rowing boat. We are taking part in the Atlantic Dash event  and hope to complete the crossing in around 50 days . As a crew, we share the desire to truly live our lives, inspire others, and just for a while, be truly 'off our rowlocks. 

Polly first noticed Atlantic rowers at the beginning of the noughties; she wasn’t a rower then and never dreamed that eventually she would be on the brink of such a challenge. Now, at 48, and in the throes of a classic mid-life crisis, this is her time for adventure and excitement.

Janine, having been a sea rower for 29 years, has always declined any suggestion of rowing the Atlantic. When this opportunity came up, for her at 68, it’s now or never.

Sophie has lived all her life with Cystic Fibrosis and because of the restrictions imposed by this condition never ever dreamed that she could be well enough to do a challenge like rowing an ocean. With new medication her life has been revolutionised, and so now at 30, this is the time. 

As a crew, not only do we want to have an incredible life experience, we want to raise money for a local charity. PSF was initiated in May 1981 by a group of Father Paul Sartori’s parishioners, a much loved local priest, who died at the age of 38 in 1980. The Foundation was set up as Father Sartori had recognised a need for hospice care in Pembrokeshire, but unfortunately he became ill himself and died from cancer before the Foundation was formed. Despite these origins, PSF has no religious affiliations and services have always been available to all, its mission is "to provide sustainable services which promote good end of life care in Pembrokeshire"

Janine and her family benefitted from the invaluable services that Paul Sartori provides during the end of life period for both her parents. The support that the family received from Paul Sartori enabled her parents to be at home in familiar surroundings and with family during their end of life stage. She recognises the invaluable support that Paul Sartori gave her and her family and is passionate about fundraising for them so that they can continue this support and expand the services that they offer.

As a nurse, Polly has witnessed first-hand the complexity of the provision of end of life care, and the void that engulfs patients and families in the absence of a hospice service. Paul Sartori, Hospice at Home recognises the needs of families who are caring for a loved one at the end of their life and provides financial, emotional and practical support. Without Paul Sartori, end of life care in Pembrokeshire would be impoverished, patients receiving medicalised care in hospital, rather than the humanising approach of the hospice at home staff.