3,600 Miles in 38 Days

In mid-August I am setting sail across the North Atlantic from Nova Scotia to the UK via Iceland and the Faeroe Islands with the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) as part of the voyage crew aboard the 55m barque, Lord Nelson. This will be the final leg of her Sail the World odyssey that began almost two years ago, the first tall ship with a mixed ability crew to circumnavigate the globe.

The JST is a charity that promotes the integration of people of all physical abilities through sharing the challenge and adventure of sailing tall ships on the open sea. Their mission is to build bridges of awareness and understanding by using two specially designed tall ships to break down barriers and enable a better and more inclusive world.

I've sailed the Western Isles of Scotland with the JST, and from London to Hamburg and back as part of the Tall Ships Race, and each voyage was a momentous, humbling and life-changing event. Sailing across the Atlantic will be a huge personal challenge to me, not least because it's twenty five years since my last trip on the Lord Nelson and climbing the rigging and out on the yards to furl sails mid-Atlantic (hopefully not mid-gale) will seem even more daunting than it did when I was younger! When not handling sails or on watch I will be bunked up in the fo'c'sle of the boat with a crew of kindred spirits I've never met before and with only my bunk for personal space. Those of you who know my preference for solitude will probably think I'm bonkers! those of you who know how much I love being on a boat and mucking in with whatever needs doing whether splicing ropes or helping in the galley or learning some rudimentary navigational skills or cloud gazing or scribbling in my notebook will now I will probably be in my element. Happily, as well as the crew being divided into four watches, there is a buddy system on board, so I'll be buddied up with someone with physical disabilities and we will support one another when the seas are tempestuous and the going a bit tough.

I've paid for the cost of my voyage but I want to take this opportunity to raise as much money as I can to support the extraordinary work of the JST and help ensure their two ships, Tenacious and Lord Nelson continue to sail the seas and oceans of our crazy planet.. Since its founding in 1978 the JST has taken 37,000 people to sea, of whom 14,00 were physically disabled and 5,000 were wheelchair users. That's amazing.

If you can support the JST by making a donation, however small, that would be wonderful. I'm going to aim high and try to raise, in total, the equivalent of £2 for every mile I sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia, back home to England. And in the spirit of aiming high I promise I will climb to the top of Lord Nelson's 31m high mast if I manage to reach my fund-raising target (so long as the seas are calm when I make my ascent!).