By Richard Wood:

A couple of months ago whilst sailing alone in the Solent, my father was hit in the face by a cleat that had snapped under tension.  The resulting injury was (fortunately) not serious, but he suffered from temporary blindness in one eye which made sailing difficult as he came into harbour.  He radioed the harbour master to request assistance, and they in turn contacted the RNLI who came out to help him ashore safely, at which point one of the lifeboat crew kindly gave him a lift to the local hospital to have his eye treated.  Luckily, the eye was easily treated and his vision promptly returned. 

The RNLI crew member who drove him to hospital was an unpaid volunteer, crewing a boat that is maintained and operated from donations only.  We have always supported the RNLI in the hope that we never need to call them out, but knowing that if the worst should happen, they are always there.

As a small token of my appreciation, I am undertaking the H2Only challenge in September, giving up all drinks except water for 10 days to raise funds for the RNLI.  Moreover, I have managed to convince the Norwich office to join me in the venture and to give up Alcohol, Coffee, Tea, Juice and even Protein Shakes for 10 days in September. 

Thank you,

Richard