Geoff's blog
Welcome Radio 2 Listeners
Monday 7th December, 6.00pm
If you are new to the site having heard me tonight on Radio 2, welcome to my website - do please enter your email address in the box on the right hand side of the screen to receive regular updates over the next few weeks. It promises to be a exciting journey.
I'm just grabbing a quick hour to write the blog, I'm conscious many of my regular followers are hungry for updates!!!
Time is fast becoming a blurr as one day melds into the next the closer we get to departure day, less than three days to go now...!!
Digby our cameraman arrived late last night which means there are now eight of us on-site, including Susana's uncle and aunty from the UK who have flown out to see us off. Tomorrow, Lucy my PR manager and my wife and son, Elaine & Tim, both arrive bringing us up to the full compliment of farewell spectactors - with the arrival of every guest, the reality of this great adventure gets ever nearer and I'm getting the usual butterflies in the stomach which remind me I'm only human..!!
The last 48 hours have seen amazing strides - Impossible Dream is now one of the most advanced yacht in her class in communications terms in the world. Now the satellite communications dome is fitted, our personal BBC engineer has set up the system and we have already fired back live film footage back the the BBC servers in London, we have set up an ISDN line straight into the BBC radio network, it gives us a private telephone line and broadband internet which, at sea, gives me faster speeds than my internet at home - it's wonderful.
If the makers of Daim bars would like to make note, I'm down to my last 15 bars and I've not even started the voyage yet - please send 2 boxes asap...!!!
I know lots of you are struggling through a UK winter; everytime I speak with Elaine back home it is either raning torrentially, blowing a gale or the pipes are getting frozen, so I won't bleat on too much about the weather out here - but I should say today was a wonderful day, clear blue skies, 25 degress, NE winds, force 3 to 4. So it was an almost ideal day to take ID out for our last shake-down sail before our departure on Thursday. We wanted to just make sure all of the electrical, mechanical and hydraulic devices were running smoothly - thankfully no surprises and we had a spectacular sail over to Fueteventura and back again. Midway, we dumped Digby with his camera and Geoff McNicholl in the rubber dinghy whilst we proceeded to sail backwards and forwards doing our film poses. Diggers seems to be happy with his footage and will be editing it and firing it back to the BBC tomorrow - viewers in the BBC South region should see the results on Thursday's South Today programme.
Susana and I were at the butchers by 0900 this morning ordering our meat for the crossing. We have a fridge but no freezer so, as long as we have vacuum packed meat, it should last a couple of weeks. Not knowing the Spanish for vacuum packed meat, other supermarked shoppers were intrigued by my charades mime trying to make the butcher understand - sucking on a plythene bag did the trick (well I hope it did) because on Thursday morning we are picking up 12kg of assorted fresh meats - whether it is neatly packed in vacuum bags will have to be seen..!!
We are all going out for a much deserved meal this evening - we are all a little wind and sun-burned from our time at sea today but also exhausted from all the fresh air - oh yes, I guess the emotional stress is adding to the fatigue as well.
More tomorrow. Feel free to email questions and I'll do my best to answer if I have the time.
Welcome Radio 2 Listeners
Monday 7th December, 6.00pm
If you are new to the site having heard me tonight on Radio 2, welcome to my website - do please enter your email address in the box on the right hand side of the screen to receive regular updates over the next few weeks. It promises to be a exciting journey.
I'm just grabbing a quick hour to write the blog, I'm conscious many of my regular followers are hungry for updates!!!
Time is fast becoming a blurr as one day melds into the next the closer we get to departure day, less than three days to go now...!!
Digby our cameraman arrived late last night which means there are now eight of us on-site, including Susana's uncle and aunty from the UK who have flown out to see us off. Tomorrow, Lucy my PR manager and my wife and son, Elaine & Tim, both arrive bringing us up to the full compliment of farewell spectactors - with the arrival of every guest, the reality of this great adventure gets ever nearer and I'm getting the usual butterflies in the stomach which remind me I'm only human..!!
The last 48 hours have seen amazing strides - Impossible Dream is now one of the most advanced yacht in her class in communications terms in the world. Now the satellite communications dome is fitted, our personal BBC engineer has set up the system and we have already fired back live film footage back the the BBC servers in London, we have set up an ISDN line straight into the BBC radio network, it gives us a private telephone line and broadband internet which, at sea, gives me faster speeds than my internet at home - it's wonderful.
If the makers of Daim bars would like to make note, I'm down to my last 15 bars and I've not even started the voyage yet - please send 2 boxes asap...!!!
I know lots of you are struggling through a UK winter; everytime I speak with Elaine back home it is either raning torrentially, blowing a gale or the pipes are getting frozen, so I won't bleat on too much about the weather out here - but I should say today was a wonderful day, clear blue skies, 25 degress, NE winds, force 3 to 4. So it was an almost ideal day to take ID out for our last shake-down sail before our departure on Thursday. We wanted to just make sure all of the electrical, mechanical and hydraulic devices were running smoothly - thankfully no surprises and we had a spectacular sail over to Fueteventura and back again. Midway, we dumped Digby with his camera and Geoff McNicholl in the rubber dinghy whilst we proceeded to sail backwards and forwards doing our film poses. Diggers seems to be happy with his footage and will be editing it and firing it back to the BBC tomorrow - viewers in the BBC South region should see the results on Thursday's South Today programme.
Susana and I were at the butchers by 0900 this morning ordering our meat for the crossing. We have a fridge but no freezer so, as long as we have vacuum packed meat, it should last a couple of weeks. Not knowing the Spanish for vacuum packed meat, other supermarked shoppers were intrigued by my charades mime trying to make the butcher understand - sucking on a plythene bag did the trick (well I hope it did) because on Thursday morning we are picking up 12kg of assorted fresh meats - whether it is neatly packed in vacuum bags will have to be seen..!!
We are all going out for a much deserved meal this evening - we are all a little wind and sun-burned from our time at sea today but also exhausted from all the fresh air - oh yes, I guess the emotional stress is adding to the fatigue as well.
More tomorrow. Feel free to email questions and I'll do my best to answer if I have the time.
5 Days to go....
Saturday 5th December 2009
Wow, a hectic few days. If you've read recent blogs and been following Twitter, you would not have failed to follow my anxious wait for the satellite communications equipment which have been so generously loaned by STRATOS in north America and was due for delivery by December 1st. The anxiety reached stressful levels for all concerned on Thursday 3rd when we learned that not only were the two parcels on completely different Canary islands (one on Gran Canaria and one in Tenerife - we are in Lanzarote), but delivery would be not be until after the 4 day public holiday, next Wednesday 9th. The local delivery company told me on the telephone "it is impossible to have your items tomorrow" and hung up the phone on me. Apart from the fact we have booked a senior BBC guy arriving today, Saturday 5th, to fit the equipment, we are scheduled to set sail on Thursday the 10th which would have left no time for installation and no-one to install it anyway. Anyhow, buttons were pushed, contacts spoke to contacts, and in one of the most amazing examples of management taking control of the situation which involved various Presidents, Vice Presidents and MD's, I received written confirmation from the Head of Operations from FEDEX on Thursday afternoon to say that the parcels would arrive the following day. I can not begin to imagine the complexities involved, but he was good to his word and, by mid-day yesterday, Friday 4th, heaven and earth had been moved and Susana duly collected both boxes from Arricife airport yesterday lunchtime, they were on the boat here in the marina by 2.00pm. I was emotional to see them arrive after all of the heartache but it could have been the eye-watering 780 euro "customs charge" which was levied just to receive the item as a "yacht in transit" - who says Pirates are only found off the coat of Yemen?.
Me and the satellite dome whilst writing my Blog
Can I just publicy offer a huge "thank you" to FEDEX - their commitmemt reminded me of that wonderful FEDEX advert with Tom Hanks. CLICK HERE to watch it again. Thank you to everyone involved (more than a dozen of you that I was aware of, there were no doubt more) and a particular thanks to Suzette who works for FEDEX in Memphis who telephoned me from her home, at breakfast time on Friday, to keep me updated - FEDEX should be proud to have you working for them.
So, what does all this mean? Well, it means every one of you who are reading this now, everyone of you who will track our progress on the OC Tracker across the Atlantic, everyone of you who read Susana's blog and my blog and who will see us on TV, read about us in the papers and hear us on the radio, will now be able to do so - the equipment really is that important, without it, our only communications is an iridium telephone which costs £3 a minute to call (ouch..!!!) and would leave us virtually cut-off from you all.
Anyway, that's enough whinging, sorry about that...!! No one wants to read about personal gripes, do they? Well, the islands are now officially on a 4 day holiday. Julian arrived safely and is staying on board ID. His presence is invaluable as it means we've been able to crack on with some important jobs. For example, the genoa, the big triangular white "saily" thing at the front of the boat which we will be using most on the trip, had been at the sail menders having a rip repaired. It was delivered back to ID the day Susana & I arrived last week but I needed to wait for Julian before hoisting it which we did this morning - only to find the rip is still there, exactly as it was before going to the sail menders - I'm beginning to wonder if all these problems are of my making...!! Either that or we have a Jonah on board.
Amongst other jobs, I've now figured out how to access the all-important weather data and we've now started the daily weather routing assessments (pointless doing anything more than a week in advance). So far, the weather is looking pretty good for next week with a favourable northerly wind of 15-20 knots pushing us southwards to the Cape Verde islands - it's going to be wonderful. Susana had some brief dinghy training with Julian yesterday. I was having a snooze on the foredeck and was woken by squeals of (nervous, slightly manic) laughter as she buzzed around the harbour holding the outboard engine for dear life, dodging boats and seagulls - Julian had that "I'm terrified but not going to show it look" on his face.
Timothy gone to see the Barbarians play NZ at Twickenham today with Elaine, lets hope the BaBa's do better than England 2 weeks ago - we speak daily on Skype which is a great way to keep in touch but I'm looking forward to seeing them when they arrive next Tuesday.
7 days and counting
Thursday 3rd December 2009......
It's less than a week now until we set sail in Impossible Dream. We've been on the island nine days already; me mostly dealing with the logistics and planning (glued to my computer and telephone) whilst Susana has been cleaning stowing and organising the boat making her ready for the 3,000 mile passage. A 60ft boat might not seem that long but it provides a huge amount of storage space; that is all very well but knowing where everything is hidden and is easily retrievalable at a moment's notice is a black art known only to the stower. For example, it's important that I don't wait too long when I request a packet of peanut M&M's at 0200 on night-watch.
Today, Thursday 3rd December, is the International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) which focusses on the abilities and achievements of disabled people. I'm delighted that The Independent newspaper have chosen to use my achievements as one of those examples, thank you to them. But I must just say, because it rarely gets said, that whatever I have achieved over the years, it is only because I surround myself with good people, I'm just part of the team. And so long as people continue to take inspiration from following my exploits, me and my team will continue to take that role seriously, it's a real privilege. CLICK HERE for a great article just appeared in the BVI Yacht Guide.
So, what's new? Well, top of my panic list remains the communications satellite dome, or rather the lack of it. Events are changing quickly and no doubt they will change again before I finish writing this blog but, as of this minute, the items are in the Canary islands - only not on this Canary island, but on a neighbouring island. As of 5.00pm tomorrow night, the islands go into a 4 day holiday period which means the next working day is Wednesday 9th December, the day before we leave. The dome is critical to us having internet access which, in turn will enable the tansmission of film footage back to the BBC plus give us access to emails etc. The whole project is built around the publicity the dome will provide, hence my concern.
Neighbours leaving for Martinique yesterday.
Friend (and delivery skipper of ID from UK to Lanazarote) Julian arrives this afternoon to help with a few mechanical jobs that need doing on the boat before we leave, it will be good to see him - our first human, well, I say human (have you met Julian?), contact from home, more folks to arrive from UK over the next few days. Yesterday afternoon, another of our neighbouring yachts slipped her moorings bound for Martinique in the Caribbean. It's quite a moving spectacle as all other yacht crews in the marina stand on deck, waving their arms and blowing air horns to wish them bon-voyage on their Atlantic crossing - I know that may sound a bit "wet" and maybe it's just us old sea dogs that get that x-feeling in our stomachs when we see fellow mariners putting to sea - difficult to describe really - you either have it or you don't. Just knowing they are on their way and it will be us next week gives me goose-bumps of excitement.
Don't forget to bookmark Susana's Blog; www.sailingsuze.blogspot.com .
Eating Lanzarote Fruit Humble Pie
Monday 30th November 2009
It seems my earlier forays into the fruity cuisine of Lanzarote were misguided. After tasteless plums, soggy apples and hard melons, I'd just about given up on finding any decent fruit. But last night, after a trundle along the coast to a neighbouring village, we came across another supermarket. Against my better judgment, we bought some apples, some oranges and a pineapple. I must admit, I was wrong, it was wonderful, all crisp and sweet. The only thing which left a bitter taste was the cost of the pineapple at nearly 7 euros (OUCH). So, my apologies Lanzarote - the moral is obviously to choose where you do your shopping...!!
Being on the boat, getting on with our jobs means we get to meet and speak with a number of passers-by. From folks on holiday from the UK who have heard of the project to ex-pats living here in Lanzarote who have stopped by to say "hello". On Saturday I got an email from a UK couple living here who had seen the boat and visited the website. Within minutes we'd exchanged details and they came down to visit the boat. Elle & Alan run a small internet-based business on the island helping Brits who are relocating to the Island and also helping promote local websites. What great people. Anyone arriving clutching a family-size bag of Maltesers is not going to be turned away. Anyway, do take a look at their site www.lanzaroterelocation.co.uk and, in particular their kind blog entry; http://www.lanzaroterelocation.co.uk/geoff-holt-in-lanzarote/ Elle & Alan have given us some useful info on local shops and taxi's which is much appreciated. We hope to be seeing more of them before we leave.
Those who can not get enough news of the Atlantic project might like to know that Susana has started her own Blog. Go to www.sailingsuze.blogspot.com where you can sign up to receive regular updates which will give a different and, knowing Suze, a more irreverent take on events...!!! Incidentally, I have also just heard that I will be doing a live piece on BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans Show next Monday 7th December at 6.45pm - make sure you tune in.
A boring but very important piece of kit..! THE BRACKET
If you've been following my Blog, you'll know that my biggest worry has been the fabrication of the bracked to take the Sailor 500 raydome from STRATOS - this is the unit which will beam back film footage from mid-Ocean as well as give internet access. Well, thanks to the boatyard here in Rubicon, the bracket is just about complete - all we need now is the dome itself which is due to arrive tomorrow - I know this may seem a bit technical and borinbg but the installation has been a real worry, not least because of the language barrier communicating with the local technician. I'd like to quickly thank Stephan Rodriguez from Inmobiliaria Puerto Rubicon www.puertorubicon.com who has gone beyond the call of duty. Stephan is the agent through whom we booked our wonderful villa here but he speaks fluent English and has on several occassions helped me explain the extremely complex requirements needed for the installation of the bracket with the technician who only speaks a bit of English - I'm ashamed to say that my 4 years of Spanish at school under the tutalage of Brother "Herman" have long-since been eroded from my memory - all except dos cervezas por favor....
Hasta luego
Deck Swabbing
Saturday 28th November, Marina Rubicon, Lanzarote
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It's a lovely day here today, warn sunshine, 24 degrees, cloudless skies. I've just had my breakfast which included 2 of my 5-a-day fruit and veg - peanut M&M's and a Bounty bar - peanuts and coconut count don't they? We are moored stern-to in the Marina Rubicon. Today is Market Day and the esplanade behind us is full of stalls selling tourist tat and no end of tourists (mostly Brit & German) buying it. It's a little bit like being in a goldfish bowl as passers-by gawp down at us. I'm assuming it is the boat they are looking at and not Susana doing her version of "Car Wash" by Rose Royce as she dances and swabs the decks with the hose pipe and brush to get rid of this confounded red sand which is covering everything.
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My view of market and passers-by
Pleased to say the essential bracket to hold the satellite dome is "under construction" and I've been assured it will be ready on Monday, fingers crossed it will work OK as planned. All we need then is the dome to arrive by FEDEX from Madrid, for it to be installed, connected and set up with all the software. I'm not uncrossing my fingers just yet. A quick thanks also to QUICKLINK - Quicklink provide the software which actually gets the video footage from the boat back to shore.
'm delighted to announce the addition of a new Business Club Member for the Personal Atlantic project. My friend and fellow Rotarian, Peter Burnage, has become a last minute sponsor through his company Burnage Associates. You'll see their logo on the home page and also under the Supporting Partners menu option. We have just applied the decals to the boat and they look mighty fine - many thanks Peter and I hope everyone at Hamble Valley Rotary club buys him a drink...!!
View from our dining room yesterday
Talking of Rotary clubs, Susana and I were invited to the Lanzarote Rotary club lunch yesterday at the 5* Grand Hotel in Arricife. A geat experience eating lunch 17 floors up but the room juts out and overhangs the building so there is nothing below you. Thanks to everyone there for making us so welcome and thanks to Wolfgang for acting as translator. Great food, not sure what it was but, seafood and potatoes always works for me. Shame about the fruit salad though Even at the 5* hotel is was tasteless and poor. Earlier yesterday we'd bought some apples, melon and plums and had presumed it's poor quality was due to where we bought it - the hotel fruit proved it must be an island problem. Disappointed as we had planned to fill the boat with fresh fruit and veg for the voyage - tinned fruit option not my favourite.
Right, going to plug in my iPod, crank up some Talking Heads and catch a few sunrays - I need a tan before people start arriving next week. More soon.
Landed in Lanzarote
Landed in Lanzarote
Thursday 26th November, Marina Rubicon, 12.00 noon.
NEW BBC REPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8376677.stm
We landed at Arricife airport bang on time at 1215 hours on Tuesday 24th. It was my first Easyjet flight and I was impressed. I hate flying; being transfered from my wheelchair to the plane seats on undersize aisle chairs and being manhandled by sweaty, garlic breathed ground-crew is never a pleasurable experience but Tuesday's flight wasn't too bad. I was allowed to sit in the front row of the plane (first time ever) so they literally wheeled my wheelchair into the plane and lifted me across so there was no need for the aisle chair episode though I was still subjected to the sweat and garlic - and the male helper wasn't much better either.
We were met at the airport by Rotarian Wolfgang Knuts from the local Rotary group - we've been invited their Club for lunch tomorrow. They had kindly arranged transport to the marina by wheelchair accessible taxi which was an unexpected surprise. First stop was to collect the keys for our apartment; I've taken a small ground-floor flat about 1/2 mile from the boat which gives us the flexibility with sleeping, washing, cooking etc. whilst we finish getting the boat ready. I was a bit concerned about door widths - I'd been prewarned that they might be a bit narrow but was pleasantly surprised to find I had just enough room to get around. The only difficult room is the bathroom so this morning's shower was taken on the patio, sat in a plastic beach chair with Susana throwing buckets of warm water over me - not a pretty sight.
Impossible Dream is moored in the lovely Marina Rubicon. She's been here unoccupied for about a month now so it took the afternoon of the 24th and all day yesterday to make her look a bit more presentable. Having tidied up the ropes outside, Susana set about cleaning up after the delivery crew - the mouldy bread setting off my involuntary gag reflex. Anyhow, ID is now looking much cleaner inside; tomorrow we set about cleaning the outside. We are only 100 miles off the coast of Africa so, when it rains, everything gets coated with this fine layer of orange sand from the Sahara but nothing that a good hose and scrub won't clear.
Internet access here is poor to say the least. We get spasmodic connection so I'm only managing to send/receive some emails. If you email, please, NO ATTACHMENTS unless essential. I'm writing this with no guarantees that I will be able to upload it - fingers crossed. I had hoped to Skype Elaine / Tim - I've manged it twice, briefly, but neither time with the webcam so we've been relying on the mobile phone which is horrendously expensive. I bought a cheap Spanish Pay-as-you-Go mobile yesterday to make local calls. It was only 29 Euros. But the reason for telling you this is because it took nearly 30 minutes to purchase, I had to present my passport as proof of ID and sign 3 separate declarations - all just for a phone you can walk into any phone shop in the UK, buy and walk out in minutes with no need to prove identity. Don't get me wrong, I think proving your identity is a great idea - why then, when us Brits are living in one of the most terrorist-fearful nations on the planet, is our government not protecting us in the same way as the Spanish - if terrorists/criminals in the UK are taking advantage of unidentifiable, cheap, Pay-as-you-Go mobile phones, without the need to show identity at the point of purchase, then perhaps it would be wise to change the rules. OK, that's Geoff's "High Horse" of the day. Rant over.
We have just one essential job that must, at all costs, be completed by mid-next week at the latest. We have a satellite communications dome arriving from the USA imminently (it was at Madrid airport yesterday). It will be this device which will allow you to see footage on the BBC during our voyage - it will also give us internet communication across the Atlantic which means I will be able to update my blog and Twitter. I can not overstate how important this piece of kit is. The one problem we have is going to be attaching the unit to the boat in such a way that it does not drill holes into the boat and it can be quickly uninstalled when we get the other side. We have an engineer coming this afternoon to give his advice but, after a lot of teeth-sucking, he's already stating he is busy and has very little capacity in his workshop. On top of that, the island shuts down on the 7th and 8th December for a 2 day fiesta - we leave on the 10th. And once this unit is fitted, we then need the software engineers to fly out from the UK to train us to use the kit - wish us luck.
OK, lunchtime now. Susana has been sorting out all of our Christmas stuff (presents and decorations) this morning and is currently in the forward hold where she is rooting through our food supplies (she's been there a long time and has gone very quiet); yesterday we managed to find the peanut M&M's and the Jaffa Cakes, my worry now is that she's found the Maltesers - Happy Days!!!!
Landed in Lanzarote
Landed in Lanzarote
Thursday 26th November, Marina Rubicon, 12.00 noon.
We landed at Arricife airport bang on time at 1215 hours on Tuesday 24th. It was my first Easyjet flight and I was impressed. I hate flying; being transfered from my wheelchair to the plane seats on undersize aisle chairs and being manhandled by sweaty, garlic breathed ground-crew is never a pleasurable experience but Tuesday's flight wasn't too bad. I was allowed to sit in the front row of the plane (first time ever) so they literally wheeled my wheelchair into the plane and lifted me across so there was no need for the aisle chair episode though I was still subjected to the sweat and garlic - and the male helper wasn't much better either.
We were met at the airport by Rotarian Wolfgang Knuts from the local Rotary group - we've been invited their Club for lunch tomorrow. They had kindly arranged transport to the marina by wheelchair accessible taxi which was an unexpected surprise. First stop was to collect the keys for our apartment; I've taken a small ground-floor flat about 1/2 mile from the boat which gives us the flexibility with sleeping, washing, cooking etc. whilst we finish getting the boat ready. I was a bit concerned about door widths - I'd been prewarned that they might be a bit narrow but was pleasantly surprised to find I had just enough room to get around. The only difficult room is the bathroom so this morning's shower was taken on the patio, sat in a plastic beach chair with Susana throwing buckets of warm water over me - not a pretty sight.
Impossible Dream is moored in the lovely Marina Rubicon. She's been here unoccupied for about a month now so it took the afternoon of the 24th and all day yesterday to make her look a bit more presentable. Having tidied up the ropes outside, Susana set about cleaning up after the delivery crew - the mouldy bread setting off my involuntary gag reflex. Anyhow, ID is now looking much cleaner inside; tomorrow we set about cleaning the outside. We are only 100 miles off the coast of Africa so, when it rains, everything gets coated with this fine layer of orange sand from the Sahara but nothing that a good hose and scrub won't clear.
Internet access here is poor to say the least. We get spasmodic connection so I'm only managing to send/receive some emails. If you email, please, NO ATTACHMENTS unless essential. I'm writing this with no guarantees that I will be able to upload it - fingers crossed. I had hoped to Skype Elaine / Tim - I've manged it twice, briefly, but neither time with the webcam so we've been relying on the mobile phone which is horrendously expensive. I bought a cheap Spanish Pay-as-you-Go mobile yesterday to make local calls. It was only 29 Euros. But the reason for telling you this is because it took nearly 30 minutes to purchase, I had to present my passport as proof of ID and sign 3 separate declarations - all just for a phone you can walk into any phone shop in the UK, buy and walk out in minutes with no need to prove identity. Don't get me wrong, I think proving your identity is a great idea - why then, when us Brits are living in one of the most terrorist-fearful nations on the planet, is our government not protecting us in the same way as the Spanish - if terrorists/criminals in the UK are taking advantage of unidentifiable, cheap, Pay-as-you-Go mobile phones, without the need to show identity at the point of purchase, then perhaps it would be wise to change the rules. OK, that's Geoff's "High Horse" of the day. Rant over.
We have just one essential job that must, at all costs, be completed by mid-next week at the latest. We have a satellite communications dome arriving from the USA imminently (it was at Madrid airport yesterday). It will be this device which will allow you to see footage on the BBC during our voyage - it will also give us internet communication across the Atlantic which means I will be able to update my blog and Twitter. I can not overstate how important this piece of kit is. The one problem we have is going to be attaching the unit to the boat in such a way that it does not drill holes into the boat and it can be quickly uninstalled when we get the other side. We have an engineer coming this afternoon to give his advice but, after a lot of teeth-sucking, he's already stating he is busy and has very little capacity in his workshop. On top of that, the island shuts down on the 7th and 8th December for a 2 day fiesta - we leave on the 10th. And once this unit is fitted, we then need the software engineers to fly out from the UK to train us to use the kit - wish us luck.
OK, lunchtime now. Susana has been sorting out all of our Christmas stuff (presents and decorations) this morning and is currently in the forward hold where she is rooting through our food supplies (she's been there a long time and has gone very quiet); yesterday we managed to find the peanut M&M's and the Jaffa Cakes, my worry now is that she's found the Maltesers - Happy Days!!!!
48 hour countdown...
In two days time we should hopefully be on our way to Lanzarote to join Impossible Dream, just the small job of packing to get out of the way first, a few IT issues to resolve and some paperwork to clear up and then we're off. Most of the heavy items were stowed on ID before she left, including the essential Christmas decorations, so it should (should..!!!), just be a matter of packing some warm-weather clothes, some suntan lotion and my copy of "Sailing the Atlantic for Dummies" - a great book, lots of pictures, it comes with a free compass and everything.
Dawn, Elaine, Susana, Alan, me, Tim
A huge thank you to everyone who braved the attrocious weather last night to come to our farewell bash at the King & Queen in Hamble. I lost count at 50 people, but it was great to see so many friends and family there, I'm only sorry I didn't get a chance to speak to you all. I won't mention everyone, but I would just say a big thanks to Dawn & Alan who drove down from Wales - if you've read the book, you'll know that I first met Alan & Dawn on my sail around GB a couple of years ago. For those who don't know of the K&Q, it's a pub in Hamble - I've been going there since 1982 (I was not 18 until 1984 - you do the maths). It's been the location for just about every start / finish of every major yachting event in the UK, so it was a fitting, if not exactly the biggest of venues. Thanks too for all of the kind and generous emails, texts and "good-luck" cards from people who couldn't make it, they mean a lot so many thanks.
Our farewell card from everyone
I'd like to quickly thank the Royal Yachting Association. On Thursday this week, I was awarded the RYA's Francis Elkin Award at their annual awards ceremony in London. The award "recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution, in time, effort and personal endeavour in enabling people with disabilities to become involved in sailing". It was a real honour to receive the award and very humbling too. Francis Elkin was an ex-Chairman of the RYA and he was also a Trustee of RYA Sailability during my time as Chairman, sadly he died a few years ago and the award was created in his memory. For a video of the ceremony, CLICK HERE.
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The RYA Awards were presented at No.1, Great George Street in London which is the HQ of the Royal Institute of Chartered Engineers. It should have come as no surprise then that the HQ of Engineering should have designed what I believe to be the most amazing wheelchair lift I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of them in the past 25 years. Take a look at this video. I'm afraid you will have to turn your head 90 degrees (blame Elaine) but do watch it to the end to see what happens to the steps. CLICK HERE
I'll sign off now. Next Blog from Lanzarote this coming week and they will be increasing in frequency too, hopefully two or three a week as the departure day draws closer.
Two weeks until we fly out.
Monday 9th November
Only 2 weeks until we fly out to Lanzarote to join ID. Most of the "to do" list has been done and we got confirmation of the satellite communications 3 days ago which is wonderful news. All we have to do now is get the kit out to Lanzarote, get it fitted and learn how to use it - it will enable us to have access to the internet and to send back video for onward broadcast on TV so you might just see film of us mid-Atlantic on your televisions over Christmas. My thanks to STRATOS for the loan of the kit.
Today we are off to the Raymarine offices for refresher training on the C140 which is the chartplotter / radar system on the boat. It's like a Sat Nav in your car except it uses sea charts instead of road maps. The radar lets you see where you are and, more importantly where everyone esle is at night and if there is fog. It also has something called AIS which will show every other boat fitted with AIS in the vicinity, their course and speed. So it's like a Sat Nav in your car where you can see all the other cars, only much fewer and, hopefully, at a much slower pace. In particular, I need to learn about the alarms, so I can set them for when I sleep to notify me of other shipping in the vicinity.
I want to quickly mention last Wednesday, 4th November. My friend Nick lawson invited Susana and me to the unveiling of a statue of Sir Keith Park in Trafalgar Square. Park was instrumental in the winning of the Battle of Britain in WW2. He was a New Zealander and was in charge of the RAF squadrons who fought in the skies over England. It was quite an emotional day to see so many surviving pilots from WW2, both men and women, with their racks of medals. The ceremony finished with a film which ended by listing some 30,000 men who lost their lives in the Battle of Britain. Afterwards we all, some 1,500 of us, went back to a reception at the IoD on The Mall. Very humbling to be in such great company and, of the surviving 65 BoB Spitfire pilots, there were 20 or more present on the day. CLICK HERE for more details.
I look at this photo to remind me of good people. Dawn, Sarah, Spike, Juliet and Alan
Can I end by sending my thoughts to a young lady called Juliet. If you've read my book, you'll know that Juliet has chronic arthritis and uses a wheelchair but, having followed my sail around GB two years ao, decided to take up sailing and, within months was winning races. I often cite Juliet as one of the sources of my inspiration, she's a wonderful lady. Unbelievably, she was mugged in her wheelchair some months ago by a 17 year old heroine addict who stole her money. The mugger was caught but, last week, the judge sentenced her to a 9 months suspended sentence which basically means popping in to see a Social Worker twice a week for the next 9 months. At what point in time did we go from those heroic men and women (some as young as 17) giving their lives for our freedom that I mentioned above, to these detestable people who mug disabled people. Some times I'm proud to be British, other times not so.
