Fellow quadriplegic sailor Hilary Lister has commenced her attempt to sail around Great Britain. Hilary and her team had to make a really tough decision and call off her attempt last year due to bad weather and a few kit problems, but she set off again from Plymouth on Wednesday this week and, as of this morning, is already in Newlyn - almost exactly 2 years to the day since we were there on our very same voyage. Hilary is sailing a different type of boat to me as she has different requirements to me but it will be interesting to see how the two boats, the two routes, the two crews and the two sailors compare.  I guess I'm in a fairly unique position to understand exactly how tough, both physically and mentally, this voyage will be for Hilary but she's a strong-willed lady and will no doubt succeed.  When she does, no doubt there will be some debate in the bar about "who did it fastest". If you get to meet her en-route, don't for heaven's sake call her brave or courageous - like me, she finds such attributions misplaced and inappropriate.

So, last week, I told you I was on my way to the House of Commons to give a talk for the Jubilee Sailing Trust.  It was a great evening and they raised more than £20,000 for a great cause.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to the former England no.8 Dean Richards and the not-so-pleasurable honour of sitting opposite to Sir Peter Viggers MP who looked decidedly nervous throughout the evening.  With subsequent revelations about his ornamental duck house costing the taxpayers more than £1500, it's no wonder he was so uncomfortable - if only I had known, my speach would have been 10x funnier, that info would have been an absolute gift.

I visited Farmoor in Oxford last Saturday for the Challenger Class Association national championships but the weather was appalling and the wind blew constantly above 20kts, often reaching up to 30kts.  They managed a race but many competitors made the brave decision to either not start or to retire.  On the positive side, I got to see many of my old sailing buddies and all 3 of my former Challenger dinghies; Douglas Hurndall (the first boat I ever sat in and sailed as a disabled person in 1991), Billy (the boat I sailed twice around the IOW in 1992 and 1997) and of course, the wonderful Freethinker.  They are like old friends although managing to keep their looks unlike those sailing buddies - only joking Val and Judi.

On Thursday this week I met up with 2 comedians, John "Hoppo" Hopkins and Richard Glover for a day out filming in my boat. It's a long story, too long for me to write up in full here, but briefly, these 2 guys have no boat, no money and they have never sailed before. They have booked a venue at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in September this year and intend to sail from Glasgow, over the top of Scotland to Edinburgh in time for the festival - and they are making a documentary of their journey. For full details, CLICK HERE. Yesterday was a hoot with an unhealthy amount of naked bodies cavorting on my boat at 25knots in Southampton Water - goodness knows what the passengers on the Red Jet ferry thought as we "flashed" past. Seriously though, if you can help the guys find/borrow/steal a yacht (ideally a Contessa 32) for a few weeks in the summer, contact me and I'll pass on the info.

Having a beer with Hoppo and Rich

Impossible Dream left Lisbon this morning and the latest ETA in Plymouth will be in a week's time where she will undergo some work to make her more suitable for me.  These modifications include lowering the saloon table so it becomes my bunk, that way I will sleep right next to the nav station so I am there in the event of an emergency without the need to come up from below decks.  We are also moving the existing helmsmans seats so I have completely free access in my wheelchair to all of the nav station.

I have a new TWITTER page which you might be interested in. I'm uncertain as to its true benefit but do sign up and let me know what you think.