Monday 20th July 2009

Firstly, I must apologise to the guys and girls working at Multimarine where Impossible Dream was built and where she is currently having work done to make her ready for the crossing later this year. Apparently they are based at Millbrook which is in Cornwall, not Plymouth which is in Devon (although they are only a mile or so apart across the estuary).  Thanks for the factual correction and I apologise for that error but, for the 99% of people who have never heard of Millbrook, the boat is still in Plymouth.  The electronics arrive this week, courtesy of Raymarine (a full review of all the equipment will follow later - it is an impressive list) and we've been promised the generator will also be renewed and installed this week.  The sails arrived back, freshly cleaned, repaired and strengthened by Hyde Sails and the graphics are being applied by Grapefruit Graphics on Wednesday so we are gearing up for her first public outing at Cowes Week during the first week of August. It's all getting very exciting.

Well, a bit of a quieter week this week with one notable exception.  Last Thursday I had the honour of introducing yachtswoman Dee Caffari at a Speaking up for Heroes charity event at the Royal Institution in London in aid of the Help for Heroes charity. Speakers included John Simpson from the BBC, Monty Halls (you may have seen his series on BBC about living on a beach in Scotland  with his dog Reuben), Dee Caffari, polar explorer Ben Saunders and Andy Macnab, the SAS guy who appeared with no balaclava although it was strictly no-photos.  I could describe him to you, but then he might kill me..!  It was a fab evening, and all credit to my friend Caroline Rose who organised it all.  The only downside was my electric chair running out of power half-way through proceedings and poor Susana had to physically push me and my chair across Waterloo station at 11.00pm at night.

With so many new subscribers to my site in recent weeks, I thought I would once again draw your attention to the amazing Sarah Outen.  Sarah was one of my support crew when I sailed around GB two years ago.  More than 110 days ago, Sarah set off from Freemantle in W Australia to row to Mauritius, on her own, in a 16ft boat.  Incredibly, she is now only a few hundred miles away from achieving her ambition - how amazing is that - please visit her website www.sarahouten.co.uk

L to R: My crew members Andy Cockayne, Sarah Outen, Joel Whalley. Photo taken July 2007 at the summit of Mt Snowdon during our circumnavigation of GB.

Finally, just a quick reminder, there are only 6 days left to vote for me in the British Airways Great Britons Awards.  If you haven't voted already, can you please have a go - it's free...!! Click the BA logo below.