“Why would you want to do that?”
That was the response I got from someone when I told them I was planning on taking four months to sail around the coast of Great Britain with my fiance in a 28-foot boat.
They said it in the tone of voice as if they thought I was crazy. Out of my mind. Bonkers.
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So my fiance Mark only went and self-published an e-book on our experience sailing around the coast of Great Britain earlier this year.
It’s titled – A Voyage Around Britain in a small Yacht: A true and honest log of two everyday people sailing around the UK.
I’m incredibly excited and proud!
Of course I’m biased but even with my former magazine editor hat on I can say it’s a great little read (even if there is the odd typo).
When we first announced we were going to sail around Great Britain, I was surprised that quite a few people said to me they, or someone they knew, had always dreamed of doing that but they didn’t know how to approach it or they were worried about certain aspects, like sailing around Cape Wrath.
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Almost four months on a cosy 28-foot boat with the love of your life, dealing with temperamental weather and an ocean as changeable as a teenager’s mood swings is one of those experiences that make you look at life and your place in it.
I don’t know if I’d go as far to say I’m stronger or that it was a transformational experience – during the sail I often compared to my 3,000km (1,864 miles) walk down the length of New Zealand, which really did change me as a person – but the sailing challenge made me sit up.
These are some of the things I learnt.
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We’d been sailing all night and were coming up 17 hours on the water.
It had been a night darker than coal; no moon, thick dense cloud. I couldn’t even make out the bow of the boat.
The wind had been keen and the waves had whooshed. It was anyone’s guess what they looked like beyond the ghostly froth of bubbles that stirred as the boat ploughed through the water.
It felt like the waves were big. It felt like we were going fast.
Come the grey of morning, we were exhausted and the sea was a confused mess, as if it was throwing a temper tantrum at the injustice of the early start to a new day.
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It’s two weeks into the adventure of sailing around Great Britain and I’m adjusting to being on the water and living in a 28-foot space.
I’m a newbie to this sailing game so it’s been a full-on introduction to the rigours of sailing.
Here are five things I’ve learnt so far:
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Four months with my partner Mark on a small boat, sailing approximately 2,000 miles clockwise around the coast of Great Britain.
Think wildlife, cute coves, spectacular sunrises and stunning sunsets, picture postcard views of the dramatic British coast, four months off work.
What’s there to worry about?
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Under three weeks until my partner Mark and I set off sailing clockwise around Great Britain.
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I’ve spent no more than a handful of days in a sailing boat. I don’t know if I will get seasick. I forget my port from my starboard. And the toilet is a bucket with a toilet seat.
Yet from May 1st 2022, this will be my life for four months onboard a 28 foot (8.5m) long yacht named Speedwell as my partner Mark and I sail an estimated 2,000 miles (3,218km) around the coast of Great Britain.
Mark has been sailing for more than 20 years so is a dab hand at this floating thing but I’m coming at it new and green – and just a little bit nervous.
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I can count on one hand the number of times I have been on a sailboat – and that’s with chopping two of my fingers off.
I know nothing about boats. I can’t remember port from starboard, stern from bow, gybe from tact (opps I mean tack).
I have no idea if I get seasick.
The toilet is a bucket with a toilet seat, the contents of which I have to chuck over the side of the boat.
There is currently nowhere to decently wash my hands and I don’t do dirty hands.
And dirty hands are part and parcel of sailing – disgusting, wet, dirty, muddy, mouldy ropes wherever you look. As well as large, copious amounts of gluggy bird poo. Yuck!
So, when my partner Mark, who has been sailing for 20 years, bought a new boat recently, I was suddenly introduced to a whole new and scary world.
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Katrina Megget 