Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

Plans continue to take shape. I have now completed all of the details passage planning and as a result of that planning I have made some changes to the plan.

Leg 16 Hartlepool to Hull

I have split this leg into two:

- 16a Hartlepool to Scarborough
- 16b Scarborough to Hull

I have also added an additional 3 night stop off at Scarborough… it has a active fishing fleet and has one of the oldest RNLI stations in the country with over 200 years as a lifeboat station… I simply had to stop here.

Leg 17 Hull to Lowestoft

Again, I have split this into two legs:

- 17a Hull to Wells-next-the-Sea
- 17b Wells-next-the-Sea to Lowestoft

It seemed such a shame to whiz past this beautiful part of the country and so I have chosen to stop off at Wells but just for one night.

Humber Area

This is a huge area. In fact, the Hull Marina is over 20 miles up the Humber! I felt that by just staying in Hull I was neglecting Grimsby and so I have decided to sop at both for two nights. This will give both Hull and Grimsby fishing fleet to see the MOB Guardian system and I get to visit both of these interesting places.

I haven’t yet amended the Itinerary but it will get done over the next week or so.

Please have a read…

http://www.suzuki-marine.co.uk/news/detail.php?id=000714

This week will see the start of the boat upgrades I am making for the trip. The auxilliary engine, a DF6 kindly supplied by Suzuki Marine UK, will be the first and I am planning on doing sea trial with that later this week.

I have now settled on the fuel issues and I will be carrying 3 x 30 ltr outboard fuel tanks. However, only 2 of them will be full and carried with me en-route. The other one being used for refuelling only. These will go in next week too.

I will post here the results of the sea trials with the DF6… looks interesting to see what my speed will be!

I have changed the stop off port for leg 1 from Penzance to Newlyn.

Firstly Newlyn has H24 access making my arrival/departure times much easier and I am hoping that I will get to meet many people to demo MOB Guardian.

Newlyn and Penzance are so close it has made almost no difference to the passage plan/fuel requirements.

It is with great pleasure that I can now announce that Suzuki Marine UK have agreed to be Title Partner for the event.

With the boat being powered by a Suzuki DF115 4-stroke outboard motor this will ensure that I have the very best of support.

Suzuki has long been the innovator in outboard motors and their range of ultimate 4-stroke outboards offer the ideal blend of performance and dependability for any kind of boating. From the lightweight and portable 2.5hp to the award winning power of the 300hp, Suzuki has the outboard for you. All Suzuki outboards provide environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient 4-stroke technology at affordable prices. Plus the 5 year warranty promotion for 2008 gives you even more reason to choose a Suzuki outboard.

Please click on the logo, visit their web site and have a look at the DF range of 4-stroke motors. I have owned 3 now (DF140, DF115 & DF2.5) and I can say from personal experience they are reliable, economical and very, very quiet!

By popular request there is now a sponsorship form available to download:

General Sponsorship Form

This form is also available from the web site home page.

Please download this form and get your friends, family and collegues to sponsor the event. When I have completed the trip collect the money and send a cheque to me along with a copy of the form so that I can collate and record the donations.

This is a great way for you to help the event be a success…

Thank you for your efforts.

I completed the STCW 95 Sea Survival course today and boy was it interesting and fun.

Lots about lifejackets, liferafts, hypothermia, EPIRBS/SARTS/PLBs and a whole load of other stuff. The best bit for me was the practical in the pool where we learned how to use our lifejackets to best effect, inflated a liferaft and was shown how to embark. It isn’t easy and if you have never done it then please do this course… it may save your life and you will enjoy it.

You do not need to be able to swim for this course and if you are a little apprehensive of the water then that is even more reason to have a try in a warm pool before you need to do it for real!

I very strongly recommend this course, or the RYA equivalent, to anyone going to sea.

We are now starting to get Leg Sponsors booking themselves to sponsor specific legs.

Just £200 and we can offer you local publicity when in port, inclusion in our sponsor list, inclusion in the MBM Feature article and inclusion on the web site with a logo/link.

Get in early before your leg gets taken.

More info at Sponsorship

Here are a few words of wisdom from Dame Ellen MacArthur… words I subscribe to in every respect…

1. Never give up.
2. Be as fully prepared as possible.
3. Take strength from the team around you.
4. It’s good to be frightened it keeps you on your toes.
5. Don’t lose sight of your ultimate goal, stay focused.
6. Never underestimate the power of the sea.
7. Stay true to yourself and never lose sight of your values.
8. Never forget those who have help you along the way.
9. Always try to have fun.
10. Always do your best.

What more can a mere mortal such as I add?