Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

Now that the trip is over I can’t help feeling that the media, in general, missed an opportunity. With more media coverage this trip could have generated so much more for the RNLI but with a few notable exceptions of Plymouth, Isle of Man, Inverness and Peterhead and Lowestoft, there was very little local coverage of the event in spite of Sally’s huge efforts to get them interested and keeping them informed of my schedule so they could catch up with me when in port.

I had no TV coverage and only 2 radio interviews. I was expecting so much more and I have to accept that I misread the media in this respect. 

Still, they are a fickle bunch and I suppose that they have limited resources and have to respond on a day by day basis to the events that are happening locally and it is very possible that at almost every port they had more news-worthy items to report upon. However, I can’t help being disappointed at the very limited coverage I received for the sake of the RNLI.

On a very positive note though… where I did receive coverage I saw, visibly the benefit. I had people coming to my collection point just to talk to me and to donate to the RNLI! That was very hmbling to think that people would put themselves out so much to give to the RNLI. MOB Guardian was well covered and I feel that I did raise the profile of this superb livesaving equipment. I gave out over 2000 business cards on my travels and on the back of most are the 5 basic sea safety points so hopefully, if just one person takes notice, then I feel it was worthwhile.

Another miscalculation of mine was sending a poster to every sailing club. It cost over £800 but I thought it would generate a huge amount of interest but as far as I can tell it probably generated almost none. A lesson for others doing a similar thing perhaps.

Finally, I misjudged the amount of enthusiasm I would generate for sponsors to come on board. I got some great sponsors but I spent a huge effort before the trip trying to persuade businesses to donate just £200 towards the costs of the trip. I couldn’t imagine that I would have trouble finding 22 businesses to give £200 each given what I was offering them in return. I didn’t manage it and only received about half of the sponsorship I was expecting and I have made up the difference out of my own pocket. In a way I am happy with that. I have had a great time and a great experience and gone round Britain in my own boat but it is sad that so few wanted to be a part of the event and to contribute towards such a good cause.

So, although the trip was a huge success from a boating point of view I feel disappointed in many of the non-boating aspects and I have to accept that I was carried away a little with my enthusasm for the event and just assumed that others would be similarly excited. Some were… but nowhere near as many as I hoped or expected and yet general public interest in the event has been excellent. From the messages I have received it is clear that I have inspired many, boaters and non-boaters alike, and the web site hit stats show that hundreds of people followed me round. Yet somehow that has not yet converted into hundreds of donations through the web site…

So I urge you… please, if you followed me round, or even if you didn’t, please make a donation by clicking on the button at the top right of this page. You can do so by credit or debit card and it goes directly to the RNLI. Even £1 will make a difference.

I just wanted to give a big and public THANK YOU to all my various sponsors and helpers that helped me get back to Plymouth safely and in doing so helped me to do good work for the RNLI.

I will list you all in due course and you will be listed in any publications in magazines or books but before I sit down and list you properly I want to thank you personally now. In your own individual ways, you have made this trip possible, bearable, safe and profitable for the RNLI and it would not have been all those things without your help, enthusiasm and support both before and during the trip. You should all feel very proud indeed to have assisted in whatever ways you did, small or large, as I am proud to have worked with you and met you all.

I know that some have benefitted significantly from being associated with the event and others just wanted to be a part of it and just contributing was enough but whatever your hopes for your association with me and this event I hope you thought it worthwhile and I hope too that your experience with this event would encourage you to make similar efforts for good causes in the future.

Many, many thanks to you all.

Up at the crack of dawn yet again for this leg and I needed to be. I originally planned to go from Lowestoft to Dover but as there is no petrol available in the port of Dover and as it is a very busy port I thought it would be better to go into Eastbourne where petrol is available. Of course it means another long leg but if the weather was OK it would be worth it.

Leaving port at Lowestoft at first light the sea was glassy flat but unfortunately the visibility wasn’t good. I estimated it to be about a mile but with the sky clear and with the forecasts all very good for the day I wasn’t concerned. So I set course.

The plan was to go down the coast a little past Southwold and then to turn almost due south to take me outside all the sands of the Thames Esturary. I chose that route as although it takes me a long way from land and also means I would have to negotiate the Sunk TSS area I felt it was still the safer option in good weather. So with Southwold off my starboard beam I turned south. The leg distance from Lowestoft to Eastbourne was 125nm and as I turned south to head across the Thames Estuary I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. It wasn’t that I felt that it was going to be unsafe… far from it. I was very happy with the route and the plan, the weather was excellent and sea state flat. No, it was just the thought of doing what I was about to do – it is a daunting prospect to see 51nm come up on the GPS as my next waypoint. Fine at 20kts, which I was doing, but the very idea of it at 5-6kts should the weather be a lot worse than expected, without an autohelm, and going through one of the busiest shipping areas in Britain, if not Europe, made me take a deep breath. I had planned for it though and I had left early enough to get me to Dover before nightfall should the worst happen with the weather. Fortunately the weather held and I could maintain 20kts for the time being.

Whilst heading south I got out the paper chart to review my route across the Sunk TSS area. I had only roughly planned my route across this area. I wanted to see what traffic was about before I committed to entering the precautionary area or crossing the TSS lanes and by not planning in detail beforehand it meant that I could assess the traffic when I arrive and plan a route through that would give me the least interaction with the large ships. From some way off I could see them; not just big ships but HUGE ones! At that range I couldn’t really make out which directions they were traveling in but their shapes were looming on the horizon. As I got closer I could see a row of ships heading eastward out of the zone and 1 entering from the south and 1 entering from the west. The ships heading east were not a factor as they were leaving the precautionary area and would be heading away from me. The other 2  though were heading in and would be a factor but they were a long way off and I decided that if I routed across the precautionary area at right-angles to the west entry/exit lane (in accordance with the cross TSS at right-angles rule) then I would be well out of the way before they entered the area. Looking at the chart it made sense to use the cardinal buoys as marks so I headed for my first mark of the Storm south cardinal which marked the northern edge of the Sunk inner precautionary area. I then set course for Long Sands Head north cardinal mark which marks the southern edge. All was clear and so in I went at 20kts. It is a bit spooky entering an area like this in a small boat. You know that providing you follow the rules, and make sure you do not interfere with the passage of the traffic in the zone, I have every right to be there yet somehow I can’t help feeling that I am an interloper in a world where I really shouldn’t be. I always felt the same when flying my small aeroplanes into international airports… yes I can go there, yes I have to give way to larger craft and follow the ATC instructions to the letter and all will be fine but it is a world very alien for small craft and this felt much the same.

All was going well when half way across the zone I saw a surprising sight… it looked like a standing wave about ½ mile ahead,  about 1½ m high,  with a breaking crest ahead. It was surprising because the sea was dead flat. As I got closer I worked out what it was… it was the wake of one of the big ships that I saw leaving the precautionary area to the east. I said the ships were big but this was ridiculous! I have never seen a wake like it in my life and so I slowed down to its speed and followed it for a while to work out how I would cross it. It wasn’t like a normal wake where I would just slow down and cross at 45 degrees. The size of it in height and the size of it across concerned me. Watching it I could see that the wave wasn’t breaking all the way along it’s length. Instead it broke in sections where it was steepest but between those sections were smaller, flatter parts and that was where I would cross. I aimed for one of these smaller bits and powered up aiming to take the wake at about 30-45 degrees. I wanted to power through so that I had control and also it would mean less time exposed to the wave but I mustn’t go too fast. The boat surged as I went through and surfed out the other side but in the end it wasn’t the drama I thought it might have been. Still, it was well worth my caution and I clocked up another first for Churchley kind

After my encounter with the wake wave the sea started to cut up quite a bit. It was clear that a lot of this was the interference of various wakes acting together but the wind had got up and the general sea state was picking up. Leaving the precautionary area and heading down to the Kentish Knock cardinal mark, which markes the south and west edge of the two way zone in the new Sunk layout, the sea started to make 20kts difficult and by the time I had reached North Foreland I had reduced speed to about 16kts. It looked like a long run to Eastbourne but I still had plenty of time at that speed and fuel was fine so I still planned to Eastbourne.

Passing Dover was very straight forward. A quick call to the port control and I had permission to cross the entrances a mile off dodging the 2 ferries coming out and the one going in! Then it was a simple run to Eastbourne. Unfortunately I arrived at the Sovereign Marina at about the time that all the people that had been out for the day were returning and the queue for the lock was outside the outer harbour but eventually I was ushered into the lock and found my berth.

It had been a long day and an exciting and interesting one and one that gave me a particular sense of satisfaction of a job well done what with the length of the leg, negotiating the Sunk precautionary area safely and in accordance with the rules, and all without autohelm… YES!

Sovereign Marina did not know I was visiting them and so no arrangements had been made for discounted berthing but I would like to thank them for giving me free berthing and discounted fuel once they knew of my trip. Thank you Premier Marinas! I wish all the marinas and harbours I stayed at were as generous and welcoming as you were.

What a fantastic afternoon. Our good friends Anne and Paul took me out on their boat and we set off to meet Paul as he neared Plymouth. We met in the middle of Bigbury Bay for an emotional first sighting of our little boat that has carried Paul so safely such a long way. The engines never missed a beat either. I hadn’t seen the boat since May although I’d seen Paul of course about 3 weeks ago, and I’d forgotten just how little she is and how faithfully she has brought Paul full circle back to Plymouth.

The Plymouth lifeboat came out to meet him and escorted him back to their berth in Millbay Marina. Paul popped a bottle of bubbly and a few stories were swapped before I joined Paul on Stargate for the trip up the Cattewater to our dry berth at Yacht Haven Quay.

Paul and Anne then joined us for a pub meal, which was excellent, and then I drove Paul home. He fell asleep on the sofa he was so tired, but managed to get upstairs to bed (he’s not used to that!).

I still haven’t finished the window sill but I will. New front door today though. It’s been an amazing 63 days, during which I feel as if I have been as close to Paul’s experience as I could without actually being there. I am so proud of what Paul has achieved, in a tiny boat, on his own, with no permanent support team (although he received wonderful support from sponsors and supporters), and, as we discussed last night, with no autohelm or auto steering of any kind. He drove the boat himself every inch of the way.

I arrived back in Plymouth yesterday afternoon at 5pm after a 63 day trip… exactly, to the day, the planned time! That is spooky!

I haven’t yet put up the trip log for Lowestoft to Eastbourne nor for the final leg to Plymouth but I will do so in the next day to two but there are a few things I must get out of the way first… sorry. Also there are more photos to go up.

Things on the task list for the coming weeks include:

• write an article for Motor Boats Monthly
• I realise that the photos have been difficult to follow as there are no captions so I am going to annotate all the photos and include some of them in the blog entries. That will take a while!
• The engines now need a service so I have to organise that
• Many items were bought especially for this trip and so I now need to sell those… e.g. charts
• I am still fundraising so I need to look at ways of continuing to generate income for the RNLI onwards from here
• I would like to write a book but at the moment I am unsure what form it will take. I have in mind returning to the places I stopped at but by road to properly investigate each place from the boating, seafaring, RNLI perspective… these are just ideas at the moment so nothing decided yet

But first, after I have tidied up the boat and done the final trip logs I am taking a week out with Sally to try to return to normality again.

This is the current earliest ETA from Paul. Sea conditions are getting choppier so this may slip. The RNLI lifeboat is standing by to launch and greet him at the Plymouth breakwater. BBC, ITV and local Radio Devon have been informed. Official finish at Millbay Marina - Plymouth Lifeboat Station.

I shall be going out aboard a friend’s boat to meet him, so this is my last entry.

Current ETA - not before 1630 BST

Paul set off from Eastbourne early this morning in a sea of glass, and is shortly arriving in Poole. Given the current sea conditions and that the forecast suggests a few days of bad weather starting tomorrow, Paul has decided simply to refuel at Poole and then set off again straight home to Plymouth! He will probably arrive in Plymouth at around 5pm-6pm this evening, assuming sea state remains suitable for high speed. Taken us all by surprise!

Today was a very long day… departed Lowestoft at 5am and arrived at Eastbourne at about 6pm.

The forecast today was rubbish. It predicted f3 or less and sea state smooth or slight. It turned out F5 and a slight to moderate. I am so pleased I left so early as the last 5 hours were bashing into waves at 6kts and very hard work and exhausting. i suspect tomorrow won’t be any different.

It was a very exciting day though and one of the most enjoyable from a boating point of view. I had to transit the Thames estuary which is one of the busiest shipping concentrations in the world. I decided not to plan the route precisely prefering to see what the traffic was like before deciding how to get through. As it turned out there were only a few ships around and the route was very straight forward between two cardinals. None the less, there may not have been many ships there when I arrived but the evidence of them being there earlier was there in the form of their wakes and one wake I came across was a wave about 1.5m high and I had to study it for a while before deciding how I would cross it. It was a whopper! There was no sign of the ship that caused it though.

Crossing the entrances to Dover required caution and a call to the Dover port control was well worth the effort.

So, two more legs and tomorrow is to Poole where I may have to wait out the next weather system delaying my final leg and my return to Plymouth… I must be patient!

With a weak low pressure over south east England for the next couple of days there is almost no pressure gradient and so it is likely that with the hot sun during the day we will have onshore breezes and that they will be the dominant wind at the coast. So F2-3 is forecast and calm sea should mean I can push on over these two days and possibly make it back to Plymouth Monday or Tuesday.

My intended destination today is Eastbourne but if it turns out to have more of a sea running than I expect then I will still use Dover as my alternative port.

More when I arrive.