The Blue Star quilt.....

My sister-in-law, Susan, a brilliant, prize-winning quilter, is joining in with the Blue Star fund-raising spirit by making a quilt with blue stars on it! Mmmm, that will keep someone nice and warm! Quilt shown below in its initial stages of manufacture. Looking good so far! More later!

Woolcool are well cool!

Woolcool recently handed over a cheque as their contribution to the charity coffers. The venue was South Staffs Sailing Club and we were hosted by Neil Hawkins of SSSC:

 Me with cheque, Hannah (left, Woolcool), Angela (CEO of Woolcool) and Keith (MD of Woolcool)

 I shake hands with Neil while Hannah looks on

I get to put my arms around two lovely ladies! I knew there was an 'up side' to this project!

Woolcool have been just so helpful! I do so appreciate their support!

And next.....

It has been a good week.

On Monday I met with Neil Hawkins from South Staffs Sailing Club; Neil kindly allowed us to use SSSC as a venue for our photoshoot - I will post some images shortly! It was a 'bit cold', but a great venue. South Staffs SC is a very strong club and has a strong GP14 class, which is the boat that I started my sailing with many years ago (about 20 plus if you must know).

Also Rob, one of my sailing friends has helped to find a contact at the clothing chain 'next'. They have agreed to donate £500 to our cause! Brilliant! Thank you next!

.....and finally, we have a date for our trial sail on Blue Star prior to completing the purchase! We shall sail from the Isle of Wight to Swanwick on 3 February. The weather forecast appears to be: cloudy, 9 degreesC, wind speed 20mph gusting 35mph. Hmmm. Should be good!

Cheers!

The sun is shining (is it really winter?!) and my health has improved somewhat. Woolcool have arranged for a photo shoot next week, to help to raise the profile of our GB challenge and hopefully to interest others too. Thank you Woolcool, brilliant! You are so supportive, and I really appreciate it!

Did I mention the 'Sail Away' party? This is likely to be held at a south coast venue on the weekend of the 16/17 May, and will feature a presentation about the GB challenge, a dinner, a celebrity presence (tbc), a viewing of Blue Star, and of course the sail away itself! More details later!

I am also really looking forward to the visit of Tracy Edwards to present to Stafford Coastal Cruising Club! It is a real honour to have someone of Tracy's standing to visit us. Tickets for this event will go on sale soon at the Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, where the club is hosting the event. Don't miss out!

Cheers!

Information Cards

We now have some information cards available to hand out to anyone who is interested in our project! The cards refer to our website and to other contact details.....

Health matters

Ouch! I've had a bad back recently, and it has made it rather difficult to move around.....as in needing to lean on furniture to move around the house. It comes to mind how difficult it is to sail a yacht when one's health is compromised. Hopefully I will be well soon, and in good time for the start of our trip in May.

Did you see in  the news recently that a (quite large) fishing boat has sunk off the north coast of Scotland? It would appear that all hands have been lost. It brings it home to you that putting to sea still involves risk to health and to life itself.

A recent journal article discussed methods of recovering a man overboard. There may be some legs of our trip where the crew comprises only myself and one other. If one of us were to go overboard it would become a considerable challenge to for the one remaining aboard to both control the yacht and recover the casualty. I must make sure Roger knows what to do, just in case the MOB happens to be me!

Ouch, my back!