I am not really from a sailing family; my mum and dad didn’t sail until I was 10. It all started after my grandma died and my grandad decided to re-engage with some of the activities he had enjoyed when he was younger. He and grandma had owned a folk boat “Stella” which they kept on the Hamble for many years, but sold before my mum was born. Grandad wanted to go sailing again, and he was a sun worshiper and the thought of sailing in the Med was very appealing, but he didn’t want to go alone. So, we booked a flotilla holiday in Croatia with “Activity Yachting” and arranged for a skipper to teach us how to sail (I am not sure that grandad could remember how to sail). We arrived in Croatia and were introduced to our boat (called Stella!) and our skipper Jordan. There were many memorable events on this holiday, the turquoise seas of the Adriatic, the serenity of the Kornati Islands, strolling through beautiful Dalmatian towns with a gelato in hand and fender towing. But my strongest memory is watching grandad smile and laugh again. Jordan and the other skippers were full of practical jokes and grandad loved it. He regained a boyish humour that I hadn’t seen before, water flights, ‘stealing’ other skipper’s boats, passing the buoy around the boats at sea, and the last night skit in which grandad performed impressions of Jordan’s mannerisms and expressions. This was my introduction to sailing.
We loved it so much we went again the following year, and the year after that! I lived in Eastbourne on the south coast and my parents encouraged me to try dinghy sailing, but I was very shy when I was younger and the idea of something new, with people I didn’t know made me reluctant to get started. My whole family joined our local dinghy sailing club and in time, I felt that I gained a family of sailors, who helped my confidence grow. The importance of the sense of belonging to a sailing community was further illuminated on level 2 of Clipper Race training. On the last evening, I received news that my grandad had died, he was my biggest sailing supporter and so excited about my ambition to circumnavigate with Clipper. I was devastated, but the crew that had forged together as a team through that week of sailing were there to support me and I know that we will be there to support one another through the highs and lows of many weeks at sea during the race.
I returned to Croatia this year, it was bittersweet; this time I was the skipper, but for the first-time grandad wasn’t with us. It was my first-time taking charge of the boat. The sailing was the easy bit. the challenges came when manoeuvring the yacht in narrow channels, using lazy lines and mooring stern to. Grandad would have been proud.
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