Page 34 - Yachter Spring 2023

34 RACING REPORTS
Working on Atlas ashore
every Skipper’s struggles I identified three common issues that I needed to solve and have worked hard to resolve them.Those are; sailing ability, physical and mental robustness and the ever-present financial complexity of such a project.
With the first, sailing ability, I feel I have some semblance of navigation at this stage but many of us can make a yacht move. What we all come to know is the difference on any successful voyage is keeping it moving. I purchased Atlas, my Mini Transat in a terrible state not long after deciding
to chase this idea. Bringing her ashore at the start of the pandemic, it took me two years to refit her.Teaching myself rigging, fibre glassing, fairing, painting and how to completely rip out and replace electronics she now floats, with a bit less water in the bilge.The plan is to use her as a training vessel locally for the next couple of years before purchasing a newer competitive boat to take to the start of the 2026 edition of the Mini.
The Mini Transat is a two year event that builds up over a series of single-handed
races in a 21ft boat to a transatlantic race completed in two stages, following the traditional westerly route from the Atlantic coast of France to the Canaries and then from the Canaries to the Caribbean.The vessels are complex and fast, achieving over fifteen knots downwind comfortably.They are however pigs upwind, preferring to go
to leeward more than ahead.What makes the race tougher is no chart plotters or routing is allowed, only basic GPS and weather
from radio reports can be obtained. It is true back-to-basics offshore sailing, sextant and all, which is a large part of the appeal.The plan after that will be to step up into the Mediterranean circuit of the Class 40 for two years, aiming for the 2030 Route du Rhum before stepping up again to attempt the Vendée for 2032. Best laid plans of mice
and men though see me focusing on the near future and the Mini first.The only thing I know for sure is that the Southern Ocean is calling me still and that I will return to it one day.
The second issue of having the physical and mental robustness to achieve such a goal, I am dealing with in a rather drastic manner some have said. Long having respected
the military in all its forms, I joined the Army Reserve. Firstly, as a private soldier, deployed during COVID to run the mobile testing sites.Then more recently, I found encouragement to promote to the Officers Mess and went to Sandhurst, gaining my commission at the end of 2021. I now proudly serve as the Platoon Commander
in Southampton with the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.The only thing I can
say for sure is it has certainly, in every way, pushed me with the physical and mental side of this challenge.
Thirdly, and finally, the last piece of the puzzle I identified was financial.Too many great sailors, more than capable of achieving their dreams, haven’t been able to, due to the ever-elusive money required. So, I have retrained in finance and started my own company, Ocean Wealth Management. My objective here is twofold, firstly to help others with financial planning for their own dreams, be it in sailing or otherwise, and focusing on inheritance planning for the next generation, to ensure their children
get to continue to sail and keep our great sport alive. Secondly to understand how big business works, to be able to talk to sponsors on a professional level and assure them they are looking at someone who understands their business needs and can articulate in
the boardroom what a benefit sponsorship can be for them. I believe being able to do the above is really the key, because, as we all know, there is a cost to any and every goal.
So there we have it, this is me, I believe
End of refit launch