Julian Megson Ocean Ventures

Sometimes you’ve got to take a risk to make a dream come true. Right now, me and my family are making the biggest move of our lives so far.

Earlier this year I announced that I would be sailing single handed around Great Britain and Ireland. This was to help build up my profile and be a warm up to me competing in the 2013 edition of the OSTAR – the original single-handed transatlantic yacht race. Unfortunately, due to lack of sponsorship, this didn’t happen. So it’s been a very disappointing time considering the amount of time and sheer hard work I put into the project to try and make it happen. But these things happen.

I think a big part of the problem has been where I live. My home is in Bradford, Yorkshire and about as land locked as you can get. It’s not the thriving center of sailing excellence as you would imagine! Working from a base so far from the sea, has put me at a serious disadvantage. I would really have loved to be able to bounce some ideas around, rub shoulders and talk face to face with people, who frankly have a lot more experience than me at putting together a sailing campaign. But chances like these have been few and far between.

However, in July I was offered a job in Southampton – I snapped there hands off and took it. So for the first time in my life, I’m leaving Yorkshire, my family and friends, to live by the sea – on the Isle of Wight!

It’s a really exciting time but  it’s also a stressful and emotional time. As I write this I’m in my rented room in Southampton whilst my Wife and Daughter remain hundreds of miles away in Yorkshire until we sell the house. Changing jobs is stressful anytime, as is moving house and changing schools, but doing them all at once is a whole new level. I sometimes thought I was never going to survive it but things seem to be moving – slowl.  All being well I should be reunited with my family around the middle of October when we finally move into our new home after a long time of being apart.

I’ve had some real kind words of encouragement from friends and family. They have all said it’s a brave move and that they admire me for doing it. But to  me the real heros of this move are my Wife and Daughter, they are both making massive sacrifices for me. Fiona is giving up a job which she absolutely loves and Megan is having to leave her friends behind and move to a new school.

So here we are, starting a new chapter in life and working hard towards me competing in the 2013 edition of the OSTAR. So if anyone is able and willing to back me, a disabled sailor wanting to compete against the able bodied in the Original Single-handed Transatlantic Race, then please contact me. It’s going to be a fantastic story and you can be a part of it.

Well, It’s been an interesting week, on Tuesday I did my first ever live radio interview. This came about because of the 2 page spread in the Yorkshire Post back in January which talked about my ambitions to sail around Great Britain and Ireland and to compete in the OSTAR in 2013.

The radio interview was an eye opener for me and it was useful to get my first one out of the way. I was a bit nervous but the up side is I now have a much better understanding how these things work. Next time I will have a better idea of how to get my point across. And it’s definitely a good thing that the media are showing an interest, anything that allows me to sell myself to potential sponsors can’t be a bad thing.

Speaking press interest, Sail Racing Magazine have done an amazing interview with me in April’s (free) online edition. I must give a massive thank you to Peta Stuart-Hunt for setting this up and to Justin the editor, for giving me this fantastic opportunity – and for allowing me to take up so much space in his magazine!

You can read the article itself at http://www.sailracingmagazine.com/srmapril2011.html. You will need to subscribe but this month’s edition is free so it won’t cost you anything. It would be great if you would please forward the link to the interview to all your friends – you never know, you might just be the one to help get my campaign going.

Update:
You can now read the article in full here: http://julianmegson.com/downloads/srm_julian_megson.pdf

Hi All, I just thought I would keep you up to date with my current plans.

Right now I’m working on a campaign to sail single handed around Great Britain and Ireland. It’s been an ambition of mine for a few years, in fact it was one of my initial ideas when thinking of a challenge for me to do.

Apart from being as totally cool thing to do, the other main objective is to raise my profile, gain valuable experience – and be a warm up to my real ambition of competing against the able bodied in the 2013 edition of the OSTAR, the Original Single handed Trans Atlantic Race.

Sailing around Britain has been done before by people with disabilities and has taken around three months to do it; I want to do it in three or four weeks and include Ireland in the circumnavigation so I can sail far enough offshore to do longer stages. It should be the perfect showcase to help encourage sponsors to come onboard for my OSTAR 2013 campaign.

I really need sponsors to make this voyage a reality, so as you can probably guess, I would love for potential partners to contact me to discuss sponsorship opportunities. The partnership will work both ways and for mutual benefit.

Finally I would like to give a massive thanks to our chosen charity ASBAH (The Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus).  Thanks to ASBAH I was contacted by the Yorkshire Post newspaper who ran a fantastic article on my campaign – a double page spread no less (click here). I would really love it if you would please visit ASBAH’s web page (here) to see what they are about.  If you can spare a donation that would be even better.  They do some fantastic work and make such a different to people living with Spina Bifida and their families.

Thanks, Julian

Sponsorship proposal for my Round Britain and Ireland Challenge

October has soon arrived.  So has the realisation that I’m not going to get the boat back into the water this year.  The plan was to launch in September and sail her to a permanent mooring in Liverpool.  But there is still much work to do below the waterline before she can be put afloat.

That said and remaining positive, these jobs are better not rushed.  I would be more disappointed – in myself – if I had compromised the quality of the work for the sake of putting her afloat quickly.  Fortunately common sense has prevailed and I have not allowed that to happen, despite the temptation to do so.  Besides, with Winter approaching, I would not be sailing much and the longer she’s out of the water the better she will dry out.

I feel slightly more at ease knowing that there is not much more I could have done to speed things up.  Although I do wonder if I could have found a way.  The weather has been dreadful and has hampered progress and with the usual commitments at home it’s not always possible to get away for a full weekend in order to get stuck in.

There have been times when I’ve found myself hopelessly out of my depth with the refit.  Fortunately for me, I have had some amazing help from a good friend, Duncan, who’s kindness has been overwhelming.  His time, skill and know how have been invaluable.  I’m learning all the time that there is more to sailing, than sailing.