Welcome to my Blog.
This is the beginning of a journey for me. My aim is to make a single handed voyage in a sail boat across the Atlantic Ocean and not only that, but to race. This would push most able bodied people to their limits, let alone someone with a physical disability like mine. I have Spina-Bifida, a spinal defect from birth. However, I am really fortunate because I am able to sail a yacht and sail single handed.
Sailing the Atlantic for me will be a first and I intend to make the whole experience from start to finish a really special time of my life. It’s a challenge which I would never have thought possible. But that is what life is all about, living life to the full, pushing through boundaries, achieving great things and inspiring others to make the most of their potential.
I’m not out to change the world, I shall leave that to far more capable people than I. But should I succeed I hope that in my small way that I might be able to inspire and motivate others to do something far beyond what they thought themselves capable of. Everyone has a fire in their belly, a desire to do something fantastic with their lives, but it is up to us to do something about it. Something which I aim to do from this moment on. Obstacles are to be expected, but obstacles are there to be overcome.
I can honestly say that already I am having the time of my life. I’m a disabled working class bloke from Bradford. Yet I sail the open sea, with its ever changing moods. It really is the most beautiful thing.
I hope you enjoy my blog and follow me as I take my journey from landlubber to ocean yachtsman. I welcome all your comments.
Cheers, Julian
October 21st, 2009 at 08:50
Hi Julian. Found you through yachtpals.com (sredni vashtar). The only spina bif cases I’ve ever met were barely more than toddlers, so it’s great to find a highly-motivated adult. Living in Bradford, how on earth did you get introduced to the addictive pastime of sailing?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:18
Hi Mike. Good question. I guess I have found myself in an unlikely situation, being as land locked as I am.
I used to watch the boats out at sea from cliff tops and beaches when on holiday and wish I was out there doing the same. I eventually booked onto a sailing course to see how I would get on, and was immediately hooked.