Julian Megson Ocean Ventures

It’s been almost a week since we, on board Spirit of Isis, landed at Portsmouth.  With a full week of being back at work also behind me, I think it is high time to reflect on my 8 days at sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

Leaving Horta - Photo by Peter Harries

We cast off from Horta on Friday lunch time after a couple of days of site seeing and bonding with my fellow sailors.  There were 11 crew aboard Spirit of Isis.  It was kind of weird because someone suddenly made the decision to go and moments later we were on our way.

The first day on board was spent relaxing and enjoying the sense of beginning a big adventure before eventually settling down into the ‘watch’ routine of 3 hours on, 6 hours off.  As soon as the Watch rota started, those people not on Watch disappeared to their bunks.  I remember making the comment “why would anyone want to sleep?”.  I would be eating my words later that week.

We sailed into the wind the whole way and therefore heeled far over and pounded into waves.  This was thrilling sailing but made getting around the boat quite testing but also fun.  I remembered checking out the grab handles below deck prior to casting off and thinking that important manoeuvres to the whisky cabinet (joking) shouldn’t be a problem.  How wrong was I?  The grab handles might as well been a mile apart.  I’m used to small boats where everything is to hand. I often laughed out loud at how simple things were taking so much effort.

Splashdown in the Atlantic - Photo by Peter Harries

The next day was just awful.  I’ve had sea sickness before, but I can usually work through it and recover after a matter of hours.  This day however was a lot different, I felt dreadful and was as sick as a dog.  In fact it got so bad that I was begging for someone to kill me – death feeling like the preferred option.  Somehow I managed to work through most of my time on Watch but even being above deck didn’t fix it.

The next day I felt a lot better and was able to function normally. But I must admit the events of the day before were never far from mind.  The fear of the seasickness recurring kind of dominated for a while but the longer I continued the more confident I got of being over it.

During each watch I spent an hour at the helm.  This was usually accompanied by a big smile from ear to ear.  I loved it because I was in control and it also gave the best view of the boat.  I’ve never been on such a big yacht before (65 foot) so to watch the horizon disappearing below the bow followed by the cascade of water as the bow crashed into the waves was just the best.  At times I would make my way to the bow, (clipped on of course) and peer over the edge to get a good view of bow pounding through the waves.

Julian at the helm

It’s clear from my disability that I’m less steady on my feet than most other people but I think I manage pretty well.  If it is a struggle to remain upright then I am prepared to cast aside any dignity and use ‘all fours’ to ensure that I am steady and safe.  After venturing around the deck, I could see from the look of relief on some peoples faces when I made it back to the cockpit alive!  I was half tempted to fake a wobble now and again for fun but I thought that would be a bit mean.  Plus knowing my luck I would end up facilitating a man over board procedure which would have served me right I guess.

About halfway through the week the wind softened and the sun came out which meant progress was slow.  But that didn’t matter this day because it was beautiful.  The sea changed colour from grey to royal blue.  Everyone was on deck for a change. The highlight of that day undoubtedly for me was seeing Dolphins and then sighting a Whale…oh, and the only shower of the week.

Sunset in the Atlantic - Photo by Peter Harris

The next day everything returned to normal.  The wind picked up and was on the nose.  Progress was good and we were leaving the other boats behind in our wake.  You might think that being at sea that the view would remain the same.  Not so, the view at sea is ever changing and diverse.  One thing that struck me is that the mood of the sea, the weather and colours can change hourly.  God’s palette is quite something.

I can’t go on without mentioning a our stowaway, Percy.  Percy is a Pigeon who decided to hitch a lift. He was a sociable little fella and was a big fan of my breakfast cereal bars.  He stuck around for a couple of days before eventually being blown off deck!  After many failed attempts to get back on the boat he eventually gave up and carried on his way.  I quite missed him when he went away.

"Percy" the racing pigeon hitching a lift - photo by Peter Harries

The beginning of the end of the journey was when we headed east towards the English Channel.  This is when conditions got really exciting.  I’m not going to estimate the size of the waves but about one in every 10 was a real beauty.  Standing at the helm was a real challenge. When a big wave came it looked like we were heading into orbit as the bow was lifted high out of the water.  I tried to bare away to ease the slamming but it seemed to make little difference.  I felt sorry for the poor souls down below trying to get some sleep.

On arrivnig at Portsmouth the mood was that of excitement for most.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel.  I was looking forward to seeing my family but I also didn’t want it to be over.  As we tied up at the pontoon and as everyone was celebrating with there families I suddenly came over very sad.  I even had a small tear in my eye.  Even now I don’t know what triggered this.  It may have partly been that my Wife and Daughter were not there to meet me (It was 3am and I had called them a few hours earlier and told them not to come as I didn’t think it fair to get my young daughter out of bed).  The other reason I guess is because suddenly it was all over.

'Spirit of Isis' in Portsmouth - photo by Peter Harries

I can honestly say that I will never forget this journey. Mainly thaty it confirmed in my mind that more than ever I know I want to sail the Atlantic single handed and that I really believe I can do it.  Although I feel that I achieved something the fact remains that even if I had played no part at all, the boat would have still made it back to Portsmouth.  I’m not in any way undermining the achievements of my colleagues onboard, far from it.  But for me, I need to acheive the Transatlantic crossing single handed where the sole responsibility of bringing the boat home is mine alone.

PS:  Having managed to avoid injury for the whole trip, moments after tieing up in Portsmouth I bashed my nose on one of the upper bunk – small cut, lots of blood.  My legs hadn’t caught up with the fact the boat was now flat and no longer bouncing up and down. What a plonker!

Big thanks to Peter Harries for allowing me to use his photos which are way better then mine.  You can see the rest of his album from Horta and the ‘Spirit of Isis’ at this link here.

It’s been an tiring couple of days.  I arrived at Heathrow Airport, care of Mum and Dad, at 3am.  Straight away I met a guy called Dave who was joining up with Ondeck at Horta.  This was good because it was a lot easier negotiating the airports a lot less stressful.

BTW: At Lisbon Airport I had the shortest bus ride ever.  There were 2 buses at our boarding gate and after about 15 minutes both busses were full – and I mean we were crammed in like sardines.  Anyway, the bus set off and and 50 meters later it stopped right outside our plane!  I’m guessing but it took around 15 seconds.  Mad!

So with just a few hours sleep, taken at intervals during the day, we finally arrived in Horta at around 2pm.  There were about 10 people arriving on the same flight, due to do the the same sail to Portsmouth so we all shared some taxis to the Marina.  Our taxi driver thought he was Michael Schumacher with some pretty impressive cornering on the narrow roads.  But he did drop us off right next to the fleet of Ondeck’s Farr 65 yachts which was really handy because my rucksack weighs in at around a tonne (ish).

I spent the remainder of the first day getting to know the crew, most of which was spent a Peter Cafe Sport (typical Brit abroad – head straight for the pub).  But it was worth the hardship because we all bonded really well, they are a nice bunch with a real mix of exprerience from total beginners to those doing their Yachtmaster exams.

Today (Thursday), I’ve mostly been doing some sight seeing around Horta (thanks for the map Kathie!).  I haven’t done as much as I would have hoped but time is short.  I’m trying to balance sight seeing with spending time with the crew.

I wouldn’t be a proper English man if I didn’t talk about the weather.  So here is the the current synopsis:  Wet.

We cast off on Friday 29 May and I think this is going to be my last blog entry before we reach Portsmouth because I think using the satelite link is going to be very limited.  If I do get a chance however, I will make sure I take it.

PS:  I now know which boat I will be sailing on.  She is the ‘Spirit of Isis’.  You can follow my progress on this chart.

If you are not my Wife and Daughter please look away now but I’m really missing you both a lot and I think of you all the time.

In just a few hours I will be heading for Heathrow Airport for my flight to Horta in The Azores. It’s been a while since I have spoken about this so as a reminder, On Friday 29  I am taking part in a crewed non-stop 1200 nautical mile sail from The Azores to Portsmouth, England.  I join the voyage on the second leg of a Transatlantic sail and it is expected to take about 10 days or so to reach Portsmouth from The Azores.  This will give me valuable long haul sailing experience. It is one step further towards my dream of sailing single handed across the Atlantic Ocean and to show that despite having a disability, it is possible to live your dream.

So my bag is (just about) packed and I’m almost ready to go. I would probably have been ready a lot earlier if I hadn’t kept unpacking things to make sure I have everything. I guess that’s why lists were invented, anyway its a bit late now to have that bright idea.

This voyage is a charter organised by Ondeck who are providing four ‘Farr 65′ yachts which will be raced by a number of professional and amateur crew to Portsmouth. I don’t know which boat I will be sailing on as places don’t get allocated until we arrive in Horta.

If you do want to follow my progress then you can do the following;

1. Check which boat I am sailing on.  You can do that by looking at the crewlist for leg 2.
2. Check my current position on this map

I’m not sure if I will be able to update my blog whilst on the boat, but if that is possible be sure that I will be sending updates as often as I can.

My Wife Fiona, my Parents and Sister had travelled down to Bangor to see Ragamuffin being launched.  With her safely moored after the launch, they had chance to have a  good look around the boat.  Duncan and I were still checking for leaks and doing various other checks.  We had previously overhauled the seacocks and so this was the first opportunity to see if they were watertight.  Everything seemed to be ok, so we decided that we would just go for it and head towards our home port of Fleetwood, about 80 miles away.  We had made contingency plans and would stop at Conwy, Liverpool or Preston if it all started to go wrong.

Oilies on and farewells said, we motored out of Bangor and in to the Menai Straits towards our first waypoint, Puffin Island.  We were away!

Twilight in the Irish Sea

It didn’t take long to get settled in and it certainly didn’t feel like months had passed since I was last on a boat.  I was feeling right at home.  Once we were out of the Menai Straits and passed Puffin Island we hoisted the sails and for the first time we were under way without the engine ringing on our ears.  It was then that it all came back to me.  That wonderful silence after the engine has been shut off and the amazing feeling of being pushed along purely by the wind.  Ragamuffin heeled over a little, tightened up and she began to push through the sea.  It wasn’t exactly a white knuckle ride, just gently does it as there wasn’t much wind.  But for me it was a marvelous feeling.

Unfortunately, what little wind there was didn’t last long.  To reach Fleetwood in time for high tide the next day, we had to make an average of 3 knots.  This should have been easy but with no wind at all we were getting nowhere.  So we started the engine and probably motored for around 7 hours before eventually the wind picked up and we could finally make way and switch the engine off again.  It was not a moment too soon either.  As pleased as I was with the performance of the engine and its amazing fuel efficiency – it was doing my head in!

As it started to get dark we decided it was good practice to take in a reef just in case it began to blow a hoolie during the night.  Funds haven’t yet allowed for the equipment I need to run the mainsail halyard and reefing lines back to the cockpit, so trimming the mainsail means I have to climb on to the coach roof.  Although I do manage this task ok, I have to accept that I would be more at risk than someone who doesn’t have difficulty with their legs.  So because of this I prefer to try and avoid that risk at night during my watch.  Anyway, this particular night, taking in a reef turned out to be completely unnecessary because the wind barely got above a gentle breeze.

Then whole trip was memorable but two things in particular will stick in my mind.  The first was the bitter cold temperature during the night.  I can’t remember ever being that cold.  Although it probably wasn’t really too bad, I think the lack of sleep made it appear much worse.  I only had about 1 or 2 hours sleep in 36 hours which I know is ridiculous, but I had waited over 8 months to sail Ragamuffin and no way was I going to waste this time by being asleep.

Julian aboard Ragamuffin

The second moment I will remember was off the coast of Liverpool, again in the middle of the night. We could see lots of big boats anchored in the distance waiting for enough tide to get up the River Mersey. Duncan and I were practicing our RYA training and identifying ships by their arrangement of lights.  A second later, Duncan told me to look over my shoulder.  I nearly choked on my coffee.  About 300 yards away, there loomed this colossal tanker!  Thank goodness it was on a parallel course and moving slowly.  But I was stunned as to how silently and without notice it appeared.  I mean, how can something the size of a tower block sneak up on you like that!  All I will say is it was  a good job for us they they didn’t to turn to starboard.

Dawn broke, and we began to warm up a little.  We also had a reasonable amount of wind for once.  The motion of the boat however was very uncomfortable because of the confused sea state. I decided to shake out the reef and unfurl the genoa and the speed picked up.  This pretty much fixed the pitching and rolling.  We also decided we would have a bit of fun and try and get the toe rail in the water but there was not quite enough wind for that.

A few hours later we sighted Fleetwood.  We followed the Isle of Man ferry through the channel marker buoys (we thought it best to let it go first!).  When we reached the marina we were greated by some friends and family – a really nice surprise. They still had the same fresh faces as the day before, but unlike me, they had been to bed the night before.

I have really enjoyed my first sail in Ragamuffin and was sad  it was all over.   But, looking forward, its just the begining of some great adventures with her.

Here is some video of my maiden voyage in Ragamuffin.

Cheers, Julian

PS. I’m sorry for the long post. I just couldnt stop!

Ragamuffin being launched in Bangor, North Wales

Last Saturday 25 April, Ragamuffin finally hit the water for the first time since I bought her in August last year. For over 8 months we’ve been working to make her ship shape and for a long time it felt like this day was never going to come. But now it has. It was an awesome couple of days for me from launching Ragamuffin on the Saturday, to sailing her around the clock to my home port of Fleetwood, arriving on the Sunday.

We arrived at the Boat Yard in Bangor at about 9:30am and in time to do some final preparations before the launch at 11:30am. We had only been there 10 minutes when some guy came up to us and said we could go in the water now if we like. I wasn’t really ready for that to be honest and I went from feeling quite calm to full on panick stations. But as we had a long sail back to Fleetwood, we thought it was better to be in the water sooner rather than later.

Before I knew it, 2 men had removed the two forward oil drums that were holding Ragamuffin upright – leaving only 2 drums either side of the stern – and they reversed in with a tractor and hydraulic trailor. In no time at all, Ragamuffin was on her way through the boat yard to the waters edge to be next in the queue to go into the slings. I didn’t really know what to expect because I’ve never done this before, but I imagined it was going to be some huge operation to get her in the water. The whole thing left me a little stunned. I just about had enough time to slap some antifoul on the areas where the oil drums had been before she was loaded into the slings and chucked in the water.

First job was to have a good look around for any leaks and to make sure the engine was running and cooling properly, then the slings were released. We tied up around the corner whilst we got ourselves prepared and to give my family, who had driven down to watch the launch, a chance to have a good look around the boat – she’s only small, it didn’t take long.

My good friend Duncan had kindly offered to help sail Ragamuffin back to Fleetwood with me (not much arm twisting required). So once he and I had got ourselves organised, we jumped aboard, bid farewell to those who had travelled far to see us off (or to make sure we left!) and cast off for a 24 hour sail back to Fleetwood.

Part 2 coming soon…

With less than 3 weeks to go before Ragamuffin goes in the water, we are almost ready.

We decided at the last minute to do a total rewire of the electrics. It was quite a big job to rip out the whole lot and replace it with new, but it was definitely worth doing. Now there is a lot less cabling and the layout looks logical rather than the tangled mess it was before. Before it would have been almost impossible to quickly fix any problems had there been an electrical fault which is the last thing you need at sea.

Ragamuffin is starting to look really good. She’s painted and anti-fouled at last, thanks to a break in the weather. The only thing missing from her appearance is the white lettering for her name, and some white pinstripes which will finish the job nicely.

She was turning quite a few heads this weekend. I didn’t realise this but it seems that quite a few people at the boatyard have been following her progress. I had lots of lovely comments from people passing by. I must admit when I stood back to admire Ragamuffin I felt really proud of her. I can barely believe she’s all mine.

There are still some jobs to do, but these will have to wait until later in the season. I really wanted to run all the lines back to the cockpit for safety reasons and to make trimming the sails a lot easier. To do this I need some clutches and a couple of winches, but at the moment funds do not allow. So until that is sorted I will not be sailing single-handed but hopefully it won’t be too long.

Finally I want to say a really big thank you to Duncan. Without you the boat would not be ready to sail. I really appreciate all your hard work and the enormous amount of time you have put into getting Ragamuffin ship shape. I hope one day I will be able to make it up to you.

I’m really starting to feel excited about the new sailing season.  I have my sail from The Azores to Portsmouth to look forward to in May.  I can hardly believe I’m going to be crewing a boat halfway across the Atlantic!

I now have a launch date for my new boat (old boat but new to me). I’m really looking forward to finding out how well she sails.  There is still lots to do before she is ship-shape and time is a bit tight, but she’s coming together nicely.

In 2009 I also have new cruising grounds to look forward to.  My previous boat, which I shared with a friend, was moored at Whitby.  This was great because you could sail out of the harbour at any state of tide.  But in my opinion the scope for cruising was limited.  If you want to sail offshore from Whitby your options are more or less limited to Norway, which is fine if you have lots of time on your hands.

My new boat will be moored on the west coast of England.  The marina is a little bit more restricted than at Whitby.  You can only pass in and out at certain times based upon high water.  But in my view the scope for sailing is much better.  From my marina I can sail to Ireland, Wales, the Scottish Islands and the Isle of Man.  So much choice!

Knowing my humble background, if three years ago you would have told me I would soon have my own boat and be sailing half way accross the Atlantic I would never have believed it.

Thanks to a superb surprise from my wife Fiona, I will be sailing as part of a number of professional and amateur crew on the second leg of a Transatlantic crossing. My journey will take me non-stop from the The Azores to Portsmouth, a total of 1200 nautical miles.  Far from being just a passenger, I will be a fully working member of crew.  I intend to work hard and do all that would be expected of a professional crew and more.  Its not often that an opportunity like this comes along so I’m not going to waste it.  I just can’t wait to learn and absorb what it takes to sail a boat on a non-stop ocean crossing.

The organisers of the trip are ‘Ondeck‘.  Ondeck offer adventure sailing with a difference in that they aim to make the adventure of long haul sailing accessible and affordable to both novice sailors and highly experienced crews alike.  They own a fleet of Farr 65s ocean going yachts.  Farr 65s are unique in that they were designed by the world renowned Bruce Farr to be de-tuned versions of the famous Whitbread 60 for the ‘Millennium Round the World Yacht Race’ and with amateur crews in mind.  Although they have the performance of a fast racing yacht, they are extremely safe and user friendly for even the most novice of crews.

Needless to say this adventure is going to provide valuable experience crucial for my Single Handed Transatlantic voyage.  Firstly it will go a long way to teach me what it takes to sail a boat long haul.  The journey is non stop and as such means that the boat needs to be sailed 24 hours a day for almost 2 weeks.  There will be a watch system onboard where work is shared between teams, but never the less the boat will need constant attention for the whole journey.  Secondly this experience will allow me to be much more of a realistic proposition in terms of finding sponsorship.  If I’m honest this is the part of the whole venture that leaves me lacking in confidence.  Where as I can go out in my boat as often as I like to gain the skills I need and to acclimatise to life at sea, having the confidence to believe that anyone is going to be interested enough in me and basically beg for money in order to realise my dream, is another matter.  So it will be a great relief to me to have this journey under my belt and I will at last feel I have something tangible to offer in terms of having some of the experience required to be able to see this venture through.

If you want to know more about Ondeck, you can visit there website here.

I couldn’t sleep last night.  I was sat up in bed for ages until goodness knows what hour.  I was thinking that in just a few months I’m going to sail my new boat for the first time.  I was imagining what it’s going to be like on my first sail in her.  If I’m like this now, what on earth am I going to be like as the time to launch the boat gets closer .

I’m sure anyone reading this will think I’ve lost the plot, but she’s more than just a boat to me.  For starters she represents lots of hard work just to get this stage of owning a boat.  Then there is the time and money invested in getting her ship-shape before she goes back into the water.  There is still lots to do and the pressure is on, but I don’t mind that, I always find a way to get things done.

It’s the feeling I get when I’m out at sea that drives me.  On land its obvious I’m different from most other people and in some ways I am restricted.  At sea however, all things are equal and I am free. The feeling of freedom, mixed with excitement, beauty and exhilaration are all things which I associate with being at sea.   I can feel it just thinking and writing about it now.

The thing is, I know that if I want succeed and excel as a sailor, which I do more than anything, then its down to me in the end and my attitude to hard work, experience and a willingness to learn.  I can assure you, I still have much to learn.  Above all I will need grit and determination and to keep my eyes on the prize (which for me is the single handed sail across the Atlantic).  It would be far easier sometimes, when things are not going to plan, to use my circumstances as an excuse to give up.  My attitude however, is that problems and circumstances are there to be overcome and therefore greater is the achievement having overcome them successfully.

On that note, roll on spring and the sailing season.

If you, like me have started to get the winter blues, sailing is off the agenda until spring, and you’ve read and re-read all your sailing magazines.  Your well thumbed books on heroic adventures of around the world sailing are on their last legs and have been read to death.  Then worry not, because this month sees the start of not one, but two single handed circumnavigations for you to follow.

Last weekend saw the start of the 2008/2009 Vendee Globe.  30 Skippers left dry land and slipped their moorings for last time this year.   For the British among us you may be interested to know that their are 7 British skippers among the hopefuls.  Although for one of them, Alex Thompson on Hugo Boss, the adventure has ended after only 3 days following a collsion with a fishing vessel just before the race which caused substantial damage, followed by what appears to be another collision during the race of an unknown object below the water line which caused the boat to be holed and take on water.  That said, there are still plenty of British contenders to follow, including Mike Golding whom I met at the Southampton Boat show this year.  I wish them all the very best of luck.

If that wasn’t enough, today a very young Mike Perham ,aged just 16 years old, cast off from Portsmouth on a voyage which could see him being the youngest yachtsman to sail single handed around the world.  The current record is held by an Australian who completed the journey at the age of 18.

So what will the lone skippers face on this journey of approximately 21,600 miles.  They leave for an adventure which won’t see then touch dry land again for the next 3 to 4 months, possible more in the case of Mike Perham.  First they head off south, down the Atlantic Ocean and through the squalls and calms of the Doldrums at the equator.  Once in the South Atlantic they will make for the southern tip of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.  Here they will head east.  This marks the entrance to the Southern Oceans and is where the fun really begins.  The sea here is uninterrupted by landmass for the entire circumference of the globe.  Because of this and the the continuous flow of low pressure systems from the west, waves of up to 60 foot high are common place.  With ice cold seas, icebergs and being thousands of miles from land, this is not the place to get things wrong.  Next is the formidable and mythical Cape Horn.  Here there is a bottle neck as the seas force there way through the narrow gap between the southern most tip of South America and Antarctica.  This point is notorious for having probably the most violent seas on the planet.  It is estimated that gales occur on around 200 to 250 days a year.  Once past Cape Horn, the boats head north into the South Atlantic again and onto the homeward stretch.  However, the game is not yet over.  The boats and skippers alike are battered and bruised and nothing must be taken for granted.  There are no prizes for not finishing so the boats must be nursed home at last.

If you want to follow these events you can vist their websites at Vendee Globe and Sail Mike