More support!

Big, big thanks goes out to the MacGregor family who live near Ivybridge in Devon. Julian and family were neighbours of ours out in Belize and we have shared many great times. Thanks for coming aboard as supporters and helping make the dream come alive!

Family support!

Many thanks goes out to my stepfolks - Pete & Anita Robins for their generous support and donation of funds to be able to purchase the last pieces of vital equipment. Thanks guys - it all helps to bring the dream into reality.

Lympstone Sailing Club Talk

It was a very warm welcome at the Lympstone Sailing Club on Friday 12th March. I was invited to give a slide show and talk on the previous world voyage on Cookie. The talk was titled "Dare to Dream" to emphasize the success from living out your dreams. Special thanks to Brian Ridge and Richard Crisp for organizing the club venue.
My family and I are now members of the club and have been presented with the LSC burgee to fly during the Jester Challenge!
From the generosity of the club members at the talk, we made a fund raising start of 102 pounds for the Sir Francis Chichester Trust. Thank you to all who attended!

Link to LSC website is http://www.lympstonesailingclub.org.uk/

Chosen Charity for Cookies Jester Challenge

I am very pleased to announce the continued partnership with the Sir Francis Chichester Trust for Cookies Jester Challenge. I helped raise funds for this Trust back in 1997 after finishing the round the world voyage. The Trust assists underprivileged Devon youths to take Outward Bound courses - a legacy left behind by the famous adventurer Francis Chichester.
2010 marks the 50th anniversary year of the original OSTAR Atlantic race that Francis Chichester competed in 1960, so there is a close connection with this charity and the fact that Cookie will be sailing the North Atlantic course in the wake of the mighty Francis Chichester.
For details on the Trust please click on http://www.chichestertrust.org.uk/

Musto is a sponsor!

Another fabulous step forwards in the project came this week when Musto agreed to supply one of their famous HPX ocean drysuits. That's going to make a huge difference to my life aboard and to survive the northern seas with my tropical bones!!!!! Big, big thanks goes out to Tamsin Hannan, Michelle McDougall and all the team at Exeter Musto including Carl Studholme and Emmie Brown. It's an honour to have the best gear to wear!

Cookies new home for a few weeks!

After a very safe and enjoyable drive down from Portsmouth with Cookie being towed by the mighty Barnes, we arrived at Lympstone and offloaded into my very patient and generous in-laws garden for a few weeks of repair work before re-launching. Huge thanks to Barnes Dave and Phil for more powerful muscle and huge thanks to Jen & Gus for the use of garden space.......I promise to make sure the lawn is green and healthy again afterward!!!!!

Cookie arrives into Portsmouth

Weds March 3rd and our container with Cookie and house gear is unloaded at Portsmouth from the Fyffes ship M/V Elsebeth. The guys at MMD Shipping did a great job of getting all cleared in with customs and we were ready to go and pick it all up on Friday. My stepbrother - Barnes and brother in laws - Dave and Phil all rallied to our help to give some muscle to the project. Huge thanks to all 3 who gave up a day off work to come and help out. I hired a big van and car trailer to handle the load and we had a perfectly clear and crisp winters day for the drive up and back. Special thanks to David Spencer and Gary Nolan of MMD for allowing us to unload at the port.

The Ship sails from Belize

Tues 16th Feb and I drive "Kungo" over to Big Creek one more time to pick up the 'Bill of Laden' paperwork for the shipment of container. As I motored up the channel to the port I was met by the M/V Elsebeth being towed out of port by the tugboat "Miss Gayle". I even got to see the blue container on deck with all our gear inside and bound for Portsmouth UK, ETA 2nd March

Loading into the container

11th Feb and all is ready to go with the first load of boat and house gear to drive over from Placencia to Big Creek aboard "Kungo", my friend Paul's great workboat - kindly lent for the Belize extraction project! Huge thanks goes to Rudi, Bob, Bill, John and Dave for their help, friendship and handy muscles on the day.

All went like clockwork with just two trips across the lagoon needed to transport Cookie and all our house contents. The day threatened rain first thing, but the weather gods smiled and we had good dry conditions and nothing got wet - most importantly my wife Michelle's artwork!!!!!!!

Mr. Gustavo Carillo and his team at the Banana Enterprise Office in Big Creek Port were super helpful and laid the container on the ground right at the shoreline to make loading easy. The port guys all chipped in and helped get Cookie packed in safely - no shortage of hands at the ready!!

It was a great relief at 3pm to click the padlock onto the doors after customs had fixed their seal and the loading job was done. Time for beers all round!

Cookie gets dismantled in Belize

6th Feb and I arrive back in Placencia with the job of getting Cookie apart and the house packed up ready to go into a 40ft container on the 11th. No time to waste, I got straight into it and was very lucky that a cold front kept gray skies for the weekend so the Belize sun didn't fry my UK weakened and pasty skin!!!

Just like 10 years ago in St. Martin, I unbolted and un-lashed Cookie in the water and let the hulls fall over, then used short, temporary beams to lash the hulls back together for transporting across the lagoon to Big Creek Port. It all went well and at the days end, Cookie was floating - squeezed together against the dock ready to have 4 months of grime and weed scrubbed off the next day. Thanks goes to Julian MacGregor for his assistance and company during the weekend.