Meet the Crew

Although thousands of boats shuttle across the oceans every year, it is still a fair undertaking that requires careful planning. James is a hardened ocean sailor, having voyaged to the UK from Australian in the late '90s and has never lost that yearning for another serious voyage. I, on the other hand, haven't completed a passage longer than 36hrs, but have spent long periods aboard and felt ready for a more serious adventure. The boat is a carefully designed cruiser built to a solid specification and this was one of the reasons James chose her. She is almost totally original and geared for cruising with individual cabins giving some privacy and the feel of a larger boat, and short rib spacing making her sturdy if a little heavy. It seemed inevitable that we'd stretch her one day and take her out of her home European waters.

After joining the British Classic Yacht Club, we'd discovered the joys of sailing with fellow enthusiasts and were introduced to the idea of the Transat Classique. We tendered the idea, did some research, and decided that the winter of 2012-13 would be the ideal time to take a sabbatical and cross the pond with the classic fleet. However, the Classique was soon to undergo some changes and we were gutted to find out that the schedule would be changing and we'd be out of sync with the biennial passage.

Our options were to bring the trip forward (too much work to do on the boat), let it slip (getting trickier with schooling and work) or go on our own. We decided the timing was more important and we should cross anyway, without the prestige of the Classique. Joining the ARC was also considered, but it was to set off a little early for James' peace of mind with a risk of clipping the end of the hurricane season and missing the trade winds, and we'd also had mixed reports of their 'support', so a plan was drawn up to get the boat to Morocco in the summer 2012, then ferry her to the Canaries aiming to arrive when the melee of the ARC had left, and set off as soon as possible after Christmas / New Year. In the summer of 2011, prospective crew members were approached and plans laid.

Crew requirements:

• Must be competent and preferably experienced
• Must understand classic boats
• Must tolerate children
• Must be able to endure evenings of inane talk with the owners

Numerous parties were abducted on board and subjected to repeated onslaught of children, inane banter and copious quantities of alcohol, and good friend and even crazier sailor Cornelius of Sensa (right) agreed to come.

All this was to change rapidly the following summer. At the Panerai BCYC Classic Regatta in Cowes last summer, we were gleaning as much information on the crossing from other boats as we could when we discovered that the Classique was indeed once more scheduled for this winter and had now picked up a big sponsor - Panerai. My heart rose, but wouldn't it be too late to join? Two of the organisers were to visit the Regatta later in the week and an introduction was made via the honourable yacht Pazienza. Of course we could join - but the 'race' was to commence from Lisbon on December 2nd. This was significantly further north and a full month sooner than James had planned for. Would he agree?

I broached the subject. James appeared reticent but said if I could find a crew, we could go. Within two hours I had rapidly recruited two other BCYC member from fellow rally division yacht Ceilidh Mhor (right) and the trip was on. And so we greet Dave and his son Ollie who bring reams of experience and professional qualifications to the boat and also share our passion and rather bizarre sense of humour, and whose wife was gracious enough to permit them to miss Christmas. Hopefully, they can cope with having the kids on board too.

And here's the gratuitous ad - Ollie is also about to launch an Olympic bid for 2016 and is currently running Sail2Win offering top level racing coaching, but he won't be around in December!