Ray Oliver, G3NDS

Ray Oliver’s 'Sail Round the UK' for charity

In April 2008 I set sail in my yacht Christine Marie on one of the most challenging adventures of my life, a 2-year sail around the UK in support of the charities Rethink, Marie Curie and the RNLI.

I am currently at Torquay, Devon, and have one more leg to sail to achieve my goal. I sail from Torquay to Weymouth on the 15 September, visiting Poole before returning to Lymington Yacht Haven mid-day on the 18 September … the end of my cruise.

Family, friends, representatives from the press and charities, all those that have sailed as crew with me and others interested are welcome to meet us on return to Lymington Yacht Haven. We expect to arrive between 1100 and 1200 on Friday 18 September. I have also arranged a get together at my sailing club ( Lymington Town SC ) in the evening at 1900. Please contact me if you plan to attend in the evening so that I have some idea of numbers.

By the time I arrive back in Lymington I will have sailed over 3000M, visited over 100 ports and harbours around the UK and Ireland on my 2-year figure of eight, circumnavigation. A great adventure, fulfilling the dream I set out to achieve when I started sailing in early 2004.

It’s been a great adventure, living my own personal ‘Coasts’ and ‘Islands’, popular TV programmes, from on board my yacht Christine Marie. Sailing so many miles and navigating the coastline into unfamiliar harbours in all weathers has tested my relatively short sailing experience to the full and has given me a strong sense of personal achievement late in life. My trip has only confirmed what I strongly believe: in the UK we have some of the most beautiful and stunning scenery around our coastline that I have been able to cruise at leisure throughout my 2-year passage, taking time to visit ports, harbours and lovely unspoilt islands, anchorages and moorings along the way. Also, that with preparation and determination anyone can achieve the dreams they aspire to in life.

Both on land and at sea we were able to observe an abundance of seabirds and other marine wildlife. Whilst sailing and at anchor we regularly saw seals, dolphins and, whilst sailing to Inverness, sighted a 40 ft Sperm Whale, that unfortunately beached and died just three days later off Cromarty in Scotland.

It has not all been plain sailing. During my 2-year cruise I have experienced sailing in some very strong winds up to 45 Kn, rough seas, including my first aborted attempt to cross the Pentland Firth and the large swell met in parts of the Irish Sea during July 2009. Christine Marie had handled these well. I do not mind admitting that at times the challenges ahead seemed daunting and there were moments of self-doubting that I had to put aside. My passage took me into my ‘uncharted waters’ as I navigated to my most northerly point in the Orkney Islands, then making my longest ever 140M Ocean passage from Cork across the Celtic Sea to my most southerly destination for my first visit to the lovely Isles of Scilly.

Christine Marie is a reliable, well-equipped yacht, but anyone making a passage of this length should be prepared for the unexpected to occur at some point in their travels.

I had been tested earlier on my passage with jammed and cut wind /VHF radio cables in my mast and later the loss of engine due to a hard to trace blockage in the engine cooling system whilst on passage to Inverness in 2008.

The most testing time was when, at the end of a 30 hour sail across the Celtic Sea in August this year; we were caught by a lobster pot line around our rudder at the entrance to New Grimsby Sound, Tresco, Isles of Scilly.

With a strong swell and tide running, surrounded by rocks it was a potentially dangerous situation. Clear thinking and good teamwork between my crew brought us out of danger and safely into harbour under our own power. It took us two days to remove the tangled line around the rudder, with some exciting moments drying out alongside the harbour wall at Tresco to cut it free!

But my adventure would not have been possible without the support of others. The patience, training and guidance given to me by my friend and RYA trainer, Noel Smith, of Moonfleet Sailing in Poole gave me the knowledge and confidence to safely embark on my cruise and I was encouraged and supported by family and friends. Throughout my cruise I have met friendly support from complete strangers, other sailors, those I have met by chance, ashore in pubs, in libraries, at locks, on trains, etc. ; I found it very humbling. In particular the people of Scotland and Northern Island gave me a very warm welcome during my visits there.

During my cruise I was in regular radio contact with hundreds of licensed radio amateurs who followed and supported me as I progressed around the coast. When half way across the Celtic Sea and out of contact with both the Irish and UK coastguard VHF stations, it was reassuring to make strong clear radio communication with five radio amateurs in the UK on 80m SSB.

Finally, I have to thank the 28 different family, friends and others who joined me as crew at various stages throughout my journey. Their sailing skills ranged from complete novices, to those with RYA sailing qualifications ranging from ‘Competent Crew’ to ‘Yachtmaster Instructor’. For me, sailing with others and making new friends along the way is an important and enjoyable part of sailing. I recognized at the start of my journey that finding crew to join me would be one of the most difficult challenges I would face. I could not have done it without them. Photos of all those that joined me are on my website.

Sailing round the UK was not the only objective I set myself before setting sail in April 2008. I wanted to give back something to those charities that had been important in my life. Through my cruise and with the support of others I set out to raise a minimum of £1000 for each of the charities Rethink, Marie Curie and the RNLI. At the time of writing, donations have reached a total of over £3060 and I am confident of exceeding the goals for each of the charities by the time I complete my cruise on the 18 of September.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the charities and me during my 2 year adventure. My story, with full details of each leg of my passage, along with photos can be seen on my website on www.roundukcruise.org.uk . There are also links where donations can be made to my supported charities.

Please visit my web site and help me achieve support for these charities that do such good work in support of those needing the help of others.

Thank you

Ray Oliver, G3NDS

www.roundukcruise.org.uk