I just had to go down to the sea again

People often ask why I decided to leave our world of civilisation and pleasure, to take all that time off to sail around the world on my own. As soon as I begin to answer, I'm almost always overwhelmed by a flood of reasons.
In a way, my work back then - journalism - should share the blame. Yes, Fleet Street and late night shifts on the sub's table, waiting for breaking news, saw me head down in favourite sailing stories.

I had become quite crazy about sailing in early adulthood.

The sport seemed to creep up on me, and soon obliged me to invest in a Mirror dinghy, and then to be well and truly carried away by the amazing interaction of the sea and sails.

And now multi-talented Chris Roche has asked for a piece for the Cape Horner journal on what inspired my solo voyage to Cape Horn.

A serious delving

That will encourage a serious delving into memory. Perhaps I had better reread some of the book I wrote of the adventure, Loner, which Hodder and Stoughton published.

My favourite stories back in Fleet Street days - or nights, I should say - were of the sea, and of men who defied the elements and explored the oceans.

And often on the way home, waiting for an all-night bus near Blackfriars Bridge, I would gaze up at the stars and imagine what it would be like to be navigating by them in some remote latitude, in some distant ocean, just me and an engineless sailing vessel, and an albatross or two flying overhead.

Extraordinary storm

And when, to gain experience for the desire to become a Cape Horner, I crewed on a yacht in perhaps the most infamous of the famous Fastnet Races with its extraordinary storm, this music and Debussy's La Mer, and Elgar's Sea Pictures, and the magical Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage by Mendelssohn, kept playing in my head, though not quite blocking out the tumult of the storm  …
Continues on my blogs for the book of my long last voyage, Sailing to Purgatory, here  >>>> SailingToPurgatory.com