This summer I am planning on becoming the youngest person to ever sail round Britain solo at 15 years old. I will be breaking up the trip into varying lengths of passages over 6-7 weeks. The boat I will be completing the trip in is my Hunter Impala Alchemy (pictured left).
Since I launched the project in January 2019 this trip has been my sole aim in sailing.
I started with planning. Having a plan is a crucial part of the project as it showed people how I am going to do this and what I need to have in place to make it happen. Then I went on to telling as many people as possible about the project to build up interest with a group of people who can offer support and advice for the project.
Last season, I began to build on my practical experience this started off with me refitting my previous boat, a Hunter 19. Some other things that I did were:
- RYA Sea Survival Course
- 750 nm overall last season
- 7 day double-handed cruise, encountered 3.5-4m waves/ Force 7 and engine problems where I had to run a 34ft boat for 3 hours solo, an experience!
- 3 day solo cruise
It was through this that I decided I was going to need a different boat to sail round Britain. The Hunter 19 was a good boat but, after doing extensive sailing with the boat I found that I would need a boat with more space to be able to reduce the amount of fatigue I will be facing. I have found that fatigue takes a huge tole when solo sailing. When you are fatigued you do not perform well and can make the wrong decisions. Alone you have to rely on your own judgement, therefore it is crucial to make the right decisions.
I now have a new boat, a Hunter Impala 28 called Alchemy fully fitted with everything I need! Now my primary objective to build up as much experience on the new boat as possible ahead of the summer.