For my own part I completed my theory day skipper at night school and was able to participate in some crewing (paying events). I sailed Maiden on her delivery trip from London to Southampton in preparation for the Hong Kong Challenge. I then sailed on Creightons Naturally in the 1997 Fastnet race!
Category: Guest Blogs
I am a conservation biologist working on plastic pollution in aquatic environments and am currently Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Exeter, UK. I have worked on multiple international projects investigating what impacts the current levels of plastics pollution are having on marine ecosystems and threatened species including marine turtles.
Now I am planning to go back, when Maiden is on her way again, to the country I love, to walk the Jordan trail which links Um Qais in the north and Aqaba in the south, with my daughter. We will take 40 days to walk the 650 kilometres passing through 52 villages on the way and we will meet Maiden when she sails into Aqaba!
Jo and I had met in Auckland about a year ago when Maiden was in New Zealand. Jo was doing the delivery on Maiden from Auckland to Honolulu and I had taken a group of Canterbury sailors up to Auckland to be part of the farewell for Maiden out of Auckland.
Everyone on the Maiden had incredible responsibility with numerous positions. When racing with a team working in harmony, it is magical. Assisting with the jib takedowns and deploying the spinnaker required coordinated timing and precision team effort. The first time I went to the foredeck and performed this task was like wing walking on an airplane.