“We all have a need, mostly unsatisfied and rarely spoken, to measure ourselves against nature as we were meant to. To see how far our muscles and our breath and our unaided minds can take us. In a culture that lets us do little for ourselves we have this curious and hidden need to make our way on our own two feet.”
                                                                                                Reese Palley – Lest there be no Dragons


Well, I was 50 this year. If that wasn’t cause enough to reflect on life, this year also completes 28 out of those 50 years working in the financial markets of London, New York and Zurich. Even before starting in the City, whilst rowing at Oxford, I had loosely considered a transatlantic crossing in a rowing boat. However, like many adolescent plans the siren call of city life smothered the intentions.

Now, 28 years on, the worm has turned. The bathroom mirror is partly to blame as there really is a minimum acceptable level of physical self-esteem (reached and breached about 3 years ago). However, above all, the lingering desire for a transat never completely went away.

So here we are, 30 years after first conception, 3 years after buying the right boat, 2 years after the real planning started, 1 year after the physical training started and 6 months after reading ‘Your First Atlantic Crossing’. I still have the diesel maintenance course to do the week before departure!

My family think I’m nuts. I haven’t really had the time to debate that opinion yet but intend to do so fully once I’ve left Las Palmas. Bit late perhaps but my beloved wife, Shaunagh, and all five of our children have always been quite fair in their opinions. I suspect I will have agreed with them long before I reach Barbados. At this stage, all I can quote is a passage by Joe Simpson from his powerful book ‘The Beckoning Silence’;

“Nobody grows old living a number of years, people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, distrust, fear and despair ...... these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being’s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars and star-like things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child-like appetite for what is next, and the joy and game of life.”

When reading this passage it made me think of many things – the tsunami orphans being one. Most will have lost not only both parents but also any love of wonder and the joy and game of life. Doing this trip, for me, is overdue and about doing something for those so much less fortunate. It may not be much but it’s a start.

If you would like to contribute (more) to Save the Children then please visit www.justgiving.com/solotransat and follow the very simple on-line instructions. It is such a worthwhile cause.

Wish me well. Given my premiums, I know my insurers will.