Starting my sailing adventure

[craig wood]

Hi everyone,
So I never really used to be into sailing growing up, but always loved the outdoors so I joined the infantry in the British army and as a result I was injured in Afghanistan. I lost both legs and my left hand.
now being a very stubborn 18 year old at the time I dedicated the rest of my life to getting back to the things I used to do as a teen, sailing one of them.
Skip forward to now, I have been part of the British paralympic sailing team for 4 years now and as of last year decided I wanted to travel around the world on a live aboard, I asked a friend of mine, he's blind by the way, (blind match racing world champion).
So we figured let's go for it, in April I purchased a Colvic victor 40ft ketch and have been planning the trip since I've now got my day skippers and doing my yacht masters in Feb.
Does anybody have any must do's before I go that I may not have thought of.
I'll be living on my boat full time as of January and have lots of time to fix things.
Fair winds people

[Sea Dreaming]

Wow! What a story! I was just watching a documentary on 3 paraplegic sailors doing a race to Alaska. Good for you! Actually, good for me to read about you all living your dreams with your current abilities. I am in awe of you all.

I have no advice I just wanted to let you know I hold all.of you challenged sailors in high regard. Thank you for sharing your story.

[Foolish]

With your's and your friend's various handicaps, the one piece of advice I can give it to not consider anything "normal" on a boat to be sacred. Feel free to completely redesign anything or any process that you want to make it better, stronger, faster for your own situation. You should constantly be asking yourself "how can I make this better?"

You'd be surprised at how rarely this question is asked. Everybody just does things the way they have always been done and so innovation is rare. As a singlehanded sailor, I am continuously going through this process. It is the reason why I lead my jib sheet up to the windward side of the boat. It is the reason why I launch my spinnaker with the sheet extremely loose so the sail flaps in the wind. And it is the reason why I developed a method of gybing without a pole. I was always looking for a better way - for me.

So the thing you really want to do is go out and spend hours and hours on the boat in all kinds of weather. And ever minute of every day you should be asking yourself how you can redesign every thing and every process to make it better.

Have fun out there!

[Pete7]

Craig, welcome to CF, there are a few of us on here that are ex service of various countries.

Since England is blanketed in freezing temperatures for the next few months buy yourself a copy of this and spend the cold evenings sitting in front of a real fire planning your voyages.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Cruis...ruising+routes

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Craig.

[redhead]

Welcome to CF! When I'm feeling overwhelmed by the boat I'll remember your story and it's possible that a sense of perspective will creep over me (big grin). Make sure to post your adventures (and pictures, we like pictures...)

Sent from my SM-T550 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[boatman61]

Hi Craig.. Welcome to CF..

[Rorzech]

[QUOTE=craig wood;2274062]Hi everyone,
So I never really used to be into sailing growing up, but always loved the outdoors so I joined the infantry in the British army and as a result I was injured in Afghanistan. I lost both legs and my left hand.
now being a very stubborn 18 year old at the time I dedicated the rest of my life to getting back to the things I used to do as a teen, sailing one of them.
Skip forward to now, I have been part of the British paralympic sailing team for 4 years now and as of last year decided I wanted to travel around the world on a live aboard, I asked a friend of mine, he's blind by the way, (blind match racing world champion).

Does anybody have any must do's

Just have a good time no matter what you decide. But make it quick. Life is short.

[Bulawayo]

Feel humbled and very grateful to you and guys like you. I hope to meet you on the water. Best wishes to you guys and all the servicemen that help make the world a better place and whom make sacrifices that many cannot comprehend.

Originally Posted by craig wood

Hi everyone,
So I never really used to be into sailing growing up, but always loved the outdoors so I joined the infantry in the British army and as a result I was injured in Afghanistan. I lost both legs and my left hand.
now being a very stubborn 18 year old at the time I dedicated the rest of my life to getting back to the things I used to do as a teen, sailing one of them.
Skip forward to now, I have been part of the British paralympic sailing team for 4 years now and as of last year decided I wanted to travel around the world on a live aboard, I asked a friend of mine, he's blind by the way, (blind match racing world champion).
So we figured let's go for it, in April I purchased a Colvic victor 40ft ketch and have been planning the trip since I've now got my day skippers and doing my yacht masters in Feb.
Does anybody have any must do's before I go that I may not have thought of.
I'll be living on my boat full time as of January and have lots of time to fix things.
Fair winds people

[jheldatksuedu]

Craig
I'm a long distance away, but if you need somebody to bounce ideas off of, or some engineering advice, I'm here and glad to add my 2 cents worth. Hope to meet up some day. I'm still working on getting my boat ready, not working as hard as I should, but enjoying life working on all kinds of things. My biggest problem is that I have almost no monthly bills to push me along.
Jon

[alansmith]

Where there is life there is a way. Thank you for your insight into your life. May God bless you and your buddy with good times and fair winds. I'm proud of your tenacity and will not lay down spirit.

[Charlie]

In your situation I can think of two Do's.

1) Don't buy anything for the boat until you have sailed it for 6 months. I still have a few essential items that I paid hard earned money for that are unused.

2) KISS. Keep it simple stupid. The simpler your systems are the more time you will get to spend sailing.

[Juho]

I don't have any very specific advice. You know better yourself what kind of arrangements you need to be able to move easily to, from and in the boat and dinghy.

You will find out what you still need by making first small trips, and then longer ones, until you are confident that you know what you need to sail round the world.

Maybe you could get some tricks from Eve and Andrus in https://www.suwena.net/en on how blind people arrange things onboard.

Good luck and nice winds.