Sailing with the Guardian 30 August 2005 I am looking forward to different kind of challenge. I am due to take a journalist from the Guardian sailing in Portsmouth. He will ride on the boat whilst I sail and then I will bail out and leave him to the sip/puff controls. I am really hoping he finds the technology easy as it means that the system is easily accessible. After the sail... 23 August 2005 There are many people to thank for the most exhilarating day of my life. Firstly, Robin Gray and Pindar, who loaned us the boat and let us drill as many holes in her as we liked. Secondly, I must thank the UK Sailing Academy for providing me, my husband and my chocolate Labrador with board and lodging for a month. Thirdly, I need to thank my husband for using up his entire holiday to spend it crawling around tiny spaces in the boat and for working so hard. Finally, however, there is one person who, more than anyone else, actually brought everything together. Matt Debicki, of the Inventure Trust. In a few short weeks he managed to design and construct a system that I could use. Only Matt was able to take old wheelchair parts, yards of elastic and a few blocks (pulleys) and turn them into a state of the art sip/puff system. His role really cannot be understated. Without Matt the boat simply would not have been ready in time. I also need to thank the Inventure Trust for paying him to work solidly on my boat, and for wholeheartedly supporting the project to the cost of at least two charters. Hilary achieves her dream 23 August 2005 I make no excuses for the non-sailor terms, I am not a sailor only Hilary's friend who observed her remarkable journey across the English Channel today. This is my version of her crossing. I am certain Hilary will fill in all gaps when she comes down from cloud nine! 08:10hrs Hilary and Malin left Dover harbour. The skies over Dover were clearing but further out to sea, closer to France, were the dark clouds that had so recently been overhead. Once out of the protection of Dover's harbour walls and at 08:30 Hilary sailed off on a run (with the wind behind her). Then the claxon of the Hatherleigh (Pindar's converted trawler), one of the 4 support boats and the one I was travelling on, sounded loudly, as if to announce to the world that Hilary Lister was about to achieve her dream. 08:50hrs Hilary was sailing on a port tack, her course was 1:10, steering 90 – 120, which meant that she was steering at an angle bigger than 90 degrees in order to sail a straight course (I think). Suddenly one of the support ribs breaks off. Concerned that there may be a problem I went to the boat rail to see what the problem was, “We’ve come for our sandwiches!” said Robin. Of course there was no problem. 09:30hrs One hour into her crossing Hilary and Malin were sailing along the English coastline. The decision to sail this way was because the tide was against us and if Hilary had sailed a more direct route the tide would have pushed her back to Dover. Although sea conditions were very good I could see that the waves were hitting the boat off course, which meant that Hilary had to make a lot more course changes. My eyes scanned the course ahead, the busiest shipping lane in the world, and my goodness aren’t some of those container ships big! 10:30hrs Still sailing against the tide, Hilary was averaging 3 knots. Hilary and Malin were sailing together beautifully. Unfortunately tide turn was not for a few hours yet. 11:00hrs Eight miles out and in “no man zone”. The weather was brilliant with winds light to moderate – we couldn’t have wished for better sailing conditions although I’m sure Hilary would have liked the wind to be stronger and have Malin surfing the waves. 12:45hrs Hilary was still sailing on a port tack, on a reach (wind hitting the side of the boat) the wind had decreased and the sea swell had reduced. The boat speed was approximately 1 ½ - 2 knots. Everyone had “stopped for lunch” except for Hilary who was sipping and puffing her way to France, which was getting closer by the minute. 13:45hrs Hilary edged her way along the French coastline. Calais was looming larger and larger, only 7 miles away. This time the tide was with Hilary and she was now making 5 knots. As I watched my friend completing the most exciting challenge of her life I felt so very proud. Hilary was sailing Malin by herself and Malin responded, moving through the water at her command. 14:15hrs Suddenly the Calais lifeboat (SNS) appeared out of nowhere and joined the escort. It circled Hatherleigh and made its way over to Hilary. At about 14:30hrs (I forgot to look at my watch) Hatherleigh’s horn gave out a huge sound. Cheers and whoops came from all four support vessels. At the same time three large ferries that were passing slowed down, their claxons saluting Hilary’s achievement. HILARY HAD ACHIEVED HER DREAM! This is it! 22 August, 2005 Well this is it! The countdown to the crossing has only a few more hours to go. There is a weather front moving in, which means the only realistic day we can go is tomorrow (Tuesday). I will be sailing from Dover to Calais, with an early start! On Countdown 21 August, 2005 Yesterday's sailing was brilliant! Aided by lots of wind and surfing lots of waves, I covered 20 miles. On the subject of the weather everyone is watching this week's forecast closely. I am now on countdown, only a few more days to go... Boating news 11th August, 2005 Matt from the Inventure Trust has been slaving away for the last 9 days trying to get Malin ready, assisted by various UKSA people and friends dragged in from as diverse a group as rugby players and ex-global challenge sailors. After a frustrating time (for me, anyway) it now looks as if we will get to sail her for the first time tomorrow morning. Matt has had a trying time but has created a "one-off" from my old wheelchair control system and motors, metres of rope, elastic "bungee cord" and large numbers of tiny blocks (pulleys) borrowed from UKSA!! The Inventure Trust own a wheelchair accessible catamaran which they are making available for the crossing, and for the two weeks prior to it. Without Matt, and their generosity, this crossing simply wouldn't have happened on schedule. Launching the boat 2nd August, 2005 Malin was officially named this evening with a surprising amount of good champagne here at UKSA. Quite a few people from Westbere made the long trip down to Cowes to be here for me, which made the day very special. People from Pindar, UKSA and Westbere made moving and mercifully short speeches and then Emma Richards did the honours. Incidentally she nearly pulled me into the water while she was at it - I knew it was a naming ceremony, but wasn't expecting a baptism as well.... Malin isn't yet ready to sail as the technology needs to be put in - everything from bilge pumps to the actual sip puff equipment. Hopefully i'll be sailing by the end of the week. My First Solo Sail at Tideway 10th July, 2005 Today was one of the most exciting days of my life! For the first time in over 6 1/2 years I went somewhere on my own! I visited Tideway sailability in London, who have a Martin 16 with a sip-puff module on loan from the Disabled Sailors Association (DSA). My thanks go to Tideway, particularly to Clare Gray and Marcus, for letting me sail their precious boat with little or no experience of sip-puff and from making us all feel so welcome. My thanks also go to Mike Wood of the DSA who drove all the way from Portsmouth last Sunday to install the sip-puff system. Sailing in a lock was a whole new experience for me. The wind is very flukey -- even more so than at Westbere Lakes -- and it's slightly unnerving to be surrounded by solid brick walls rather than the forgiving reeds. Any mistake could result in damage to both yourself and, more importantly, the boat! Training at UKSA in Cowes 27 June -1 July, 2005 I've spent the week being repeatedly drenched in salt water, and loved every second of it! My boat isn't yet ready to sail, so we borrowed a Martin 16. Each morning I was duct taped into her and each afternoon I was released. I'm not kidding... one thing I have certainly learned is that duct tape and long hair do not go well together! :-) The Martin 16 is so much fun -- if you have one of these boats then I guess you want to spend all your time of the water. I know that I would. The only downside is that the person in the front acts as a "wave shield" for the person in the back. The first day we were out was the day of the fleet review. The wind was F5, gusting 6, and we were having great fun planing and surfing down the backs of waves when some very angry Pilots shooed us away. When we got back I was surprised that Matt had been complaining he'd been getting wet... I was soaked through to the skin and it was hard to see exactly where he had got wet! I was lucky enough to have Matt d'Becky, of the Inventure Trust, and Simon Davies, from UKSA, as my instructors. At the beginning of the week I got the feeling that they were looking for my "Stop" point. I decided immediately that they were never going to find it... and they didn't! They tried really hard when we were experimenting with different ways of rescuing me from the pool into a RIB but, fortunately for me, we found a really good method on the second go. I can't tell you quite how relieved I was... By the end of the week I was able to sail the boat quite confidently in even F4-5 conditions, discovered that I don't get seasick and had turned a healthy shade of brown (even with factor 30+ SPF). Now I'm just looking forward to the real thing in my boat... For more details of my exploits see the calendar. There are pictures proving my solo sailing