July 31, 1998.
My job list on the boat has 31 projects. Radar cable requires new connection, autopilots and satcom needs to be installed, deck requires repainting and sail number put on foredeck, port water ballast tank leak to be sealed. The list goes on and on. They are small jobs, yet with huge time demands. I have to focus more on the boat, but other things too are demanding my attention to aid in the progress of the voyage, school programs and media.
This past summer nearly 200 youth and educators participated in our summer program. Just last week we had 17 students and 10 teachers on the boat sailing. But it was more than just a sail around the harbor. The students were shown jobs on the vessel, then given the responsibility to execute the tasks which ranged from helming and tacking, hoisting and trimming sails, to cooking a meal while underway. What was unique was that all the students had never sailed before, and most of them had never been on the water previously. One 9-year-old girl was petrified to come down the dock, let alone on the boat. But once underway, she had a ton of great questions, and on our return to the harbor, reached over to touch the water. To most of us, this was no big deal, but to her it was. Although she lives 15 miles from the Cooper River and the Ocean, she had never put her hands in the river before.
These are the memories that make doing what I do special. How many times in the course of our lives do we truly give some one the opportunities to change their perception of the world in which they live? Something that is taken for granted by so many can mean so much to another person. I remember once being a 14 year old boy on the dock in Cape Town, awe-struck by the sight of Richard Broadhead crossing the finish line of leg one during the 1982-83 BOC Challenge. When he came ashore, I was waiting to ask him many questions, not sure if he would even talk to me. Not only did he answer all my questions, but also he invited me back to look at his boat.
This was the turning point in my life. I realized that he was an individual who was following his dream. He was not a millionaire, but an every day person who had worked hard. In spite of being a giant in the solo-racing world, he was humble and willing to share his experiences. He does not know the impact his few minutes given to an unknown child, would change events in my life fore ever. I swore to be a solo circumnavigator. My friends and various sailors laughed at my dream. They told me to forget it. I could never be like my heroes.
14 years later, I stood in the same port as Richard Broadhead, only this time it was the 1994-95 BOC Challenge and it was not on the dock, but on my own vessel after 68 days at sea. I learnt to dream big, never to give up, no matter what others say. Richard gave me a direction. I found a destination though the help of supportive my parents and a few friends. It is my duty to repay the privilege given to me. Wherever you are Richard, I salute you!
