At first glance, the idea of sailing Double Circumnavigation of the UK sounds a bit bonkers but then that wouldn’t be me if it didn’t.

The idea of sailing Double Circumnavigation of the UK wasn’t my first thought in all fairness, it was a combination of my stubbornness and my ambition to challenge myself further in sailing. It began with a casual conversation on Aberdour harbour pier with a member of the Committee. The conversation was mainly pleasantries in regards to the 2020 season and for the best part lack of sailing etc, and then talking about the 2021 season and plans for sailing. Having planned to sail around the UK in 2020 for RNLI, and then due to Covid having to abandon the idea, I thought that I would sail around the UK again this coming season for charity. Having purchased another new to me boat some 12ft bigger than my last boat i circumnavigated Britain in, it was put to me that this new boat wouldn’t be much of a challenge to sail around Britain, and it would be an easy sail. This is an easy thing to say if your only experience of sailing around he UK comes only from what one read in books and watched on YouTube videos. All these things are great and give you some idea, but they are no substitute for the real thing.

You only have to look at my sail around the UK in 2016 to realise what can happen. Everything that could have went wrong did go wrong. Everything from things breaking onboard to flooding at sea, and also a fire at sea not to mention some serious mistakes in passage planning at points. For anyone that doesn’t know, i’d like to point out the two tides in the Solent is a double double tide not just two tides which kinda plays mayhem when you get it wrong. All being said though, I did manage to get around, and learned so much on the way that I would never have learned just from books.

Anyway back to our conversation, as it was put to me that this would be to easy in my new to me boat I thought about it and in fairness she is more comfortable to sail, and a lot faster than my other boat, and not to mention the week before I had sailed her up from the river Crouch in Essex to Edinburgh in four days, I blurted out “well I will go round twice” to which the response was that that’s pointless.A month before we had got into a silly discussion in regards to sailing around Britain, and the infamous question of what’s the best way round. There is no right or wrong answer in this regards as both have their challenges. For me i see it as a worthy challenge and think the next time I’m asked it will answer for me the infamous question of which way round is best.