I raced with Tony Lancashire a Royal Marine a few times last year when he was stationed at the Marine Corps University here in Quantico, VA. He is back in the UK doing Royal Marine stuff in addition to the message he sends below. As this is sailing at the extreme I thought it would be of interest to you all. Tony is a great guy and a darn good sailor I am proud to know. Ray
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In one weeks time myself and one other Royal Marines officer of questionable sanity are off to the High Canadian Arctic to attempt to navigate the NW passage in an open boat.
www.arcticmariner.org
Assuming we manage to dodge the icebergs and outrun the polar bears we should emerge at the NE tip of Canada in about six weeks time.
Just to make life a little more difficult the boat we're in is just seventeen feet long and has no engine!!!!!!! That means 1800 nautical miles of sailing or ......... when the winds not blowing...... ROWING!!!!!
If you're asking, "WHY?"...
We hope to raise awareness for a charity close to our hearts and hopefully make a little money for them along the way.
Toe in the water (www.toeinthewater.org) aims to reinspire service men and women injured in recent conflicts and get them out on the water competing on a more or less level playing field in an extensive range of sailing events.
Traversing the ice choked waters of the NW passage may seem like challenge enough but more than six weeks in a seventeen ft boat with your former boss takes it to an entirely new level. To that end could I ask that you all visit the website above, go to the message board and leave us both some words of encouragement to ensure we keep our sanity!!!
Whilst you're there we are still short of some £2000+ so any donations you feel like giving will be very well received. We have already raised over £5000 for Toe in the Water and all monies raised from the sale of the boat post expedition will also go directly to the charity.
Please forgive the scattergun approach but I hope you'll understand that this is the best way of contacting such a large group of people. Regardless of whether you write on the message board or take the opportunity to support us I hope to hear from you all at some point soon.
Take care and many thanks
Tony Lancashire
***************************************************
In one weeks time myself and one other Royal Marines officer of questionable sanity are off to the High Canadian Arctic to attempt to navigate the NW passage in an open boat.
www.arcticmariner.org
Assuming we manage to dodge the icebergs and outrun the polar bears we should emerge at the NE tip of Canada in about six weeks time.
Just to make life a little more difficult the boat we're in is just seventeen feet long and has no engine!!!!!!! That means 1800 nautical miles of sailing or ......... when the winds not blowing...... ROWING!!!!!
If you're asking, "WHY?"...
We hope to raise awareness for a charity close to our hearts and hopefully make a little money for them along the way.
Toe in the water (www.toeinthewater.org) aims to reinspire service men and women injured in recent conflicts and get them out on the water competing on a more or less level playing field in an extensive range of sailing events.
Traversing the ice choked waters of the NW passage may seem like challenge enough but more than six weeks in a seventeen ft boat with your former boss takes it to an entirely new level. To that end could I ask that you all visit the website above, go to the message board and leave us both some words of encouragement to ensure we keep our sanity!!!
Whilst you're there we are still short of some £2000+ so any donations you feel like giving will be very well received. We have already raised over £5000 for Toe in the Water and all monies raised from the sale of the boat post expedition will also go directly to the charity.
Please forgive the scattergun approach but I hope you'll understand that this is the best way of contacting such a large group of people. Regardless of whether you write on the message board or take the opportunity to support us I hope to hear from you all at some point soon.
Take care and many thanks
Tony Lancashire
The hyperlink is pointing to NG not