I was born and brought up in Barnet, north London. I went to the local Girls grammar school, where I did O and A levels. I was a keen swimmer, participated in most sports at school and also enjoyed camping and hiking. The only sailing I did was in Wayfarers when my brothers were in the Sea Scouts, but honestly I preferred to mess about in the open air swimming pool next door!
In 1980 I went to UWIST in Cardiff to study International Transport and subsequently got a job as a graduate distribution management trainee with a soft drinks company. I moved around the country and ended up in South Devon as manager of a small depot. When the company merged with another, I lost most of my enthusiasm and left to try other avenues. After one disastrous sales job for a telecom company in Exeter I landed a job as a sales rep for Federal Express in the Devon/Cornwall area in 1988. I changed roles several times with FedEx, working in quality training, a project management job which involved lots of travel internationally and finally in the Customer Technology department setting up and maintaining shipping software and computer systems for customers.
I met Terry at work (FedEx) in 1990. I had virtually no sailing experience (see above) but joined Terry as crew on his Swift 18 trailer-sailer in Southampton at weekends. We got ourselves into plenty of scrapes and learnt quickly in Southampton Water and the Solent. Our first weekend overnighter was to Bucklers Hard up the River Beaulieu. It was an idyllic weekend in perfect summer weather. We rafted up to another boat on the piles in the middle of the river, but we were so inexperienced we had to be loaned lines long enough to reach the piles by our temporary neighbours, they even had to set them for us as we had no dinghy either! We watched the sun go down with a glass or 2. the next day, back in the Solent with a massive hangover we had to deal with the racing fleets bearing down on us, while we had light winds, a foul spring tide, and were on port tack. ouch!
Terry moved up to a Westerly Centaur - a complete antithesis to the very tender Swift - which gave us more space so we could spend longer on board. Terry had always voiced his dream of one day sailing away into the sunset. It wasn't something I could imagine myself doing but happily spent weekends and summer holidays sailing to the west country and across the channel to France. In his quest to get a 'proper' sailing boat, Terry bought a Rival 34, a boat he fell in love with when one arrived in Weymouth. This was the boat he was going to prepare for sailing away in. In 2002 we took Roam to the Isles of Scilly during a 6 week sabbatical. At that point I also 'saw the light' and began to see myself living on board for extended periods and sailing longer distances. Roam was also a wonderful sailing boat, so different to the Swift and the Centaur. Terry had crew to join him on his dream
We then seriously began plotting our exit strategy. This involved paying off the mortgage and accumulating as much cash as possible. Actually we didn't feel we went without anything, we still had winter holidays skiing or somewhere hot as well as 3 weeks on board Roam in the summer. Neither of us has a taste for the latest gadgets, new sofas or designer clothes, so it wasn't hard. In 2003 we reckoned that we should aim to sail away in 2005 before Terry hit the ripe old age of 45. In 2004 we down-sized our property and paid off the mortgage and then spent the next 6 months with me working on the house and Terry preparing the boat.
On June 9th 2005 we were waved off from Ramparts Quay in Southampton towards the Solent. The rest is, as they say, history....
See photo's of Fiona here
A little bit of background about us
I was born and grew up in Southampton, hence my irrational lifelong obsession with Southampton FC.
Education was miraculously completed at Hightown Comprehensive where i managed to escape the clutches of embedded educational mediocrity to attend Richard Taunton sixth form college where i at last realised that working in a shipyard was not the height of either expectation or ability. Finally encouraged academically, i was successful in my "A" levels and then attended the university of Warwick where i graduated with a degree in Law and Sociology, football and a lifelong passion for beer!
After graduating, i half heartedly became an accountant with British Railways, where i met some life long friends but an aversion to the professional life. i left after two years to travel a bit. my first stop was kibbutz Afikim in Israel where life was truly sweet with the lack of responsibility, guaranteed social life, shelter and food security. after a few months of this idyllic partying life i was offered a job to coach football in the USA for the summer. bring passionate about football (still am) i hesitated for about one thousandth of a second before accepting the job and jumping on a plane to Houston Texas where for the summer of 1984 i taught the beautiful game to schoolkids at week long "soccer" schools, something i still remember with great fondness. if i could have made this my career, i would have jumped at the chance.
A severe knee injury shortly after my stint in Texas seriously derailed, this plan. although i was still able to coach, (i went back to Texas for a further three summer spells) I never played a game of football again.
So at the ripe age of 26 i had to decide finally what to do with my life. football was now out but i had become addicted to travelling. this requires funds and having none left, i resolved to get a proper job in order that i could feed my lust for for travel. slowly a plan started to emerge in my mind. i had at school always read every book i could find on sea adventures and voyages. Swallows and Amazons was also a great romantic influence. My sister Lynda always tells me that even from a young age I was harbouring escapist desires and telling her that one day i would sail around the world.
The "proper" job was finally secured and in 1986 I joined Federal Express as a pricing Analyst after moving into Marketing and later Sales. this last job within the airline environment of FedEx involved extensive worldwide travel with the ability on occasion to mix pleasure with my business.
In 1990 whilst working at FedEx, two significant events occurred. I met Fiona who has now been my partner and wife for twenty years and i also bought my first boat, a Swift 18 trailer sailer. this signalled the start of some terrifying experiences interrupted by magical, idylic moments. As i became more experienced, the latter began to outnumber the former. thus began the re-awakening of a dormant dream but it was to be many years before i was able to fulfil it.
Some success at work gave the means to own larger boats. the Swift 18 was followed by a Westerly Centaur, a floating caravan with sails and then a proper sailing boat, a Rival 34 i re-named Roam, reflecting my dream. i had decided on a Rival 34 as the boat to sail away in. coincidentally, the fine qualities of the design then persuaded Fiona that she wished to join the adventure.
So, we set a date, made some lifestyle adjustments and finally, severed the employment and home ties knots and in June 2005, we sailed away from the UK. of course we have remained live aboards ever since with one major change in 2008 we found our current boat, a lovely Najad 390 which we re-named "Roam II" and set off from the Mediterranean heading for Asia and maybe beyond.
See more pics of Terry here