115 days after he left Lymington Yacht Haven, Berth Holder Paul Smith sailed back into the harbour having completed an epic solo circumnvaigation of Great Britain.
Covering over 2000nm, Paul arrived home onboard yacht Zeteo, his Beneteau Oceanis 321, to a warm reception of friends, family and the Haven Team on the pontoons. What's more, after months at sea, Paul was finally reunited with his wife, arriving into his homeport with a bouquet of flowers in hand!
This enormous personal challenge also included fundraising for Alzheimer's Research UK - donations can still be made at Paul's Justgiving page.
A few days later, we caught up with Paul to learn more about his trip, understand the reasoning for choosing Alzheimer's Research UK, and hear about his learnings from this long single-handed trip...
Why did you choose Alzheimer's Research UK?
Before I retired, I owned a Chartered Financial Planning business and having spent years and in many cases decades helping people plan financially for their retirement, it was heartbreaking to see how many clients had a well planned retirement curtailed by either suffering from Alzheimer’s themselves or looking after a partner that did.
As we get older, we place less and less value on possessions and money and more value on family and ultimately memories – to then have those memories stripped away from us is truly awful for those with Azhiermer’s.
For those looking after a loved one that has Alzheimer’s they have the person they love taken away from them day after day, piece by piece, knowing there is no cure Alzheimer’s meaning there is no hope. It is impossible to imagine how heartbreaking and devastating that is for the loved ones .
How did you find single-handed sailing for such a long period?
It was challenging on the longer passages particularly when my autopilot couldn’t cope with the conditions, however it was also one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, being on my own gave me an immense amount of time to reflect on life and doing so was incredibly therapeutic, being alone on the ocean puts everything into perspective and being able to filter out the ‘noise’ from everyday life was invigorating
What were your highlights from your trip?
There were many many moments of spontaneous donations & kindness from total strangers and this was very humbling and exceedingly emotional, to name a few; there were brothers John & Dave who thrust cash in my hand in Eastbourne who donated on behalf of their mother, Steve from Sheffield who thrust cash into my hand along the clifftops at Whitby, Colin & Lynn in Westray (Orkney Islands) who donated, went out and caught me a lobster, drove me around the island (as I had gout at the time) drove me to a live music gig and were so welcoming, Morton Park who was berthed next to me in Ballycastle and donated within a few seconds of meeting me, an instant contribution from Ivan Sutton and David Sutton in Kilmore Quay Ireland, Martyn and Cathy Proctor who gave in cash on Bryher (Isles of Scilly) after me just saying hello to their Golden Retrievers, Jane Kraeter who gave me a free haircut in lieu of me making a charity donation in Salcombe.
The list does on……
How did it feel coming back into the Solent and into Lymington Yacht Haven
Seeing the Needles was quite emotional as that is always a sign of ‘coming home’ for me hence tacking all the way up The Needles channel to stretch out the journey as much as I dare, coming down the Lymington River I felt nervous for the first time in 115 days in case I did something rather silly!
Docking at Lymington Yacht Haven was just really strange as the high energy levels I had had for months just totally disappeared as I finally realised I was back!
Great to be back in LYH as it felt as always so friendly and welcoming as always
After tying back up on the pontoons, what was the first thing you wanted to do when you got home?
I am a simple soul so that is easy to answer; first I ‘needed’ a pint of ‘Summer Lighting’ at The Haven Bar, secondly a big hug from my Golden Retriever ‘Hollie’ and my favourite Indian food which my lovely wife had bought back from her visit to Leicestershire.
At this stage I had already kissed Lisa albeit following my large faux pas of kissing Zeteo's Mast before Lisa!!
From all of us at Lymington Yacht Haven, a huge congratulations to Paul on this outstanding feat of sailing, personal hardship challenge and effort for a great cause.
Well done, Paul!
- The Haven Team
Paul's gallery
