Jackie Gay

Winter in England is a vexatious time for sailors… After Weymouth I oscillated between a state of high excitement (the chance of going to the Paralympics!) and utter terror (can I do this…?) both of which kept me awake on many a night. I believe can do this but we NEED time on the water. We did schedule some training in Weymouth in November but the winds were too strong to go sailing (this is not being chicken – we would have broken bits of the boat). Harvey (our coach), Allan and Peter (our stalwart shore crew) had to put up with my palpable frustration while we worked on the boat and did some campaign planning.

However in January we were invited to a pleasant diversion – to attend the London Boat Show to receive a cheque on behalf of RYA Sailability, donated by the Little Britain Challenge Cup. Little Britain raised £140K for charity from their 2006 Regatta, which was distributed between 11 organisations including the Jubilee Sailing Trust and the Ellen MacArthur Trust. The LBCC is a strong supporter of Skandia Team GBR Paralympic Team and we are very grateful for their continued donations. We also met Ellen MacArthur, which was a thrill for me, she has always been one of my heroes, and has proved beyond doubt how much women can achieve in sailing. It still staggers me to think of her out in the Southern Oceans, climbing masts and grappling with the mountainous waves.