We wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us along the way as we start our journey – if you’re not on here then we’re sorry and we didn’t miss you on purpose! Get in touch and we’ll add you 🙂

Friends and Family

Our friends and family know that we have been planning this for over 15 years! It was part of a 20 year plan and we are ahead of schedule!  We couldn’t have done it without you – both in the early days listening to us waffle on about sailing, talking about our sailing holidays and, more recently, putting us up and letting us use your showers!  In no particular order this includes:

• Our parents: Mary & Geoff Gibbons (Jenni’s mum and dad) and Pauline Lawrence (Chris’s mum) – you’ve joined us in the early days when we had a timeshare on an old wooden boat, when we went to Torrevieja for a family holiday and went sailing and we know this has been particularly hard on Jen’s folks waving off your only DD (Darling Daughter).  You’ve supported us all the way – thank you!
• Our (step) kids: Maisy and Freya – honestly, it has felt over the recent years that we haven’t been close enough to really support you both properly, but you gave us your blessing to make the move down South and have continued to thrive whilst following your respective paths. We are still always here for you via the virtual world and if you ever need to get out of the UK you will always have a bunk onboard (with boyf’s on tow!)

  

• Our best Harrogate & Shrewsbury friends: Neil and Sue (our besties), Karen and Russ, Sam, Nick, Craig and Sue, Cath and Nigel – and others who have joined our crazy parties and holidays!  You’ve all visited us in different locations and travelled to have fun and we are grateful for that. Hope to see you all in some hotter locations too, when we get there!!
• Our best sailing friends: Lynsey & Gregg – how much support and advice have you both given us?!  Through welcoming us sailing with you and Rock-swell, purchasing our first boat Sansovino and helping deliver her to Poole and many more sailing adventures including the Round the Island Race and the journey to Cowes and back (with, what seemed to Jenni at the time, one of the biggest squalls possible in Christchurch Bay!!).  We couldn’t have done it without you both and can’t wait for when you also move onboard and we can be boat buddies together!

  

Our PYRA (Poole Yacht Racing Association) / PYC (Poole Yacht Club) / Hope & Glory friends

What would we have done without PYRA and PYC and the welcome we received from you all! As we got our first boat during the first months of Covid we would possibly have been stuck without you.  You gave us destinations, you gave us support, you gave us many a rum tot and many laughs and moments.

Thanks to Rob Gibson for encouraging us to join PYRA initially (racing was never on our minds) and he and Kate for pressganging us into becoming part of the committee!!

Thanks to Roger for the inspiring speeches and Ron for all the PYRA support in the background.

Thanks to the PYRA committee and everyone we met and sailed with – boat names to start,  Smithy – Di and Dave, Elevation – Hannah and Mark, Vent Des Globes – Rob, Jackie and Will, One & Only – Paul and Julie, Yapluka – Mark and Lidi, Zorra 3/4 – Mark , Shebeen – Ken, Mojito – Roger, Sarah, Jane, QT – Keith and Jane, Red Fox – The Annels family, Saucy Nancy – Steve and Nick, Martin and Tamsin,  The Grey Silkie – Bob and Peter and many more!

More thanks to Rob Gibson and Kate for inviting us to sail on Hope & Glory and get some real racing adventures and moments (thinking about the stuck spinnaker here!)  Also to Cat who has become a good friend and joined us on Yanula Blue for our only trip of 2024 that was 99.9% motoring!  The rest of the crew Martin, Martin, Nicole, Eric, Nicole, Tracey, Matt, Matt, Tim, Emily, Sarah, Alan, Andrew, Carl, Gary, Sophie and so many others.

Thanks to Bob and Elaine who we met during a Powerboat training course at PYC, and subsequently attended their awe inspiring speeches about their own circumnavigation, and who have given us so much advice, words of wisdom and mentoring on how to be prepared

Some extra special Poole friends

There are some specific people missing from the lists above that we wanted to call out and thank individually. You have all become incredibly important to us in a very short space of time – I think there’s something about the ‘sailing types’ that has a certain kind of crazy and connects us in the world!

• Tina & Dave – what can we say! We first met and chatted on the balcony at PYC and we encouraged you to join PYRA and were soon beating us in Class 4 on your lickle Piccolo!! You are both great sailors and great friends.  We’ve had lots of fun together and you have helped us massively, moving Yanula Blue to / from various locations to get various work done and more latterly driven us around, cooked us yummy roast dinners and put us up overnight! We can’t thank you enough and hope you will be coming for a holiday / crew soon!
• Sarah & Mel – Your kind of crazy goes with our kind of crazy! That’s about it really.  Chris and Mel talk Geek. Jenni and Sarah get drunk! Sarah the spider plant will be travelling with us and we hope to see you both at some point too!
• Rob H – we can’t remember who introduced us to you (was it Roger as you were looking for crew?), but you have become a great friend, especially a sailing buddy for Chris when he was crewing on Vent des Globes to get some speed out of his system! You became known on the PYRA start lines for blasting out Rick Astley and picking the biggest size spinnaker for the conditions. You’ve also helped us immensely with Yanula Blue, with moving her in the cold weather and installing solar panels and yet we know you’ll never come for a holiday as she’s just too slow for your crazy need for speed!
• Rob G and Kate – you’ve been mentioned a few times already so think enough has been said, but honestly if it hadn’t been for you both taking us under your wing and welcoming us to the Poole sailing world, we would have had a very different experience of life in the South.

Our Lytchett and Poole friends

Ches and Neil and Pat (always keen to come and have a beer on the boat or a karaoke at the house!), Dave and Fiona (for some fun singsongs and crazy antics), Cat and Matt (keeping Chris fit at Coach House Fitness), Jane and Neil (best neighours!), Alex and Fiona (always fun to meet up), Lisa (our very first Poole friend!), Rich (for TONS of boaty engineering advice) and Pat (especially for getting up at the crack of dawn to wave us off!), Tim and Linda (sometimes all it takes is a bottle of wine .. Or three! Also for the kind donation of the Mr D Thermal cooker which is fab and will be so useful to us!)

Virtual Friends –

Magpie Hickman!! Our very own Jenpal!! We met online discussing Cruising Association and probably chat every other day – sometimes a zillion times a day – still!! You are funny, inspiring and full of useful information and I can’t wait until we do eventually meet and have a drink.

Ian and Kate Fraser – sort of virtual friends as we knew you from PoP before you left and we met when you came back from your own adventure – but whilst you were away you were amazing at sharing the reality of life aboard with two virtual strangers!

Moody 42 Friends

We also wanted to say thank you to Joan and Mike Shepherd. When we were first considering a Moody 42 they invited us onboard their own Moody 42 Purrfurus at their home in Hythe and spent lots of time talking to us about her. They have become absolute mentors to us and even came and visited us in Lymington too. Thank you –  you really have inspired us!

The Professionals

We also wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has helped us in a more professional capacity along the way.  This includes the below (and if anyone wants further details on any of the below just ask us!):

• Sophie Marfell at Cleverley Planned, and her team Ben and Lisa, for advising us financially and giving us the reassurance we could do this
• Rob G (again) at Poole Sailing for his training courses (got Chris through his RYA Yachtmaster Offshore and Jenni through her Yachtmaster Theory) and never ending advice
• Nick Harris – for the best joinery and making use of Yanula Blue’s spare storage areas
• Emma Andrews – for teaching Chris how to cut Jenni’s very difficult, not straight or curly, hair and saving her from many disasters!
• Kerry, Tom, Tracey and the team at Poole Yacht Haven / Port of Poole – you have been so good to us with both Sansovino and Yanula Blue, supporting us in our many goodbyes – we are forever grateful
• Peter Keats – for being the best broker for Sansovino and Yanula Blue. Be good!
• Lee Woodford and his team at Woodford Marine for meticulously repainting the decks and polishing the topsides
• Russ at RSL Welding for working so closely with Chris on the design and fitting of the solar arch, and other bits and pieces – your work is amazing!
• Lee, Jude, Dan and the yard team at Boatcare Portland – it was one hellova job, and it wasn’t always easy, but we got there and appreciate your time and support
• Rob and Owain at Kemp Sails – for sails, repairs, and random requests
• Ian at Cunningham Marine  – for the install and support of the battery management system and other electrical items
• Will Rae – for cleaning the bottom and also support with diving equipment
• Tony Lock of Namloo Diving in Thailand – for getting Chris’ diving skills up to scratch
• Dom and Sarah at Dorset Marine Training for their fabulous training courses (VHF, First Aid and offshore survival skills) and support in purchasing and servicing kit (and who have also become friends!)

For some final thoughts …

This all sounds very past tense but we are sure we will be back and hope you are all part of our future too.  We don’t know how long this journey we are on will last and the stock answer we give is “as long as it’s more fun than not!” It could be a year, it could be 5, it could be 10 or more, who knows?!

We will be visiting ‘home’ often, whether that is our north or south home, and hope to see you all as much as possible then! We also love visitors wherever we are – we just ask those non-sailors to appreciate how difficult it is to commit to being in a certain place at a certain time – however, we will always do our best and probably get there 2 weeks early just in case if Jenni has anything to do with it!

Whenever we do come back we are sure we will all pick up where we left off with crazy land based fun and antics. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have offered us a place to stay – Di and Dave, Kate and Rob, Tim and Linda, Karen and Russ, Tina and Dave, Mel and Sarah, Jane and Neil – as well as our parents who really have no choice in the matter!! We love you all .. And be warned .. We still may well take you up on the offer of a bed!

We miss you already! ❤️