I'm going to start with a big one: sail across the Atlantic, from the Old World to the New. (That is sail as crew, not on a cruise ship.)

This falls under the heading of 'big but not completely impossible' because of the time factor: I could find a crew spot easily enough, but it takes about 3 weeks, and it's not fair on my family for me to use up all my annual leave doing something that they can't (and don't want to) do with me.

But maybe, maybe in a couple of years if DS goes to the state sixth form college he's contemplating and we only have one set of school fees to pay for a while, maybe then I could take some unpaid leave from work and do it :)

Day 5

In your own space, share something non-fannish you are passionate about with your fannish friends. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think that most people on my friends list know that my big passion these days is offshore sailing, but before that it was caving (or spelunking, for those of you across the Pond).

I started caving in my late teens, and it pretty much consumed my life right up until I got pregnant with my first child. It gave me everything I was looking for - a close-knit 'tribe' to belong to, the excitement of risk and of pushing myself, and the kick of doing something that most people found slightly (or very) odd and didn't understand. I caved mostly in the Yorkshire Dales, and spent a lot of summers on expedition exploring new cave in the Austrian Alps (that's me in my icon, abseiling into the entrance of 164, a cave we were exploring in the Austrian Totes Gebirge mountains). I love sporting wet caves and big shaft systems best. I've seen some strange and beautiful things, and I've stood where no-one on this planet has ever stood before. I've also faced some dangerous situations and handled them; that's a good thing to know about yourself.

These days my passion is offshore sailing. The sailing I love isn't gentle sailing from one marina to another, sipping G&Ts while moored each evening. The sailing I love is the more serious stuff, the long passages, the night watches (I *love* night sailing). I get the same things from my sailing as I got from caving - the tribe, the excitement, the pushing my limits, physical and mental. My idea of heaven is beating to windward in a Force 6 with waves crashing over the deck. At that point you really know you're alive :)

Snowflake Challenge Day 5

Extended shipping forecast for this coming weekend:

Strong southwesterly winds on Friday will increase to gale-force for a time in northern parts of Fitzroy and Biscay as well as Sole, Fastnet and Plymouth. Winds veer westerly later Friday with gales persisting for a time through the English Channel. Strong westerly winds continue during Saturday across much of the area before easing back by Sunday morning.

So, we're racing from Cowes to Cherbourg, gun time 1900 Friday. Looks like a bumpy start, a beam reach all the way over, and then a more gentle run back on Sunday. Also not the weather (or the wind direction) for trying out our new spinnaker!

Can't wait :)

The standard of humour on the boat is... low. As evidenced by the amount of amusement still being gained from the fact that the skipper sometimes has to instruct a crew member to blow the guy...

And now that I know the rest of the crew a bit better I have a feeling that it can only go downhill from here on in...

First weekend on the boat this weekend - plan is to all join the boat first thing tomorrow for a safety briefing, then hop over to Cowes on the Isle of Wight tomorrow afternoon, spend the night berthed in Cowes and then head out for 24 hour overnighter on Saturday morning, full watch system up and running, the works.

Nervous and excited both at once :)

Away this weekend doing the Sea Survival and ISAF Offshore Personal Survival courses as the start of the Fastnet training - personal survival, safety equipment, heavy weather sailing techniques, rescue procedures, communications (need to brush up on my radio procedures and dig out my radio licence before next weekend), basic first aid, and a session in the pool with a liferaft (*g*).

Only downside is that my internet access will be limited to my iPhone. Better than nothing, but any writing done will probably have to be longhand in a notebook. Hopefully the hotel has wireless so I don't have to rely on the 3G.

No, I'm not doing it on my own. There will be 12 of us crewing the boat.

No, I'm not doing it with anyone I know. But as all of us on the crew are there because we want to have an adventure and aren't scared of working for it, I don't see that as a problem.

Yes, it is the race that all the people died in that year. That's why they've set such stringent training and qualifying conditions.

Yes, it might be a little bit dangerous. But it's all about controlled risk. That's why they've set such stringent training and qualifying conditions.

And no, I've never been seasick... so far...

More crew details courtesy of people answering the call for press info: one partner in a London construction law firm, one MD of a commercial insurance company, and one ex-assistant editor of the Sun and Daily Express newspapers(!). Sounds like a fair dose of alpha males there...