Volvo Ocean Race skipper Ian Walker and his crew of Volvo sailors and celebrities will finish their Sport Relief sailing challenge in London tomorrow. Since they started in Belfast on Monday, they have been raising awareness of sailing as well as an impressive amount of money for charity along the way. But, with a hashtag of hellonhighseas, is it the sort of promotion that's good for the sport? Well in this household it seems it is.

 

hellonhighseas photo Marc Bow/Comic Relief Ltd

The celebrities taking on the #hellonhighseas challenge; BBC The One Show presenter Alex Jones, fellow BBC presenters Angellica Bell and Ore Oduba, Formula 1 host Suzi Perry, stand-up comedian Hal Cruttenden and comedy actress Doon Mackichan. Photo Marc Bow/Comic Relief Ltd.



 

"I want to go on the sailing boat mummy," says my two-year-old. Okay, you may argue that he should have sailing in his blood, but I've not pushed it. Diggers and tractors would probably win if he was given a choice, but he loved seeing footage of the 'red boat' as he calls it (the VO65 has been specially branded up for its Sport Relief charity fundraising challenge) in the One Show's regular round-ups. See the pre-event trailer below, which certainly built up the drama (and captivated my son).

 


 

While the focus, as the hashtag might suggest, has been on the discomfort of sailing a Volvo Ocean Race yacht in cold, wet and windy conditions, what has been good for the sport is the good humour and humanity of our top athletes. Ben Ainslie turned up in the studio beforehand to lend his advice to One Show host Alex Jones, and then 'raced' Ian Walker and his team as they came through the Solent today.

Both Ben and Ian, together with the media updates, have given some insight into the toughness of the sport as well as its camaraderie and humour. This is not your super-rich 'yachting' that the media, even these days, often portrays. Not your royal yacht club, not your blazer-clad aristocrat, not your gleaming superyacht. These are racing machines, driven by sportsmen, who come across as real and decent people, which of course is what us 'yachties' mostly are.  While the conditions might not be the most ideal and #hellonhighseas might not be 'selling' the sport in all its potential glory, there is some real insight into the many and varied pleasures of sailing.

You can see some of this in the video footage below of events from earlier in the challenge.

 

 


 

 

The team is due to pass Tower Bridge at 1815hrs tomorrow (Friday 11th March, 2016). I'm sure there will be plenty of people turning out to watch the spectacle and every single non-sailor that watches the events, in my view, is one step closer to making sailing seem a more approachable sport.

Find out more about the challenge and sponsor the team on the Sport Relief website.

 

Update: the hellonhighseas challenge raised over a million pounds for Sport Relief, an amazing achievement, quite aside from the inspiration the challenge provided. Meanwhile my young son spent the next few days playing 'sailing' on the patio with his two-year-old 'girlfriend' and insisting that one of his favouties books, Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, was read countless times. Thomas the Tank Engine was soon back in vogue, of course, but I know that his fascination with sailing is not going away, it's just growing.

 

 

Watching the #hellonhighseas team passing through the Solent

Watching the #hellonhighseas team and Ben Ainslie's BAR in the Solent today - we couldn't see much but the young fans enjoyed watching out for the 'red boat'.



 

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Written by: Gael Pawson
Gael Pawson is the editor of Yachts & Yachting Magazine and the founder of Creating Waves. A keen racer, she has sailed all her life, and started writing about the subject whilst studying journalism at university. Dinghies and small keelboats are her first loves, but she has cruised and raced a huge variety of boats in locations across the world.