ON THE WATER
llenge
I didn’t know what to say or how to
react.
“Yet within five minutes I was having
more fun than I had had in years.
They were normal young people who
wanted to enjoy themselves and get
on with things. I felt if they can show
such courage going through something
they didn’t choose they are true
heroes.”
As a result Ellen went to hospitals in
Paris to visit many of them before she
went around the world in the Vendee
Globe Round the World Challenge.
She said: “The one time I was thinking
about them very hard was when I came
the closest to death I have ever come.
I was off the Kerguelen Islands in
basically the remotest piece of ocean in
the world.
“Suddenly the boat’s auto pilot had a
problem so in waves of 40ft I ended up
flat on my side. I got it upright, but
couldn’t get the sail down, so the only
thing I could do was climb the mast. It
was the most difficult time of the race
because the waves were horrendous. I
got up the mast and freed it, but then
realised I had left on deck a piece of
kit I needed to descend safely.
“It is a bit like hanging on to a
telegraph pole in an earthquake. I lost
my footing and was holding onto the
mast with one arm, and was being
beaten against it. I had no idea how
I was going to get out, but I started
thinking of the kids in hospital, and
knew I had to get down for them. It is
something I will never forget.
“When I finished the race some of
them came to see me, and I sat with
them on the coach before they went
back to hospital. I thought there
was nothing like this in the UK,
and wanted to do it. It was not just
about sailing, because a lot of those
youngsters had not had a normal life.
When they are getting better it is
about stepping back into normal life,
and for some the Trust trips are the
turning point. They are on the mental
route to recovery.”
Ellen will be back on the water on
June 25 when she takes part in the JP
Morgan Round the Island race. She
recalls that her first appearance in the
ever-popular event was back in 1997
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