Hi, I'm Mike.

I was born in Somerset in 1945 a farmer's son where I lived until I joined the Merchant Navy as an Engineer at the ripe old age of 25. I then moved North to Yorkshire for a few years and then on to Tyneside. My first boat was a 'whithy boat' sometimes referred to as a Somerset Flatner. These boats were used to transport whithies from the flooded fields back to 'base' via the ditches that were the watercourses of Sedgemoor and the Somerset Levels. They were basically propelled with poles 'punt style' but we managed a few 'variations'!!

During my life in the South West we were as a family always at the coast and had friends with boats of various descriptions. I also learned scuba diving and canoeing as well as sailing.

Once I moved to Tyneside and nearer the sea I took up sailing again. I built a few sailing dinghies for a few friends before I built my own and subsequently joined the Tyne Cruising Club. Later through friends I met during my navigation night classes I went along to a sailing club in Sunderland where I crewed for a couple of years before buying my own boat. This was a 24' 'one-off' which I owned for about three years before buying an Invicta. The Invicta is a Van de Stadt design based on the folk boat. A better sea boat for the size I have yet to sail on.

I have taken my Day Skipper, Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore Shore based courses all at the South Tyneside College and did my practicals on the 'Irene Jack’, which is a gaff rigged Colin Archer type boat based at Falmouth. Altogether I have been sailing for around thirty years on various types of craft.

Hello. I'm Pat.

A brief history - I was born Pat Haigh in Sunderland in 1947 and joined the police in 1972 after various office jobs. I served at Hartlepool and Seaham Harbour in uniform before being assigned to the Drug Squad in 1975. About this time I met my husband to be, Clayton. I then briefly went to Peterlee in CID then was seconded to the Regional Crime Squad. Clayton and I decided to get married in 1979 and I left the police. I stayed at home in Durham for a few years while my stepdaughter Margaret was at home, then worked part-time for the Office for National Statistics for a number of years. In 1999 Clayton died with heart failure and in December 2000 I made the big decision to return to my roots and bought a flat in the new marina at Roker in Sunderland. I had lost touch with all of my childhood friends and only had my sister Sheila and her family back in Sunderland.

Looking at the boats from my kitchen window every day made me want to learn to sail and I was introduced to the members of the Wear Boating Association. I was made welcome and began sailing with them. I completed Levels 1 and 2 of the RYA Dinghy Training Course at the Marine Activities Centre, Sunderland. I then joined a local yacht Club and sailed now and again on a Wednesday evening .I took the RYA Competent Crew Course with the Bob Moncur Sailing School in August 2001. It was after that that I met Mike. I have since completed the RYA Yachtmaster theory course. I won't have time to do the practical course before we leave but I should have lots of practical experience by the time we come back!