Arriving home late at night from a job in Birmingham back in March I logged onto the internet to check my messages and my attention was caught by an advert for to crew on a yacht for the 2009 offshore yacht racing campaign leading up to the famous Rolex Fastnet Yacht Race. I clicked on the link and read through the info and – having never even set foot on a sailing boat before – thought it sounded like a brilliant idea! I'd watched the racing on TV before and always been interested and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something a little different.

Two weeks later I found myself in Southampton aboard Pi Squared for our first training weekend with 9 other excited victims... sorry... crew (varying from experienced sailors to… well… me!) and the three professional crew – Fin, Penny and Liz – who's task it was to mould us into a finely tuned racing machine!

Over the following five months we competed in a number of training weekends, shore based courses - to get the required safety certificates to compete - and four qualifying races including trips across the channel to France and along the coast to of the UK .

Finally on the 8 th of August we met up in Southampton for the final time to get the yacht ready for the Fastnet race the following day! We would be starting at 13:30 and competing in class zero (one class below the professional boats) for the 608 mile race from Cowes, past Lands End across to the Fastnet rock on the southern tip of Ireland and then around the Scilly Isles back into Plymouth for the finish.

The race was brilliant and we saw dolphins, seals and an impromptu helicopter air display from the Navy amongst many other things along the way! We experienced varying weather conditions from no wind at all (watching the Scilly Isles go backwards for six hours!) through to an ‘exciting' crossing to Ireland with waves coming over the deck and the boat pitching and rolling at crazy angles! We crossed the finish line in Plymouth finally on Friday the 14 th , just 5 days and a couple of hours after setting sail, finishing up in 154 th place out of 300 boats – exhausted and slightly smelly, but very happy!

Overall for me the experience was thoroughly enjoyable and something I will remember (and probably bore people ridged about!) for the rest of my life. I met some great new people, made a lot of new friends and have gained a passion for sailing that will no doubt mean I shall be out again on another yachting adventure before too long!

Of course I took a camera along with me too and managed to take a fair few snaps when I wasn't busy pulling on ropes, trimming sails or winding winches – my photos from the trip can be viewed by clicking HERE.

If you would like some more information about sailing on Pi Squared or perhaps fancy a go at it yourself click on the link HERE to take you to their website – I thoroughly recommend it!