At 43 I suffered 3 serious heart attacks, the men in white coats said each "event" was enough to finish me off so I should consider myself very lucky to still be here. The burning feeling that I had in my chest caused by the heart attack had now been replaced with a burning desire to take things a little easier. 

I've always had a fascination with water, aged 8, I was introduced to sailing by my then best friend Gerret Shaw, going on to compete in a sailing regatta at Burnham on Crouch that summer. I joined the sea cadets after that. It is with the opportunities that the staff at T.S. Blackcap provided me I managed to get some life changing experiences and some really useful qualifications.

As I grew older, I left sailing behind and had various power boats, but there is only so many times that you can whizz up and down before you get bored, so back to sailing. The last 15 years or so have been about work, about making ends meet and at times worrying where the next paycheck was coming from. Now, I am a carer, something I never in a million years considered when I was younger and when one considers the careers and jobs I have had, care work is something I never ever contemplated, but I love it. Instant feedback as you go along, the good, bad and ugly can be presented to you in one foul swoop and yet you know have made a difference, you have allowed someone who is either too vulnerable, physically unable, or simply doesn't have the confidence to access something to do what they wanted. To give someone a loving and caring home, to give someone a reason to get out of bed in the morning, even if that reason is to stop me moaning at them.

Then there is sailing.