Sailing away for the wrong reasons

There's many a sailor that's dreamed of sailing off to warm tropical waters. But its not a decision to take lightly, as was shown in a TV documentary broadcast on C4 this evening.

Gary Fisher (below) dreamed of exchanging his welding job in the run down and depressing (his word) north west of England for life on a boat in the Caribbean, beer in hand. First step was to buy his yacht, but after that his plans weren't so clear.

It wasn't sea worthy enough to cross the Atlantic, and there was an awful lot of work to be done plus a new rig and set of sails. He didn't have much money, couldn't sell the house - oh, and lets not forget (for he seems to at times) he had a wife and two children.

I felt for his long suffering wife Anne Marie (at top, having seen the "almost ready" boat) who was left with the children as Gary took the family to the brink not of adventure but bankruptcy and divorce. For he didn't have enough time and money to do the job, nor from what one can gather the planning and self-awareness skills that is so necessary for such a large task.

After two years the yacht only made it as far as Plymouth - and then only on the back of a lorry. His mates in the marina refused to sail the yacht down there and as Gary admitted - on a local radio show at that - he had no offshore sailing experience.

While doing the boat up in Plymouth Gary vanished for five days and later admitted to having an affair, leaving the marriage, let alone the voyage, on the rocks.

For at the end of the day Gary didn't want to sail to somewhere, he just wanted to get away from somewhere: away from being squeezed into a terraced house with two small kids and a job he didn't enjoy, and away from the grey skies of Liverpool.

It was a sorry tale of how the sail away dream can be all wrong: for balance another story tomorrow, but with a happier ending.