Dream A Little Dream For Me

By Lisa.

Mario. Or Albert Einstein

Mario came to us with a lifelong dream of sailing beyond the horizon, zero experience, and a terminal illness that he had decided was not going to stop him having this dream. So he dived in at the deep end and joined us for a trip from Plymouth up to Liverpool, only stopping at Holyhead for fuel along the way.

Three days of preparation and 'Silent Knight' (the 31' sloop we were moving) was ready for her sail north, and Mario was ready to sail into the great blue yonder. And blue it was as we were blessed with a clear sky and a warming sunset on the evening of our departure into where the English Channel meets the North Atlantic Ocean. Lisa was a little late having caught the train to Glasgow instead of Plymouth (an easy mistake?!), but eventually we cleared Plymouth sound and were sailing.

The trip itself brought a great selection of different weather and temperature, dolphins, long night watches, and much humour as Mario started to get used to life onboard a sailing vessel. From his initial nerves when he tried to jump overboard and swim for the land stating he had made a terrible mistake, to the moment he lay on floor kissing the land at the end of the trip, I felt he had a grand experience. For all his jokes about the harsh life at sea though, he stuck it out and admitted that he had had a great time by the end of it all. We still laugh to this day about some of the incidents along the way...

One night I called out to Mario to check he was okay after had just got into his bunk. In his semi sleep he must have misheard me as he next appeared in full gear in the cockpit, surprised and saddened to find out he never had to get up at all, I only wanted to know that he was alright. On returning to his sleeping back I heard him jump up and yell, as he maybe didn't expect to find the unicorn shaped hot water bottle that Lisa had thoughtfully put in his bed in the meantime. The details we will leave lost in history!

Silent Knight arriving in Liverpool Marina

When we finally made landfall in Liverpool Mario was a very different person... ​ but I will give you his quote to sum it up better:

​"I am a Neuroendocrine cancer patient. I was looking for a complimentary treatment to my cancer, and came up with the idea of using sailing as a way of dealing with my unpredictable terminal cancer diagnosis. So I searched all the cancer charities, but unfortunately none had any knowledge of charities which could help cancer patients with sailing for adults. I feel very lucky to have come across James Lovett's website where he took people out on sailing trips.

On talking to James he invited me on my first ever sail at sea (March 2019). We sailed from Plymouth to Liverpool, which was everything, and more of just what I had been dreaming, and wishing for. I cannot thank James and Lisa enough for there time, patience, calmness, stress free professionalism, and complete empathy to my situation, which made this experience for me so very important as it served both my spirit and body as I had hoped it would.

I recommend James highly as he does not just focus on the sailing but more importantly on his crews well being, and safety. I have just sailed again with him from Liverpool to Conwy, and back. I thank him for introducing me to the ways of the sea and its great potential for healing the spirit while in awe of the beauty that is mother nature. I know that sailing is impossible to measure against one's illness, but let me assure you that sailing with James and Lisa has been immeasurable to my spirit, as it lets me take back some control and joy in my life which medicine/surgery sadly cannot. This has strengthened me in ways that I cannot express. What great fun, and laughter I had at sea are my fond memories of sailing with James and his crew."

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."

Eleanor Roosevelt