In at the deep end; Richard Moore meets armchair sailing enthusiast

While two nations - England and Scotland - settled down to watch the World Cup first thing on Friday morning, Colin Stewart, an Edinburgh businessman, left one country for the other and his own sporting destiny.

He has waited a long time for this, and his excitement at his forthcoming engagements could hardly be more obvious. This weekend is the Round the Island Race, the self-styled "largest and most spectacular yacht race of its kind in the world".

No small claim, and it seems justified, with the 55-mile race, around the Isle of Wight, attracting more than 1,600 boats. But for Stewart it is merely a warm-up for an event which features fewer boats but more challenges.

On August 25, the 43-year-old will head back down south for an innovative addition to the sailing calendar: Challenge Transat.

Setting sail from Southampton, six identical 72-foot yachts will head in the direction of Boston. Stewart, the only Scot among the six 18-strong crews, can hardly wait.

Challenge Transat is the little brother of the BT Global Challenge, the round-the-world yacht race that goes the "wrong" way - against the prevailing winds and currents.

It's no surprise that the man behind both events, and Challenge Business' head of organisers, is Sir Chay Blyth, the Scottish yachtsman who, 31 years ago, became the first person to sail single- handed and non-stop, the wrong way around the world.

Earlier, in 1966, Blyth and John Ridgeway took 90 days to row across the North Atlantic in a 20-foot dory. But the 1971 adventure won him wider fame, with the Times describing his achievement as "the most outstanding passage ever made by one man alone".

In 1988 Sir Chay set up Challenge Business, to offer extra- ordinary sailing opportunities to, as Stewart puts it, "ordinary people". Extensive sailing experience - far less expertise - is, as Stewart found out, not a prerequisite.

The emphasis, according to Sir Chay, is on "would-be adventurers, regardless of sailing experience". He talks of equal opportunities, and then makes the events as fair as possible by placing evenly- matched crews in identical yachts.

Sir Chay was inspired to establish the Challenge Transat by the phenomenal interest in what has become one of the most sought-after challenges: the BT Global Challenge. The 2004 event was over- subscribed before last year's race had even set sail.

Stewart is one of those who hankers after a place on the Global race. But, in the meantime, the Challenge Transat is not a bad substitute.

And, as he sits pondering the challenge in the boardroom of Citibank, where he is managing director, Stewart is positively fizzing with excitement.

He plays a video of a North Atlantic scene where, beside towering waves, the 72-foot yachts look like toys and the crew like fragile insects. Until the close-up reveals the terror on their faces - or is that exhilaration?

Stewart is pretty sure he knows the answer to that. Yet he agrees that the North Atlantic is notoriously unpredictable, and that there does exist very real danger in Challenge Transat. In his boat, as in all the others, only the skipper will be a professional yachtsman. Compared to his fellow crew members Stewart reckons he is "somewhere in the middle in terms of experience".

"I don't have a huge amount of sailing experience," he confesses. "My biggest adventure was sailing across the English Channel, which I did a few years ago. Other than that I have messed about on the west coast in my very small dinghy. But this is like jumping from a toy car into a Formula One racing car.

"I have always watched the BT Global Challenge with great envy, as something of an armchair supporter. And it's always been at the back of my mind that I'd love to do something like that. But it's a bit difficult and impractical - it takes about a year out of your life."

On the other hand, the Challenge Transat demands an absence of just six weeks - though there have also been the months of training, much of it during weekends spent in Southampton.

Stewart has been surprised by the intensity of the preparation, though he admits that he'll be glad of it in the middle of the Atlantic.

The priority for Challenge Business has been to ensure that, come the big day, crew members are as evenly matched as possible. It will make for a more even and safer race. Stewart remembers that his original application was "like a job application".

Then he was surprised to be called to an interview at the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London.

"I was faced with a very distinguished circle of round-the-world yachtsman," he recalls. He was impressed - but so were they. Last autumn he heard that he'd been selected.

Then the rigorous training programme kicked in. Some of the crew volunteers, Stewart says, had never even been aboard a yacht. Backgrounds vary: there's a grandmother and a student, a wine broker and a pathologist.

On July 27, Stewart will hear who is to be in his crew. "The training has focused a lot on group dynamics," he says. "You look at what works and what doesn't. In the training exercises we've sailed with different people each time and you learn so much - about yourself and about living with other people."

He says he's enjoyed the training, calling it "phenomenal".

Team spirit has been good and the instructors include some of the world's most skilled yachtsmen. He feels they're in good hands, but appreciates that little can prepare them for reality, once the adventure is underway.

"We are equals," he says. "It's very refreshing. People look out for each other. With such a mix of people they don't see all the baggage we bring. Everyone is equal - simply an integral part of the team. Of course there will be issues and there will be problems. But you have to sit down, talk them through and work them out.

"If you're three or four weeks in a tin box in the middle of the Atlantic with 17 people it isn't an option to say, 'I want out.' You have to buckle down and get on with it."

Stewart's smile returns even as he considers the scale of the challenge: "I've spoken to a few people who have sailed around the world and they all say you can get the biggest variety of weather crossing the Atlantic. It can be quite volatile. But I can't wait."

Copyright 2002
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