John Passmore began sailing at the age of five by steering his dinghy into the cornfield he had been told to aim for. He graduated to an 18ft Caprice and found Brittany. After coming 65th in the 1988 Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (and remaining distressingly proud of it), he retired from both competitive sailing and his job as chief correspondent of the London Evening Standard to embark on the cruising life with Tamsin Rawlins, who left her job as a school nurse. To read an account of this decision published in the Daily Telegraph click here

Five years later with two small boys, they discovered that the liveaboard life was nothing but hard work and the endless search for launderettes. To read an account of this decision published in the Daily Mail, click here

John and Tamsin now live ashore and planned to sell their catamaran Lottie Warren and buy something smaller. However before doing so, John attempted to set the record for the first singlehanded non-stop circumnavigation of Britain and Ireland. Unfortunately he chose to set off on June 3rd 2000 - ten days before the worst June storm since records began. When it arrived he was off the north of Scotland. The yacht capsized and he was rescued by helicopter. To read an account of this published in the Daily Telegraph click here