Three days after the interview and I receive an email confirming my place on the 2015 Clipper Round The World race! I sent an email to all my friends along with a picture of the new Clipper 70s attached and asking who wants to meet me in Rio 3 years time?

I even posted it on my LinkedIn profile - very bad form, but I don't care.

Then came an invite to join the 2015 Facebook group. I previously never had any intention or inclination to join Facebook for two reasons; to me it looked like most people used it to tell they were bored and had just made a cheese sandwich - face, bothered?; Facebook, the company, is a little be sinister.

As this is really the only way to communicate with other Clipper participants, then I really had no choice, so in I went. It has actually turned out to be quite a bit of fun virtually getting to know a whole group of new people. A group of us then arranged to meet at the Southampton Boat Show, which was a great idea. We had breakfast whilst doing the "why are you doing this" and "which legs" etc. We then wondered around see if we could bag an deals. Ali had turned up in a short covered in Clipper badges, so it was quite obvious why we were asking and I have to say that quite a few suppliers were very sympathetic.

We had such a good time that even more of us are meeting up at the London Boat Show as well - which wi be nice!

May 2012 and I'm at Gosport to attend the first Clipper 15-16 interviews. I arrived a little early, so I had a coffee over looking Portsmouth harbour. I sent a text to my wife "Sun shining and drinking a coffee whilst looking at boats, beats working!".

I made my way down to Clipper HQ and joined 15 or so other people on this first session. In the corner of the room was a large black steering wheel. "That's for the new Clipper 70 fleet" said David, "Cost £5,000 each". A collective ooohhh filled the room, can't wait to be standing behind one of those.

We did the usual introductions that you do in these kind of situations; what's your name, personal background and why you were there. We ranged in age from a lad who would only just be 18 for the 2015 race, to some more mature people around the 50 mark. It was a 50/50 split between male and female. A couple of people were looking to the whole RTW, but most of us were Leggers.

We saw a video and were given loads of information about the format of the whole process. This covered how the training programme worked, how the boats operated, how the event was managed, insurance, paying for it, getting to and from start points for Leggers and family etc.

The day finally finished with a 1:1 interview to make sure you were still interested and for them to understand more about why you wanted to do it. It was also a chance to see if you had some major personality issues that my not be welcome on a TransAt crossing!

We'd been married for over 20 years, so I knew what the answer would be, but I couldn't and didn't want to just assume, so I asked my wife seriously about doing Clipper in a few years time. I knew that doing the whole Round The World (RTW) was not on the cards, even though I still didn't know how much it would cost, but no salary for a year as well as being away for a year was not a serious option.

Of course she said yes, if that's what I really wanted to do - though she still thought I was mad. My children thought it was cool and I should definitely do it.

That was that then, in January 2011 I submitted an application for the 2015-16. As Clipper hadn't really started to recruit for the 15-16 race, 13-14 being their next priority, I had to wait until May 2012 before I got the call to attend the first interview session for the 15-16 race.

I became aware of Clipper several years ago, not really sure when exactly. I think it must of been the power of subliminal advertising from those posters at the train station when I used to work in London.

Why do they advertise at commuter stations? Is it just because there are a lot of people to see them, or is it because so many people that commute to work have so little to look forward to each day?

Then a couple of years ago I saw "Against The Tide" the story of the 2009-10 race. My family thought I was mad when I said "I want to do that." Soon after this had been on the TV, I enrolled on the RYA Coastal / Yachtmaster Theory (having done the "Dazed Kipper" practical 2 years earlier). A fellow student lent me Ian Dicken's book "Sea Change".

That was it, I was hooked, but was I being selfish wanting to do this? Not just for the cost, but also for abandoning my family. And then what about work?