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.