‘I decided to just go alone'

Chris Ayres realised a childhood dream when he sailed from Britain to New Zealand, via Panama, in a 28ft yacht – bravely setting sail solo when crew let him down at the 11th hour

- Chris Ayres

A particularly vicious squall was under way when the reality of my situation hit me. I was alone in the southern Pacific Ocean, 14 days out from the Galapagos Islands 1,000 miles in my wake and bound for the Marquesas, still 2,000 miles away. Far from any shipping lanes and far from any help; I had to manage on my own.

How had I come to be here? I was sailing my boat, Sea Bear, a Vancouver 28, single-handed across the Pacific.

On the point of retiring from work aged 66, it dawned on me that maybe I could revive an almost forgotten boyhood dream of a long ocean trip. I had thought that things like that were not in my reach, but here I was. I had the boat, the question was, was I up to it?

Gradually plans took shape and after a hectic time of preparation and planning I slipped away from Victoria Dock, Caernarfon to head out for the open sea.

It had not been my intention to go single-handed. I had arranged crew to go with me but with less than 24 hours before departure they dropped out. It left me in an awkward spot. I didn’t want to miss the weather window or leave any later, it was already mid August and I wanted to be across Biscay before September was out. Unlikely to find another crew member at such short notice I decided to just go alone. It made me a little nervous as I had never undertaken such a long passage solo before but I wasn’t about to let a little setback get in the way of months of effort and planning. A passage down the Irish Sea took me to the Isles of Scilly where I stopped very briefly to catch up on sleep and then I set out across Biscay. I discovered that the water was really blue out there and I came to understand the term bluewater sailor. I did have a bit of a gale which was uncomfortable but I also saw a whale, which surfaced alongside.