Paul Philips and Gary Ward did a similar challenge more than 30 years ago and completed it in 2 hours and 18 minutes. This time around, they were slightly slower – a whole two minutes in fact.
‘It was absolutely awesome,’ said Mr Philips.
‘It was quite rough and we took a couple of big waves, but the boat coped with it fine. We had some leaks, but nothing too dramatic that we could not deal with.’
Mr Phillips said that the challenge had changed a lot this time around with advances in technology.
‘It was absolutely amazing with social media and the amount of technology around, having lots of support with guard boats and stuff, and people highlighting our cause. It was amazing,’ he said.
‘When we did it 34 years ago, we actually took the engine out and chucked a few gallon cans in under the bonnet, did some fibreglassing and that was it. This time we’ve got expanding foam, we’ve done much more because there is so much more health and safety and stuff now, we’ve had to go through lots of things that to make sure it was all done properly.’
The boat will stay in Sark until Mr Phillips and Mr Ward go back to sail it to Herm, having been forced to cancel a Herm run at the end of August because of the weather.
Funds raised will help keep the Flying Christine maintained and operational so it can continue its lifeline service carrying paramedics to the other islands of the Bailiwick and transporting the sick and injured for further care in Guernsey.
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