Mrs Hough first took up sailing when the couple moved to Guernsey in 2008.
‘She started to crew on people’s boats racing around the buoys here,’ said Mr Hough. ‘She just enjoyed it. Enjoyed the company, enjoyed the racing, enjoyed being on the water and found a new hobby.’
Mrs Hough quickly built up her experience, picking up qualifications in sailing and navigation through courses such as coastal skipper and yachtmaster.
She also came to learn of the famous Clipper race which would later see her circumnavigate the globe.
‘I did one leg of the 2017/2018 race initially and that spurred me on to undertake the circumnavigation in 2019/20,’ said Mrs Hough.
‘What really inspired me was the incredible fact that amateur sailors were able to race across the great oceans of the world in all conditions.’
And so, in September 2019, she set off from London aboard the Yacht Club Punta del Este to take on the full course of the epic race.
The journey was tough in many ways.
In addition to the psychically demanding nature of sailing, the crew also had to contend with uncomfortably cramped living conditions, several big storms, the ever looming presence of seasickness, and also the Covid pandemic, which saw the event paused mid-race before restarting again in March 2022.
In addition, Mrs Hough had her own determination to win over, which she saw waver as her crew reached Derry in Northern Ireland, a moment she described as her most ‘testing’ of the entire experience.
‘I realised I had had enough and it took great effort and determination to get back on the boat and finish the race.
‘I had wondered why circumnavigators gave up, and at that point I realised why. You reach a moment when you just don’t want to get back on the boat. Luckily for me, this came near the end of the race.’
She successfully completed the race alongside her crew-mates and returned to England’s shores in second place in July 2022.
It was on her return that Mr Hough decided to capture the story of their journey by collecting his wife’s diary notes and her crew-mates’ blogs and turning them into a book.
The idea to do so came quite naturally to Mr Hough, given that he had similarly captured his father’s Second World War experiences.
‘I wrote about my father, and I sort of rather liked doing that,’ he said.
‘I just thought that somebody having the grit and determination to sail around the world in a race in their 60s needed to be captured. It’s inspirational. Not only for sailors. It’s inspirational for all to say that there’s much more to life when you get into your 60s and 70s than just thinking you have to sit on the sofa. You can still get out there and do stuff.’
Next on Mr Hough’s agenda is his own attempt at an epic sailing race.
‘I am going to do the Arc across the Atlantic race in November,’ he said.
He is also considering potential future books to write and, keeping to the familial theme, currently has his sights set on the life story of Mrs Hough’s great-uncle.
‘He was an air ace in the First World War. I think there is a story there,’ he said.