Going dizzy on an island sailing odyssey

Ken Fowler becomes the first sailor to circumnavigate every island in England and Wales-and all done in a 4m dinghy! 

- Ken Fowler

The aim of the adventure was to become the first person to successfully circumnavigate all the islands in England and Wales. A big enough challenge in itself, but when you're attempting it in a 4m RS Aero single-handed dinghy it makes it just that much more difficult!

The motivation behind the circumnavigation was raising funds for two amazing charities, Cancer Research and Oakhaven Hospice. Having lost my father, several uncles, aunties and my mother-in-law to cancer, I first embarked on my sailing fundraising in 2015 when I sailed a Laser dinghy around the Isle of Wight and raised over £3,000.

After you've completed any adventure one of the most common questions people ask you is "What's your next adventure?" For me, that turned out to be sailing from Land's End to John o'Groats in an RS Aero. The aim of that 865-mile journey was to raise £50,000 for the two charities. It was a colossal target, but thanks to the generosity of many people we raised £37,000 which was staggering, but still short of the target.

To raise the remaining £13,000, I needed another challenge and so Yodare (based on my boat's name Yoda and 'You Dare') was born. Yodare came from the inspiration of my first island adventure and the fact that on my Scottish journey, I'd sailed past so many islands that I never had the chance to explore the other side of.

I settled upon the criteria that an "island' should be permanently visible at high tide and at least 30m in length-otherwise, I'd be chasing every rock in the sea. Having set the criteria I discovered that there were around 250 islands, far more than I suspected and quite daunting, especially coupled with the estimated 1,000 miles of sailing needed to round them all.

Obstacles to overcome