New Sponsorship Brochure

In our seemingly constant quest to find sponsorship, the Golden Gate Endeavour has found an ally. Perivan are a design and print company whose heritage lies in efficient printing of financial documents. They offered to help create some brochures that could be handed to potential sponsors. They have done an excellent job! Those of you who manage to attend the boat show will also get your hands on some leaflets and see the banner that Perivan are also helping design and print.

If you, or someone you know might be interested in sponsoring the Golden Gate Endeavour then why not get your hands on a copy of our new sponsorship brochure? Either go to the “contact us” page and email us your address to post a copy to or simply click here.

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Pat a whale

Over the past few weeks and months I’ve been contacting a few marine societies, charities and NGOs in an attempt to use our trip for something more than just sizeable challenge of completing it. I’ve had some great conversations with leading scientists across the world, the result of which is that Bojangles will become a mini survey ship while at sea.

We will be keeping a ken eye out for all marine wildlife but especially:

Beaked whales

Humpback whales

Basking sharks

Whale sharks

Orcas / Killer whales

We’ll also be attempting to get as many high resolution images of these giant mammals and fish of the sea with the aim of identifying individuals. Several of these species have distinctive markings (just like our fingerprints) that mean that individuals can easily be identified. We’re also looking into the options of recording the sea’s temperature, pH and salinity throughout our trip. Jacques Cousteau eat your heart out.

We’ll be adding a section to the website before the trip so you can keep up to date with all our findings throughout our journey.

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Racing coat of silver for Bojangles

Bojangles has just got a brand new coat of paint on her cabin areas. After doing the work on the top of her cabins to secure the solar panels into place Bojangles was looking rather sorry for herself but now thankfully she’s been given a lick of paint to bring her back to where she should be just before the boat show.

As well as the cabins being sparkly enough I can see my face in them the seat and foot stretchers have been delivered from the lock up next door. There are a few tweaks that we have to make to the foot stretchers but the seats are almost too smooth and I fell of them a fair few times whilst doing my best to check that we have enough space on deck for everything. The next stage is to get everything fitted in and then take her for a paddle which may very well be at the Sail, Power and Watersports show at Earl’s Court. The only problem with this brilliant new paint scheme that we have is that the coat of blue paint we have is starting to look a little tired now. I’m sure that with a bit of elbow grease we’ll bring it back to life though.

The photos of Bo and on the photos page

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Birth of Bojangles

We’re about to see the birth of a new breed in ocean rowing boats. Mick’s been working rather hard on Bojangles recently and it’s paying off. Just by gazing at the photos it may not seem as though a huge amount has come on but we now have solar panels mounted and the rails for the rowing seat in fixed in place. The steering system is the best I’ve ever seen, truly bullet proof. (someone touch wood quickly). We’ve even got the MOST amazing lights ready to be wired up for on deck - Bright blue LEDs. Very bling! I tried to talk Mick into having under boat lighting too but he doesn’t seem convinced.

Within a week we’ll have electricity on board. That is the moment that Bo will become alive. Things will start to work (always useful) and she’ll become the third member of the team! Take a look at the last gallery on the photos page to see the progress made on Bo. We might even get her in the water soon!

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Setting course for success

I was hoping to bring you some rather exciting photos of the steering system for Bojangles. Unfortunately I left the camera in Poole so you’ll have to make do with my explanation until next week. Both Mick and I have had problems in the past with steering problems (My rudder snapped in half and the controls broke several times on the Atlantic and Mick had his rudder snap off on his first Pacific attempt) so we’re both very keen to get it right. Mick has been working closely with Hypro Marine who have designed a bullet-proof solution. It may weigh more than a piece of string but we’re both ultimately confident in it being the ideal solution and one that won’t let us down.

Rather than being controlled with flimsy string or cables this baby is hydraulic! Using the same systems as JCB diggers and Sunseeker yachts means that it’s a tried and tested method that has already withstood the worst conditions the world has to offer. This is going to be great.

The rails for the seats also got put into place over the weekend as well and Mick set me to work on calculating the best positions for the riggers to go. However on more than one occasion our mathematical brains were scuppered by a quiet night out the previous evening. At least we realised all potential problems before putting holes into Bo. Work is picking up pace and it won’t be long before Bo is in the water and floating!

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Bojangles to visit the Sail, Power & Watersports show.

I’m really pleased to be able to confirm that Bojangles and her crew will be exhibiting at the Sail, Power and Watersports show which is making a triumphant return to Earl’s Court between 26th & 30th November this year. Of course there’s more to the show than just us and the 1,000’s of visitors to the show will get to view a vast range of the very best vessels in the industry.

Tickets can be bought now with a 25% reduction if bought on-line.Click on the logo above for full details of the show and we’ll see you there.

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him! join the Golden Gate Endeavour

I am honoured to confirm that him! have come on-board as a sponsor of the Golden Gate Endeavour. him! are a research based consultancy, experts in customers, turning moment-of-truth insight into action for 100 blue-chip organisations. They also co-incidentally happen to employ me.

Ever since I told Mike Greene and Tom Fender (CEO and MD of him!) about the Pacific row they have been outstandingly supportive and also excited by the challenge. I am so very lucky to be working with such a great team of people all of whom are about as excited and terrified by the prospect of the challenge that lies ahead of me.

If you’d like to join the list of companies that are supporting the Golden Gate Endeavour then why not take a look at the support page and download the sponsorship proposal for more information.

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New logo to look out for

We are now the proud owners of a rather fantastically good looking logo. Thanks go to Gina Keech who has done a great job and managed to balance motherhood and preparing the logo that you see below. I’ll get a chance later to add this to the top of this page but I’m so excited I thought that you’d enjoy seeing it as much as me. Over the next few months you’ll start to see the logo rolled out on a range of items including T-shirts and (arguably more importantly) beer.

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Why Bojangles?

One question that I have been asked more than once but until now have been unable to answer is “Why Bojangles?” Well I’ve asked Mick and now we have an answer.

Bo or more formally Bojangles (but never Mr Bojangles, as she’s a boat and therefore should always be a lady) was named by Mick soon after being painted but has yet to be officially blessed, date TBC. Mick claims it’s all about the words and sentiment behind the song “Mr Bojangles” written by folk legend Jerry Geoff Walker.

Mick commented that the similarities between us and the original Mr Bojangles was the main reason for naming the boat for the Golden Gate Endeavour. Mr Bojangles is gentleman, not averse to travel (often by foot), the occasional drink (not unlike both of us) and a good time in pleasant company (see my last…) Often reduced to dancing to make ends meet he ended up both hungry and in jail. Let’s face it if either of us were relying on earning a living from ‘dance’ we too would end up in similar circumstances…The similarities are uncanny.

Plus it’s a song about a guy on his chin straps who can rise above it all for a time with just one gesture, in his case dance, in ours throwing ourselves at the North Pacific ocean, but that’s neither funny nor drink related so we can’t admit to that…

All these questions were generated from an article that I came across a few days ago on the Radio 4 website where Kwame Kwei-Armah looks into the history and myth surrounding the song in an attempt to find the real Bojangles. Unfortunately the listen again feature has now become disabled but if I can get a copy of this riveting tale I’ll be sure to let you know.

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The New Fieldwork Company join the Golden Gate Endeavour

It is with great pleasure that I am able to confirm that the New Fieldwork Company have come on board as a sponsor of the Golden Gate Endeavour. This support comes at the perfect time as Bojangles continues the process of being fitted out with all the equipment that this challenge will need. The New Fieldwork Company are based in Addlestone under 5 miles from where I grew up and went to school as a child and it’s brilliant to see a local company getting involved in this global challenge.

If you’d like to join the list of companies that are supporting the Golden Gate Endeavour then why not take a look at the support page and download the sponsorship proposal for more information.

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