Sail 4 Cancer at Skandia Geelong Week

Andy Hayward & Richard Groome on the Sail 4 Cancer Lewmar winch grinding device © Magnus Wheatley

The boys are back in town and once again they’ve brought their torture device that masquerades as the Lewmar winch grinding device! Yup, Sail 4 Cancer have made the 12,000 mile trip Down Under to promote their palliative care initiative and to encourage cancer sufferers and their families to forget their illness and get out on the water. To date the guys, Andy Hayward and Richard Groome, have raised over £100,000 in the UK and are the official charity of the Skandia set-sail program. Now they’re in the cancer capital of the world, Australia, to support local causes and spread their message to a wider audience. I caught up with Andy in the sweltering heat of the Skandia Geelong Regatta.

MW: How does Skandia Geelong Week compare for you to Skandia Cowes Week?

AH: It’s a very similar feel to Skandia Cowes Week, we’ve got the Lewmar winch grinder and it’s a very similar format in that people can win Henri-Lloyd prizes by purchasing a $5 raffle ticket and all the money goes to children with leukaemia in the local area.

MW: So the money that’s raised here, stays here and the money raised in the UK goes to UK causes…How’s it going in the UK?

AH: Sail 4 Cancer in the UK has been going for two and a half years and the money that we’ve raised will be split pretty much in half. Half goes towards treatment and research and then the other half goes to getting people with cancer out on to the water with the aim of improving their quality of life.

MW: Coming over here as the Skandia official charity, I guess that the company has been extremely supportive…

AH: Skandia have been massively supportive, obviously Sail 4 Cancer is the official charity for the Skandia Set-Sail program so as a part of that we are the official charity for Skandia Cowes Week and Skandia Geelong Week. This regatta coincides with us setting up a subsidiary in Australia, run and managed by Australians with the help of two UK directors as well. Importantly the money raised here will stay here…

MW: The cynic amongst us would say “oh you’re just another tin-rattling organisation!” How do you counter that?

AH: I’d like to think that we are pretty different in that we try and think of imaginative ways to use sailing to raise funds. For instance we have a 24-hour dinghy race and we encourage people to climb Tall Ship masts to raise funds etc…The difference with us at this stage is that we are all 100% voluntary, we all have other jobs and the tie in is that we have all lost family or friends to cancer and we’re all mad keen sailors.

MW: So you’ve raised £100,000 in the UK so far, have you seen some real positive benefits from that?

AH: Aside from passing on funds to where there are shortcomings in the NHS, the real key for us now is that we are able to offer sailing opportunities to cancer patients at a low cost. For example Skandia helped a chap called Wayne Norris who just recovered from testicular cancer and he joined Nick Maloney (one of the charity’s patrons) and Mark Denton for the Fastnet onboard the ex-Kingfisher.

MW: What has the reaction been like to you Down Under?

AH: It’s been fantastic. There are a lot of charitable links within sailing in this area and I’m pleased to say that we’ll be working with two of them-‘Keeping Cancer at bay’ and Challenge which is one of the major cancer support groups in the area.

MW: Yesterday you had a number of seriously ill children out on a Tall Ship…that must have been a moving experience?

AH: Yes we had 25 children and their families come out yesterday on the South Australia Tall ship and we took them out to watch the racing. Nick Maloney gave us a quick drive-by in the 98ft Skandia and that was a pretty special moment.

MW: That’s great so what’s the 5 year plan for Sail 4 Cancer?

AH: We want to align ourselves with as many corporate sponsors as possible to keep the charity running at the absolute minimal cost and that’s the key to it as we want to see as much good come from the money raised as possible. Also the big goal is to keep it fun, we want people to enjoy sailing alongside highlighting a very serious disease.

MW: People reading this may want to get involved (come on you lot!)…How do they go about it?

AH: The best thing to do is to go to our website www.sail4cancer.org

MW: Are you looking for volunteers or money?

AH: Both really! But volunteers at boat shows and exhibitions are always needed but we’re also setting up a number of sailing centres around the UK (the goal is 20 in three years) where existing clubs could utilise their facilities to get local cancer patients out on the water to give them and their families a break for an hour or two. The whole thing is reinforced by making sailing more accessible to local communities so hopefully it’s not just cancer patients that benefit. I think that ties in also very nicely with what Skandia are trying to achieve by getting more people sailing.

If you want to email Andy or Richard for more information or to offer services or donations please use: info@sail4cancer.org