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Arundells to host sixth Morning Cloud Sailing Talks

by Catrin Cameron Evans 31 Mar 2018 15:31 BST 12 April 2018
Helena Lucas © Arundells

Arundells is pleased to announce a panel of stellar speakers for the sixth of its highly successful Morning Cloud Sailing Talks on 12th April 2018.

Helena Lucas MBE is the first British sailor to win a Paralympic gold medal. She was selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the 2.4m R – One person keelboat event and was the only woman in the fleet of 16 sailors who contested the event.

Sir Ben Ainslie said of Helena she is "a huge inspiration and a fantastic asset for the sport of sailing. She's great fun, and lights up any room she walks into".

Paul Heiney has been a broadcaster for more than 40 years. Known best as a presenter of the BBC TV series That's Life and Countrywise, Paul has made several solo voyages and was crossing the Atlantic when he learned of the suicide at the age of 23, of his son Nicholas, also a keen sailor who had a serious depressive illness.

To try to reconnect with happier memories of his son, in 2011 Heiney set out on a lone voyage he would have liked them to have undertaken together. He sailed his yacht Wild Song from Falmouth to Cape Horn and back – a round trip of 18,000 miles, including 11,000 miles when he sailed alone. The voyage took nearly two years in five stages and provided the basis for One Wild Song, Heiney's memoir of that extraordinary journey

Alex Alley has sailed all his life, representing England in the world championships by the age of 20 and sailing around the world as part of the 18-strong Team Stelmar in 2004.

In November he is embarking on his latest challenge - to break the Solo Around the World Record, for a boat 40ft or less. To help fund the ambitious voyage, Alex has set up a website where individuals, companies and schools can purchase 5cm x 5cm 'pixels' to feature on the hull of the yacht.

For a minimum donation of £25, images can be uploaded and displayed – so far Alex has accumulated logos of local businesses, pictures of beloved pets, happy couples, and memorial images.

Lord Hunt of Wirral, Chairman of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation, said: "Ted Heath was exceptionally proud of everything he achieved as a competitive sailor, and rightly so. He won the notoriously tough Sydney to Hobart race in 1969 and also led the British Admiral's Cup team to victory in 1971. We are therefore delighted to have established this unique series of talks by some of the greatest figures in British sailing."

The Morning Cloud Talks event will be held on Thursday 12 April at Arundells. Tickets are £30 from arundellssailingtalks@gmail.com or 07921 800533.

The sailing-themed events at Arundells were launched by the unveiling of the restored bow of Morning Cloud III by Sir Ben Ainslie in May 2015. Speakers in the Morning Cloud Talks series have included Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Sir Chay Blyth, Giles Chichester (son of Sir Francis Chichester), Jamie Matheson and the Commodores of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Royal Southern Yacht Club.

Arundells, Sir Edward's former home in the Salisbury Cathedral Close, hosts a unique collection of sailing artefacts and memorabilia including trophies and scale models and seascapes of the five Morning Cloud yachts which Sir Edward raced. The collection also contains four model warships built of hair and bone by Napoleonic prisoners of war.

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