• John was introduced to sailing at a very early age by his father-and as a baby could often be found crawling around the bilges of assorted half-deckers in Chichester Harbour.

• In recent years he has cruised the East Coast and the North Sea.

• Doing 3 legs in the 2015/16 and 2017/18 editions of the Clipper Round The World Race opened up his horizons-so when the call came to join a team to enter the Ocean Globe Race there was only ever going to be one answer.