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Wednesday 10th October

Dave Selby

Marlin's Mission

 

 

Dave Selby is a passionate but useless sailor who's been fumbling around the east coast for years in Marlin, his 18-ft Sailfish, without dying once. In 2016 the PBO columnist set his horizons further afield, heading off on Marlin's Mission to sail 340 miles up the Thames to London and on to Southampton to exhibit his boat at The Southampton Boat Show. The aim was to demonstrate that cost is no barrier to getting afloat, that in this day and age sailing has never been more affordable.

Dave will also be talking about the life-changing events that inspired his adventure. In 2012 he was struck down by a rare viral condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. In Dave's case it means that the messages stop getting through to his legs every four weeks or so; then he spends three days in hospital where antibodies from the blood of 800 donors are pumped into him to restore his legs. “Far from holding me back, it gave me the drive for what became one of the richest experiences of my life.” To date Dave has raised over £10,000 for the charity gaincharity.org.uk that funds research into this rare illness and provides support for those with it. Dave will also be signing copies of his first sailing book, The Impractical Boat Owner, a light-hearted commentary on “the yachting condition,” charting his meteoric rise from total novice to complete incompetent. “Everything I haven’t learned is in there,” says Dave proudly.