Mike Golding Visits Supporters at Hook-With-Warsash Primary
One of my personal goals is to rejoin the sailing community that was my life between the ages of 8 and 32 - and it’s happening. The site has motivated me to dig around the whole sailing scene with the intent of entertaining and informing people as I climb back on board - and a lot of threads lead back to the places I know well.
Since I lived for many years with my parents in Locksheath, it was heartwarming to see an account on Mike Golding’s visit to Hook-with-Warsash Primary School , which is just down the road.
Mike is beginning to sound as though he feels that the Vendée Globe is unfinished business. This race, which young turks like Armel le Cleac’h (and Sam Davies, for that matter) see as a natural progrssion for sucessful Figaro competitors, attracted bigger French crowds than the Tour de France. It also beat all records for media coverage - three French TV stations provided live coverage of Mich’ Desj’ arriving in Les Sables d’Olonne for two hours. The only thing that could have interrupted the show would have been a total power outage. And judging by what EDF have done in my neck of the woods over this last winter, I reckon they’d have had the emergency generator trucks connected up before he reached the shore.
What’s really heartening is that the UK media started to take notice this year - which they jolly well ought to, considering how UK skippers have featured over the years. Let’s hope the recession doesn’t hang on long enough to prevent more UK sponsors from signing up in time for 2012. Forget the Olympics…
