Ben Pate - Racing Round The World : August 2013

My Story

After being born and diagnosed with deafness in my right ear, I never really gave the disability much thought apart from the obvious annoyances of having to walk on the right, sit on the right, do everything with anyone – on the right. It was only when I was unable to complete a solo flight scholarship due to my deafness with Air Cadets, that I realised I would not be allowed to join the RAF as a pilot. I then understood the limitations that the disability brought to my life. Following this, I took the mentality that I may be limited, but I can do mostly anything. Mostly anything turned into chasing another career path to become a Test Driver. After working in this field for a number of years, I’ve decided to take a career break to take on something truly special – A Round the World Yacht Race.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a 40,000 mile circumnavigation of the globe - The longest yacht race in the world. 12 identical 70ft racing yachts, with a crew of 22 on board will race 8 legs with 15 stopovers over 6 continents. We will experience bone numbing freezing conditions in the southern ocean. Hot sweaty, energy sapping temperatures in the tropics. Waves the size of houses in the Pacific, and frustrating zones of zero wind in the doldrums. It's a race to test the physical and mental side of a person working with strangers, when sleep deprived, in a pressure cooker that is a racing yacht. This is no holiday - More people have climbed Everest, than sailed around the world.....

Saturday 31 August 2013

So here we go

The race of my life starts tomorrow. After 2 years in the making, tomorrow morning I will be setting off from St Katharine Docks and will not return until 12th July 2014, where I will have sailed around the world and completed over 40,000miles of racing. It is a life changer. I would just like to say thank you for everyone or all their support recently, those who have come down to wave me off and those who have sent messages of encouragement. Please help me charity www.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW. And please follow me around the globe at www.clipperroundtheworld.com. Game on.

Thursday 29 August 2013

Having a great time at St Kats Docks

Great time with the boat and the crew. Happy days, loving the clipper race!

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Just getting ready to meet the England rugby team

Monday 26 August 2013

Update!

So the boat prep is going well and had an ace time this morning creating a film for my charity action on hearing loss. Hopefully this will spur on more people to donate to the good work they do. Happy days. 6 days til the start!

Sunday 18 August 2013

Prep week going along well

Stressfull getting it all done, but getting there!

Thursday 15 August 2013

Boat prep is coming along

Lots do do on the girl, but she will be ready for the race soon! We hope!

Sunday 11 August 2013

Emptied all the bank accounts for the @clipperrace adventure now!

Thursday 8 August 2013

Last day with parents

Proper goodbyes today before @clipperrace

Tuesday 6 August 2013

@clipperrace @actiononhearing

Everything you've ever done in your life, the people you've met, the places you've been, the experiences you have gained, have brought you to this moment right now. Go make it happen.

Monday 5 August 2013

Resting heart rate 54bpm

Getting there, a week of training ahead!

My team and my boat!

Sunday 4 August 2013

Wow!!

So we are entered into the Sydney Hobart 2013 Yacht Race as part of our race! Happy days!

Saturday 3 August 2013

I'm on BBC Breakfast

@6:40am!! Watch out for me!

Friday 2 August 2013

On way to a first date with a special girl...

To see the Team GREAT Britain Clipper 70. @clipperrace

Thursday 1 August 2013

It's me, up on the bow

Distances!

Just shy of 1900Nm in 33 days of training so far on my @clipperrace adventure. They will quickly ramp up when racing though!

Deafness Research UK / Action on Hearing

This challenge for me, is one to truly test my ability to work around my deafness in an environment where hearing or not hearing your crew mates can be the difference between winning or losing, or what is a real possibility, the difference between a serious injury or not.

I've set up an affiliation with Deafness Research UK who has now been merged with Action on Hearing Loss, as I believe these charities best support the research of hearing loss and the development of cures for the future.

I've suffered in my life with my disability; therefore I would like to do anything I can to help others in the same situation and help benefit their lives.

The overall message I'm trying to send out, is no matter what you restriction in life, you can do anything you want. You just need to go and do it. Please help my race campaign and donate to this great charity.

http://www.deafnessresearch.org.uk/

http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/