After ten days at sea, Jeremy Tetley (pictured left), the oldest competitor in the Azores and Back race finally limped back into Falmouth on 29 June, aboard his 40-year-old Swan 36,Carteblanche.

He and his crew, 49-year-old surgeon Chris Vickery had both agreed to take part in the race to raise money for their respective charities: Jeremy (Jem) for Padstow RNLI and Chris for a cancer support group.

And both crew members were made to earn their sponsorship the hard way.

Jem, the skipper, broke a bone in his leg before the start of the outward race but was able to continue. Then just as the pair were heading into harbour in the Azores, Chris dislocated his elbow.

Undeterred, they set off back for the second leg, only to be diverted to assist a single-hander who had fallen and broken a bone in his hand. En route,Carteblanche’sbackstay began to fail and a jury rig had to be put together.

Two other yachts in the race came to the assistance of the single-hander, one of which remained alongsideCarteblancheall the way back to Falmouth.

Donations are still welcome at:

www.justgiving.com/carteblanche 

www.somersetbowelcancer.org.uk 

Look out for the full story in Learning From Experience in a future issue of PBO!