It started, as most of these things do, with a ‘phone call. Would I consider joining the Sail For Charity team for Cowes Week 2007? They already had a few others interested, but as I am usually happiest at the wet and pointy end, they hoped that I would take the Mastman job. This involves “sweating the halyards” to pull the “new” sail up to the top of the mast, then helping the Bowman to pull the “old” sail down, then getting your weight back out on the rail to help to keep the boat flat – and fast.
So, lots of sitting around interspersed with frantic activity. My main concern, being a sailor more used to sipping G&Ts in the sunset, was my fitness. Would I have the necessary power, fitness and stamina to pull 40+ feet of rope and loaded Kevlar sail up and down the mast? Would I have the flexibility to duck under the boom, swing my legs through the lifelines and "hike out"? I need not have worried, thanks to Sensei Chris and Goju Ryu

I remember when I first started Goju Ryu karate at Norton and heard “Right then, off we go”. I just knew we were in for a beasting! Actually, it’s still the same come to think of it! Well, it’s the warm-up and stamina exercises that got me through the sail changes on the boat. I am not the fittest in the class, far from it, but all those press-ups, sit-ups, crunches star jumps and the hard Goju training certainly helped to pull the sails up quickly. Without them I may even have, I’m going to say it, given up. But that’s not allowed – it’s that Goju Ryu Karate mental conditioning again. You can’t just stop kicking the pad because you are tired, or ask an attacker to “stop for a minute while I get my breath back”. You have to dig in and keep going! Then there’s the body conditioning. It still hurts when you lose your footing and land from six feet onto the deck, but hopefully not quite so much now I have fewer live nerve endings. Or is it the pitchers of Pimms dissolving the memory so it just doesn’t seem to have been so bad? Also this Sailing / Karate synergy actually follows what it says in our licence – I paraphrase – “Keep the essence of the traditional, but find new ways to take your training forward”. We are always looking for unusual combinations; this may be another one. I'm happy to say we came 2nd in our class, see below.

For our results see http://www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk/ and look for
Healthsure Anticipation in the IRC4 and the Black Group overall results.

Leaving the Gokan Ryu concern with the rank of 4th kyu Dave started at Norton Dojo in January 2007, and decided to revert to10th kyu in the I.O.G.K.F./O.T.G.K.A. syllabus. Since then, through hard work and effort, he's progressed, being awarded his 8th kyu in September of that year.