Brave crew to circumnavigate Isle of Wight without experience to keep initiative that feeds those in need afloat

Courage is propelling a group of ‘green’ sailors to take to the open seas in a desperate attempt to keep afloat a community initiative that feeds those in need.

Seven people have stepped up to the plate and will join team vicar for All Saints Church, Alex Coakley-Youngs, on a unique fundraising challenge to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight without any previous sailing experience.

The crew, formed of the Commercial Road church staff and volunteers, will set sail on Friday, June 5 to complete the gruelling 69-mile challenge on a Morning Star Trust yacht which has been lent to the team for the occasion.

Ninety per cent of the money raised will go towards the Harbour Parish Church’s Safe Harbour scheme which provides free hot meals on a weekly basis to those in need, following a decrease in grant funding. The remaining money will be donated to the Morning Star Trust, which teaches young people important life skills through sailing.

Alex said: “It all came about because of the lots of grant funding has died off, and one of the things we do for the community is host a weekly meal, so this is basically just a quick idea on the hoof to do a fundraising sail to make more money to pay for the cost of food.

“Every Monday night, we get an average of 80 people come to the church. We don’t stigmatise - anyone can come, you don’t need to be homeless or lonely, but we do see a vast majority of people who are. For many of them, it is the only community interaction they have in the week. There are lots of other things going on in the community but a lot of people see this as the only place where they feel safe, so for a church to be able to have their doors open for people to come in, feel safe and have a hot meal - it’s so important. It’s a beautiful space and, without this money we would just not be able to run it. Whatever we raise will really, really help keep it running past Christmas.”

The crew is due to meet on Thursday, 4 to go through a safety briefing before setting off in the early hours of Friday morning where they will brave the unpredictable waters of the Needles, with Alex helping them along the way.

The 35-year-old vicar discovered his passion for sailing at the age of 13 when he joined the sea cadets.

“I went into a career sailing before becoming a vicar but I returned to Portsmouth last year after being in Kent for a while and the Morning Star Trust moved to Northney, and it all lined up perfectly for us to be able to do this”, Alex said.

He explained: “The challenge for me will be to try and get the crew up to speed in a short amount of time and then be able to sail the boat around the Isle in a day. It’s certainly a different type of fundraiser. I know we are in a sailing city but as a church, we have done nothing like it before and it is likely it will be the first event of many.

Get access to trustworthy local news for just £5 when you sign up for a digital subscription to The News

“Out of the seven, only one of them has done a little bit of sailing so they are all quite green - I’m quite excited for it because I think the whole team will work together to get the boat moving. We are going to do it with a sail so there will be lots of tacking but we will take it as it comes.

“I’m excited more than anything else. I don’t know if the team feel the same way. I know one of them is apprehensive about being sea sick but I’m sure they will all overcome it. That’s the beauty of sailing - very quickly you form a team and then you’re able to do anything.

The GoFundMe, which was launched on Wednesday, May 20, has already raised £1,893 out of its £2,000 target. For more information about the GoFundMe page, click here.