The Start!!

waving goodbye to clacton pier
Windsurf round britain the start

On Sunday 7th June 2015, at just after ten am, Jono Dunnett left the beach, sailed past Clacton Pier and began a voyage of a lifetime. His journey around the mainland of Britain on a windsurfer will take up to three months and has never been done before without on-water support.

The weather for the start was perfect for those that came to see him off.  He may have preferred a little more wind however. His planned destination for tonight is the exotic Southend on Sea. From there he hopes to hop across to the north coast of Kent, and turn the corner at Margate before next week´s forecast strong NE winds arrive.

You can follow his progress live via the front page of the website. Or click this link.

He will face many challenges on his trip, from fighting strong winds and tides, wild camping in remote locations, and of course, going to the toilet in a drysuit.  While Jono himself will be blogging regularly throughout the journey, in my role as press officer, telephone research assistant and brother (unpaid), I will also be updating these pages when he can´t get to a computer, and I don´t think he took one.

As Jono sailed away from his safety boat escort he shouted across to me to put a short post up thanking all those that came to see him off, and the officials on the beach that made it all run so smoothly - thanks to you all.

And to Jono, from all those on the beach, and following this online, we all wish you good winds and a fantastic adventure. Good luck!!!

(ps - keep on eye on BBC Look East this evening for a piece on Jono´s voyage.)