In June of this year (2023) Sam, my Fiancée, and I and three friends were thankfully rescued after a dismasting on our yacht in the English Channel on our way to cross the Bay of Biscay. The rescue was performed by a French Royal Navy Helicopter and the SNSM (French RNLI) and we were very grateful indeed. For understandable reasons, the French equivalent of our RNLI levy a charge for this sort of rescue which we paid with pleasure and were gratefully reimbursed by our insurer GJW Direct. It was a seven-hour rescue mission in quite challenging conditions with everyone kept safe and well and our 12m yacht remaining above the water as she is today. It was appreciated but also reinforced to me just what our own RNLI crews, who we know and love, do for mariners on a daily bases – funded by charitable donations and volunteers !!

We have repaid the French for their service, and now I would like to balance that by raising an equivalent sum for our own wonderful team at the RNLI station in Eastboune. And jumping out of an aeroplane seems like the best way to do it.

Any donation is appreciated. I know disposable income is an issue for everyone right now, so if you do chose to donate, please make it modest and let the power of the collective mass make up the total.

Weather depending 'the jump' will be on Sunday 26th November 2023.

Cheers, Hodge.