The Voyage
In July 2022, I sailed from Liverpool to Dublin aboard the tall ship SV Tenacious. For a body that cannot regulate its own pressure, cardiovascular load, or temperature reliably, a tall ship voyage represents a distinct physiological challenge. There are no exits. There is no option to stop. The sea does not accommodate collapse.
The SV Tenacious is a purpose-built accessible tall ship, designed to enable disabled and non-disabled crew to sail together. That principle — same vessel, same conditions, same responsibility — is the direct precursor to every inclusive endurance project that followed.
Why It Matters
The Tenacious voyage was not a cycling event. But it established two things that shaped everything after it: that I could sustain multi-day physical and physiological challenge outside a medical context, and that mixed-ability endurance — where disabled and non-disabled participants share exactly the same experience — was not only possible but preferable to any segregated alternative.
Race the Ship in September 2023 took its name directly from this vessel. The symmetry was deliberate.
The same ship. One year later, a mixed-ability team would race it 197 miles from Great Yarmouth to London. That idea started here.