Major Update - September 2025
- SofaToSailboat.co.uk
- Oct 1
- 5 min read
It's been a tough summer, but our crew is back hard at work on the boat (photos of our progress below).
We have recently taken the difficult decision to reschedule our Atlantic Crossing until December 2026. We remain fully committed to launching Poppet for her first 'splash' by the end of 2025 (weather permitting).
We will capitalise on the fair-weather sailing and testing opportunities in the spring months of 2026, followed by a full season of sea trials, charity fundraising, and maritime/community events over the summer, before a departure from Portugal/The Canary Islands in December 2026.
We'll shortly be calling in all our favours and promises to get us through the final part of the boat/equipment/preparation, and we hope that we can rely on your continued support and patience.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions or words of support that you have.
There have been many contributing reasons, but mainly:
Our skipper, quietly carrying the burden, tried to persevere as long as possible (probably a lot longer than he should have), maintaining a family and work life, running the expedition, and undertaking physical boatbuilding, all while silently managing a flare-up of severe chronic fatigue and pain.
His long-term and complicated condition, for which a specialist referral was due in August 2025, is now likely to be at least another nine months away. Our skipper's professional workload has also recently undergone an unexpected change, which would leave his customers and business without a point of contact for support or coverage during his crossing.
Our first mate had been making almost weekly nine-hour, 400-mile round-trips to work on Poppet, dedicating nearly all of his free time to assisting the skipper with the physical restoration of the boat, dropping off and collecting equipment, and attending in-person team meetings on training, strategy, and fundraising.
Our first mate and skipper have had to adjust our life balances to allow time for mindfulness and recuperate from the constant physical and mental challenges that SofaToSailboat presents.
We have been relentlessly pursuing promises of equipment, funding, and services from sponsors, yet we remain patient, understanding that they are sponsoring us through their kindness.
The company that produced our main inboard rudder manufactured the shaft nearly 3" too long out of the original spec, and it interferes with our Main Sheet traveller. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find an easy solution. Our skipper met with three engineering companies this week to explore different approaches that will save us from having to build a whole new rudder from scratch.
Delays and equipment issues would leave us with very little time to conduct adequate sea trials (which would be in North Sea winter conditions) and fine-tune our expedition to sail a 17-foot 'dinghy with a lid' 3000-4500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
Spring 2025 saw problems with the painting work, which took nearly four extra months to rectify and complete before we could work on or inside of Poppet.
Whilst we think we could overcome some of these setbacks by throwing time and money at the expedition, after a lot of' heart vs mind' decision making, we decided that it is not in our interest to do so for our safety, physical and mental health, families and employers.
Building on the lessons learnt from sailors and adventurers before us, particularly Donald Crowhurst, we initially committed to undertaking the ocean crossing with Poppet only when the boat and crew were fully prepared. We owe it to our families, supporters, and sponsors to be responsible.
We remain fully committed to launching Poppet by the end of 2025, to capitalise on potential fair-weather sailing and testing opportunities in the spring and summer months of 2026.
Thank You!
To our families, supporters, and sponsors, we thank you for your continued support and patience.
We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far. We've transformed a tiny 53-year-old wrecked boat filled with water and deceased pigeons into a rugged little ocean cruiser that is nearly ready to tackle the biggest oceans.
We haven't taken any shortcuts during the build. Our sponsor supplied equipment, personal supporter donations, crew time, and personal finances have helped us nearly through the most challenging part of our expedition: the planning and preparation.
We have attended several fun maritime and community events so far in 2025 and carried out radio and magazine interviews, which have allowed us to raise and immediately pass on £4164 directly to our charities for our project so far, including gift aid. It's short of our £100,000 target.
Still, with our current momentum and as interest in our current and present expedition grows, we do not doubt that our rate of donations will increase with a ready boat, more fundraising and media opportunities in 2026, and live blogging from the middle of the Atlantic during the crossing.
The Good News!
The main hatch and drains are fitted, and Poppet is now officially water-tight and could float.
The first batch of our new running rigging is on the way from Robline UK
We recently took delivery of the majority of our deck hardware from Barton Marine
Our Kemp sails are 95% ready; the skipper met them at the Southampton Boat Show.
BGG Bruno UK have sponsored our electric motor and batteries, which have now arrived. We are speaking to Energy Solutions UK about changing some of our Victron charging and battery monitoring setup.
All major fibreglass work is finished; just some cosmetic painting is needed where we have had 'oops' moments with the power tools or epoxy.
Our Mast from Z-Spar and standing rigging from Sta-Lok are ready to refit.
Our Hydrovane Self-Steering system, sponsored and supported by both Hydrovane and Breeze Blinds/Breeze Projects, is fitted.
We started our 'Adopt a Seagull' campaign. 'Steven Seagull' is one of our mascots and has his own social media @showusyourseagull. Steven will be getting up to all kinds of mischief on the boat, in the workshops, with our sponsors, and with our supporters!
The New Timeline:
Skipper has attended the Southampton International Boat Show on several days to meet with our sponsors and supporters in person.
We will start updating all our social media and fundraising pages shortly with this news release.
Skipper and first mate are working on Poppet for 6-10 days a month (between family and work commitments).
A 'Splash date' during the Christmas Holiday 2025 period (weather permitting!)
Spring 2026 – Begin sea trials and continue fitting and tweaking equipment for the ocean crossing.
Summer 2026 – A series of sailing adventures in the UK, some short, some long-distance. With an 'ocean-ready' Poppet, we aim to double our visits to maritime and community events to raise as much money as possible in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, Mind, MS-UK, and St Helena Hospice (Colchester).
Geest Line (our transport partner for returning Poppet to the UK) will be supplying bananas at some of our fundraising events!
November 2026 Transport to Portugal/Canary Islands
December 2026 – CROSS THE ATLANTIC!
A Word On Mental Health
Mind is one of our beneficiary charities. 1 in 4 adults in England and Wales experience a mental health problem each year. Far too many wait months to get support, including for the most serious mental illnesses. Far too many get more unwell as they wait. The work they do is essential. They work at national and local levels to fight back against the Mental Health emergency. For information or support for yourself or someone else, please visit: https://www.mind.org.uk/
Please Help Us:
To support our adventure with sponsorship or to donate to our charities via our fundraising page, please visit: www.sofatosailboat.co.uk/donate
We also have corporate sponsor opportunities at various levels: https://www.sofatosailboat.co.uk/sponsor-information and https://www.sofatosailboat.co.uk/sponsor-info
SKIPPER 19/09/2025
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