Welcome to the seventh   newsletter

 

18^th September 2008

 

Current Lat/Long Position 50:50.35N 01:09.21W

 

THIS SUNDAY!!

 

Sunday 21^st September 2008 – THIS SUNDAY!! That’s D-Day and will be the start of my extraordinary dice adventure. It really doesn’t seem very long ago that I was still searching for the perfect boat and tentatively thinking about selling the business and my house in Bristol. Well, it actually wasn’t that long ago really but the time seems to have flown by relentlessly and I find myself today, sat at the chart table still frantically sorting out a few last-minute things before setting off in just three days.

 

So, what’s happening on Sunday?

 

It’s all pretty informal really. I’m planning on setting off from the pontoon at Wicormarine in Fareham at midday. It would be great to see you all there waving me off and I’m hopeful that there will be a few boats joining me for the ½ hour trip up to Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth. If any boat owners are able to come down on Sunday and take a few guests aboard, that would be perfect but if not, well, come down anyway. I’ll be leaving mid-tide so I won’t be able to get alongside the walk-ashore dinghy pontoon at Wicormarine but you could of course come and wave from the jetty.

 

The forecast for Sunday is just about perfect; dry with fairly brisk easterly winds.

 

I had wanted to host a Dice Party on Saturday night but I hope you’ll forgive me for abandoning that idea at unforgivably short notice. I’ve been absolutely flat out getting things organised and, I regret to say, there weren’t enough confirmed guests to be worth going to a lot of effort at a time when I really could be relaxing with a few selected friends and family. Those of you who have made arrangements for Saturday, please come down anyway (Those who have already confirmed are, without exception, the people I would want to spend my last night ashore with!) I can’t guarantee a bed on the boat overnight so you might be as well to find some accommodation locally but I would love to see you all. If you’re still keen to come down on Saturday, please let me know.

 

 

Website Changes

 

I am really chuffed to be able to tell you that Pablo, the Web Designer who created the W2n site, has managed to embed the MailASail BLOG and location map into the W2N website. It went live yesterday and I think it works incredibly well. It’s very simple in fact. Just by emailing a specific MailASail address with the latest blog starting with my current Lat and Long position, the software automatically updates the map and tracks my route. For now, I’ve used previous newsletters as blog entries but you can see how it’s going to work when I set off on Sunday – yes, Sunday!

 

 

So, take a look at www.w2n.co.uk and click on the ‘BLOG and Position’ tab on the left. If your screen resolution is anything less than 1280 x 1024, you might want to click on the ‘Open in New Window’ button so you can see the full width of the image without having to scroll around.

 

 

Dice Options

 

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you to cast your vote for the first leg of the voyage. As I write, the vote is favouring a route around the coast of South Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope and back up the east coast to India… no complaint from me there! What about the first throw of the dice though? Well, let me know what you think. Let’s assume that the route is going to settle on the easterly Cape route and start thinking about six possible landfalls that would make for an interesting first stop. In the spirit of the challenge, five of them are going to be heading south of course but I’d love to know your specific ideas and a suggestion for the dreaded ‘option 6’ which, if the dice so chooses, may not even be in the right direction!

 

 

Forum

 

A few people have commented that the registration process for the forum is too convoluted. And it is! The forum is of course where you will cast your vote so I would encourage you to stick with it.  The forum is a stand-alone feature that is simply embedded into the W2N environment. As such, even if you’ve already registered for the newsletter, you will need to register again for the forum if you want to chat with other members or to cast your vote. Once in the forum, you will be asked to either login or register. If you haven’t yet registered to use the forum, you will need to complete the process which includes one of those funky security things with the distorted numbers and letters. It’ll make sense when you get there but please do persist and try to understand that the clever pony-tailed chaps at phpbb who designed the forum software have an obligation to protect your personal information.

 

 

Sponsorship

 

My rather clumsy efforts to secure a sponsor for the project back in January were hindered, understandably, by not having a boat, not having any branding and not having any tangible evidence of my commitment to the challenge. Then, it was just an idea. Nine months later, just three days before D-Day, I have all these things in abundance but lack the time or the contacts to continue the search. As such, having met with Luke Rhinehart’s European PR Representative a couple of weekends ago, I am very pleased to confirm that Andrew Bonner-Walter will be taking up the challenge to secure sponsorship and handle the increasing media interest in my absence. Andrew is pursuing a number of options but I wondered if any subscribers to the Newsletter would be interested in capitalising on the media interest as a ‘Project Partner’. In the past few weeks, even before Andrew’s introduction to the challenge, the W2N project has featured in the national yachting and mainstream press, radio networks across the country and numerous internet news sites. This can only increase as many have expressed an interest in following the project but the mutual benefits are obvious. The W2N project is unique, slightly off-the-wall (ok – very!), it’s environmentally sympathetic and, if all goes to plan, will be documented in a book to be published on my return. Contact me on rob {CHANGE TO AT} w2n {DOT} co {DOT} uk for more information about sponsorship opportunities.

 

 

 

That’s all for now. Thanks for your interest in the w2n project and please don’t hesitate to contact me with your comments and thoughts. Please feel free to participate in the forum on the w2n website (www.w2n.co.uk) and introduce your friends to the project.

 

 

 

All my very best,

 

 

 

Rob (Bee)

 

 

You are receiving this newsletter because you have either registered an interest or because you haven’t – and I think you should! If you are receiving it in error, please let me know by simply replying to the email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

 

 

W2N Global Ltd.

4 Hampshire House

Tunbridge Lane

Liphook

Hampshire GU30 7SP

UK

 

+44 (0)7967 661157

rob {CHANGE TO AT} w2n {DOT} co {DOT} uk