Half way round the world in aid of homeless young people

Simon Jones prepares to sail half way round the world

Simon Jones, from Berkshire, has been selected to take part in the prestigious Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, taking on the challenge of a lifetime.

Simon will be joining the Cape Breton Island yacht halfway through its 10 month, 40,000 mile circumnavigation. He will be setting sail from Qingdao, China, for his brutal stretch encompassing half of the globe travelling through California, Panama, Port Antonio in Jamaica, New York, Nova Scotia, Cork and IJmuiden in the Netherlands, to finally close the remarkable feat of determination at the Humber in July 2010.

Taking on the exhilarating mission, Simon said:

"The overwhelming challenge is about how to live in completely different circumstances to those faced in everyday life. Each boat will have 2 or 3 'sub-teams' or watches and these people are the ones that you will work with every day 4 hours on and 4 hours off. The key to being a successful boat is to be able to live in this way and get up (when you really don't want to) and essentially go to work sailing the boat. The successful boats will be those where each watch performs their tasks and keeps the boat moving quickly through the water for weeks on end in some cases."

As a long-term Centrepoint supporter, Simon, said:

"I chose to support Centrepoint's work because I can think of nothing more wasteful than for a young person to be made homeless through no fault of their own and then to have no support system to enable them to fulfil their potential; Centrepoint fills that need and helps young people become productive."

Head of fundraising at Centrepoint, John Raynham, said:

"We are extremely grateful for Simon's support, raising vital funds which will have a tremendous impact on the 800 homeless young people Centrepoint supports each day. I hope everyone gets behind him and shows their support for this amazing challenge at www.justgiving.com/simon_clipper. Good luck Simon and the crew!"

Keep up to date on the progress of Simon and the crew of Cape Breton Island here.

If you would like to take on a challenge and help raise vital funds for Centrepoint, contact our fundraising team on fundraising@centrepoint.org and see what you can do!