Mike
Extremely successful in windsurfing, he also found the passion of sailing through his father. Once a seaman always a seaman.
As you can imagine, Sailing came naturally.
With his great results qualifying for world windsurfing championships, He then sailed throughout his life. From hobbie cat racing to cruising up an down coastal waters on various boats.
Mike will be turning 70, entering the seniors division.
His motto is simply "Follow Me".
John
He cannot wait to take on the world.
He has salt in his veins.
‘Bring it on’ as he says.
Sailing through hectic storms seeing winds of 65+ let me tell you a story or two!!
At the age of 20 he had the opportunity to study for the RYA Yachmaster.
The year after he entered into the world ARC, he had a serious accident in the Tasman sea. Splitting open his kidney he was told he had 48hours to live with a near death experience. Another story to tell!
After 6 months of healing John was back on the water pursuing his dream. Working on super yachts to being a professional detailer.
The 580 challenge appeals because he can bring all of his knowledge to build a boat and race with a competative edge.
His moto will be "Catch me if you can"!
A Huge Adventure by
Mike Blenkinsop and John Blenkinsop
This website documents a huge adventure by Mike Blenkinsop and John Blenkinsop (father and son), racing solo against each other around the world in a small 5.80 meter sailing boat.
The thoughts for the challenge occurred over many months watching the inspiration of Don McIntyre https://mcintyreadventure.com/ setting up a one class design for owners to build and race their own boats.
The website for the challenge is documented on this link – https://www.classglobe580.com/
Don McIntyre collaborated with the polish designer Janusz Maderski who specialises in small ocean going yachts to create the 580 concept. We have named our boats after the Polish girl’s name of Delja meaning “Daughter of The Sea”.
The actual race starts in November 2024, and we are documenting our building notes on creating each boat and the preparation required to enter such a race.
John Blenkinsop Making Two Boats
