A CUDDINGTON adventurer who is taking part in a long distance sailing race to raise money for an African school, has embarked on her epic journey from Australia to China.
Honour Schram de Jong, who is originally from Holland but grew up in the village, is taking part in the Clipper Round the World trip and set sail from the Gold Coast on Christmas Eve.
Her boat, named the De Lage Landen, is currently passing the West coast of Papua New Guinea and the team spent Christmas Day on the waves.
Speaking about her arrival on the boat and the first days at sea, she wrote in her online blog: “It’s an awesome feeling having looked forward to and trained for so many months to finally arrive and see the boats knowing that now it is all becoming so very real.
“After a very fruity start, we soon settled into our routines of watches and the anticipation of our very first Christmas at sea while trying to dampen down any feelings of seasickness.
“A few of us were struck down but the prospect of Santa not forgetting to visit us out in the ocean made us all perk up considerably except for two of us. Sure enough he dropped a sack of goodies under the Christmas tree on deck and these were ceremoniously dealt out with personalised anecdotes causing much cheer and laughter.
“A feast was in order with turkey and stuffing sandwiches on the menu enjoyed while watching the sun go down. For those of us who missed out of the festive occasion – well we will just have to do it all over again.”
Honour is raising money for the Tongabezi School, in Africa.
To donate visit her {http://www.justgiving.com/HonourWay|Just Giving page|Just Giving} or to follow her progress visit the website {http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/|www.clipperroundtheworld.com|Clipper Round The World}