British veterans complete historic 12-week charity sailing expedition around the UK

A crew of injured and wounded veterans and serving personnel have completed a historic sailing expedition around the UK for charity.

The Full Circle Sailing Expedition embarked on a momentous 12-week journey, sailing 2,000 nautical miles around the country.

The voyage has helped support more than 500 injured veterans and the charity is raising £300,000 to fund their mission to support former servicemen right across the nation.

Speaking to GB News about the expedition, Chief Instructor at Turn to Starboard Paul Miller lifted the lid on his experience on board the ship.

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He told the People's Channel: "It is about human impact, and it's about giving people maybe a reset, taking that breath, but also a bit of camaraderie as well.

"Literally everybody's on the same in the same boat, and the blue environment is completely different.

"Everything is different on a boat - walking, sitting down, making a cup of tea, even going to the loo is slightly different. So it can give people a break from the pressures of life."

Mr Miller highlighted how there was a "tribal" sense of community on the ship, as "everyone had a part to play" in the success of the voyage.

He said: "Everybody on that boat has a part to play, everybody gets involved in safely moving that boat from A to B, and it's that camaraderie and being a part of a team, and you could say just having that mission.

"None of our vessels are modified in any shape or form for anybody missing potentially a limb or an amputee, but we find that veterans don't want that, they adapt to the environment."

He admitted you "learn a lot about yourself" by being on a boat for a prolonged period of time.

He told GB News: "It's physical, and sometimes sleep can also be a problem, so you learn a lot about yourself on a boat.

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"You learn a lot about other people, but more importantly yourself, particularly when there's a bit of fatigue involved."

Mr Miller revealed the ships sailed "anti-clockwise" despite advice to sail clockwise due to the weather conditions.

He explained: "There's a lot going on on these vessels. They're both replicas, one is 41 years old now and one is about is six years old. But now everything on that boat is human power, to get those sails up and down safely.

"And also, as we all know with the UK, the weather can be varied. We actually went around the UK anti-clockwise, and normally prevailing winds say you should do it clockwise, but for various events we had to go anti-clockwise."

Praising the efforts of the veterans, Mr Miller hailed the fundraisers for "enduring and meeting the challenge".

He concluded: "Obviously safety is paramount, but both vessels can sort of cope with high winds and some high seas. It's us, the soft squidgy things on the inside of the boats that we've got more concern for.

"The boats can cope with the weather, and we had everything, so everybody raised and met the challenge and endured and met their challenges."

To donate to Turn to Starboard's fundraising page, click here.

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