About Me
My name is Jonny Moore and I am currently 16 years old. I have been sailing since I was 10, but I`d had some previous experience of being on the water, with my parents in Canadian canoes, which we sailed with an improvised rig in the Lake District, and also on the west coast of Scotland. After I joined Kendal Sea Cadets at the age of 10, I really got into sailing, as I was given the opportunity to spend every Monday evening sailing dinghies at Killington reservoir with the cadets. It must have been apparent that I was really enjoying sailing, as for my 12th birthday I received a Mirror dinghy, off my parents, but the problem was that she had a very large hole in the bottom.
Undeterred, I spent the whole of that winter (with lots of help from my dad) rebuilding her and making her fit to sail. I spent many happy hours sailing her, but longed for something big enough to sail for an extended period of time. So, in 2005, we bought Casulen II, a Corribee 21, and spent the autumn of 05 rebuilding her, and then the winter of 05/06 sailing her on lake Windermere. As neither my dad nor myself really felt that we knew what we were doing, the plan was to move her onto Loch Lomond for the 2006 season before moving her onto the sea. However, it was at about this time that I first came up with the idea of sailing single-handed around Britain, so we made the decision to moor Casulen II in the upper Clyde, just opposite Helensburgh in order that I would be able to gain as much experience of sailing on the sea as possible. In the 2006 season, the learning curve was steep and, as the summer holidays approached, we planned to spend three weeks sailing on the west coast of Scotland. These plans became more and more ambitious, and we ended up sailing from Helensburgh, up the west coast, around Cape Wrath and through the Pentland Firth, then returning via the Caledonian and Crinan canals.
After this trip was over, I went straight down to the south coast and joined the T.S. Royalist, the Sea Cadet’s 78-foot tall ship. I spent a week on board, sailing out of Weymouth, along the coast as far as Gosport before returning. From here, it was straight to the UKSA in Cowes, where I had been invited to spend two weeks “work experience”. This was a really interesting end to the summer holidays, and I also made some good friends whilst there. I was also lucky enough to be able to complete my Day skipper qualification on board Outreach II, a Sweden 39.
During the October half term, we were going to sail Casulen II down to North Wales. However, once we were out of the relative shelter of the Clyde, the weather took a turn for the worst.
Whilst the south coast was getting battered by 100 mph winds from the southwest, we were battling force 6-7 headwinds and ended up stormbound in Stranraer, where we spent two days before deciding that we would have to lift out there as we had run out of time.
Over the winter of 2006, Casulen II had a major rebuild in order to further prepare her for my forthcoming trip. Many of the jobs completed are shown in the technical section for anybody interested. I also attended night school every Monday between October and Easter in order to gain my RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased qualification.
For the 2007 season, Casulen II was launched in Pwhelli harbour at the beginning of May and sailed to her mooring near Abersoch. Over the following months, many trips were undertaken in and around Cardigan bay, and we continued to learn, but this time about sandbars, fast-flowing and shallow estuaries and bigger waves. In May, I was fortunate enough to be invited to sail on Polar Bear, formerly Dee Caffari’s Aviva, across from Newcastle to Bergen in Norway. 
This only served to reinforce my ambitions to sail big boats single-handed. I NEED to do the Vendeé Globe!!! The summer of 2007 will not be remembered for it’s steady winds and good weather! We spent the summer holidays attempting to sail as far as Cowes, but were held back by the weather conditions and had to turn back once we reached Fowey, as we were running out of time. However, once again, some valuable lessons were learned. Since purchasing Casulen II, we have covered around 3000 nautical miles around the coasts of England, Scotland and Wales, and I now feel that I am as ready as I can be for the 2008 season. Casulen II is once more off the water, and, the next time she is launched it will not be long before I am setting off. Two years ago, my trip seemed a long way away. Now it’s just around the corner. I’ve got to get through my GCSE’s first though…but then…
Jonny