With Rhondda’s decline and passing, my world as I knew it, fell apart. I needed a way, a means, a focus to cope with my grief. Defiant became this focus. I couldn’t undertake the momentous task of re-commissioning and then sailing Defiant alone, so I began the search for a crew member.

I advertised on “Find a crew”, a website for sailors.

After sifting through the wannabes, pretend sailors, the dateless and desperate - Lisa from Queensland applied to crew. Lisa was one of the few that that could actually sail, use power tools, and put in the effort required to get Defiant up and running again.

Lisa joined the boat in November 2009 and immediately started work to prepare Defiant for sea. We added a scoop on the back, replaced all the decktread, every exterior and interior surface repainted. The new gennaker in the sail wardrobe is still waiting to fly. We completely refitted the interior and met with many obstacles and equipment failures along the way.

The Big Dream for me is to sail to Antarctica and when I first met Lisa I was unaware that this was her Big Dream also. So follow the photos of our journey in making this dream happen, never forgetting along the way Rhondda and the sadness of her not seeing Defiant blossom.