Chris Ayres

Chris Ayres is a sailor, climber & adventurer. For many years he was was a climbing and outdoor pursuits instructor and qualified “Guide de Haute Montagne” taking clients climbing, mountaineering and treking. This took him to many mountain ranges in different parts of the world. He confesses to always having a bit of travel bug. He hitch hiked to India many years ago. He came late to sailing, starting off on a friend’s boat but soon bought a small yacht and learnt how to be a sailor. He cruised the Irish sea around Anglesey, North Wales and from South Wales up to the Isle of Man, Lake District, Scotland and across to Ireland. One summer he circumnavigated Ireland. Later he sold his first boat and bought “Sea Bear” a Vancouver 28. On the point of being able to retire it dawned on him that maybe he could indeed set out to try and circumnavigate. This was a long, almost forgotten boyhood dream. So in August 2014 he set out single handed from the Menai Straits North Wales to cross Biscay to Spain. Thence to Portugal, Morocco, Canaries, then with crew to the Cape Verde Islands, and across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Spending two seasons in the Caribbean, ranging from Trinidad in the south up through the Windwards across to the British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Cayman islands and Jamaica and so to Panama. After exploring the San Blas islands, he passed though the Panama canal and then crossed the Pacific single handed by way of the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Tonga and so to New Zealand.