I was due to fly to South Korea for the first PWA slalom event of the season. So I was left with a tricky decision to make. Do I pay £2,500 for a ticket into what BBC news was calling ‘the most dangerous country to visit in the world at the moment’, with the Mexican style stand-off between North and South Korea looking like it could all kick off at the drop of a hat, or, do I jump in my newly kitted-out camper van – built especially for these types of missions – and score some of the best uncrowded UK conditions available with a few chums, safe in the knowledge the only bombs I could be on the receiving end of would be of the cold, wet northern Atlantic persuasion? Clearly it wasn’t a hard choice to make!
The fact Timo Mullen had left Maui after being there for just a few days just so he could get back to the UK in time for this swell defies belief. I don’t think there are many sailors who would trade in sailing in shorts on Maui – a warm-water paradise – for a 6 mm wetsuit, boots and gloves.
