About us

Cyclone has a crew of two - Rob and Jo.

Jo, as you're likely to spot her...

Rob enjoying a summer sail

Rob's introduction to sailing, back in 2001, was a trip from Portsmouth to Cowes on a friend's Westerly Konsort. Supping whisky under the stars in the boat's cockpit, Rob decided that sailing was definitely for him. RYA Day Skipper courses followed and, before long, Rob was the novice skipper of a similar boat.

Jo had the misfortune of being introduced to sailing by that novice skipper. She would have abandoned ship at the first landfall had it not been for the presence there of two friends - Graham and Nikki - who provided dinner and solace. After a number of sometimes fraught and less than ideal trips, Jo sadly concluded that sailing was not for her.

Our Konsort (Shindy IV - where is she now?) was sold early in 2005 as Rob tired of singlehanding.

Shindy with her new owners

We remained boatless until, in late 2009, Jo said she was ready to give sailing another chance. A fantastic trial sail convinced us that Cyclone of Langstone was the boat we wanted and we've happily sailed her more than 6,000 miles since.

Rob and Jo have always believed in the maxim "work to live" rather than "live to work". Aged 53 with no offspring to worry about and the mortgage paid off, Rob jumped at the offer of voluntary redundancy (his second!) and a modest compensation payment. The (younger) Jo was delighted to be able to hand in her notice and a new chapter of our lives beckoned........