Former teacher turns daydream into epic sailing journey

The Venice trip was Sandy Mackinnon's second sailing trip in a Mirror dinghy across Europe

A teacher and author who turned a daydream into an epic sailing adventure said it showed anything is possible.

Former Ellesmere College teacher Sandy Mackinnon spent more than 170 days helming his small dinghy from the Black Sea to Venice.

He finished his journey on 22 September with thousands of people following his exploits on Facebook.

Mr Mackinnon, 60, said he had no plans for another adventure but added he would never say never.

The Australian moved to Shropshire to teach at Ellesmere College during the 1990s and first had the itch for adventure while at the school.

He left his post in 1997 and borrowed a small Mirror dinghy which he sailed to Romania.

He turned the journey into a book, The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, but said he did not imagine he would revisit the escapade several decades later.

"About 10 years ago I stood in Venice, looked out at the lagoon and had a very vivid daydream of a little red sail coming across it," he said.

He was lent the dinghy, renamed Jack de Crow, for his adventure from Romania to Venice

An acquaintance let him borrow a near-identical Mirror dinghy which was renamed Jack de Crow and the pair drove it to Romania where he ended the previous journey.

The boat was only 3.3m (9.8ft) long so Mr Mackinnon said he only took a change of clothes, a tin whistle, camping and safety equipment and a bag of magic tricks which "were a good way of breaking the ice".

Every night, as he sailed across the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, he moored in harbours and found guesthouses or camped on a beach.

"People were extraordinary kind, hospitable, friendly and really interested," he said.

"They'd do a double take when I said I'd come from Romania, then look at me and grin and want to know all about it."

Along the way he said he survived capsizing in high seas off the coast of Bulgaria, being washed close to rocks another time and when parts of his dinghy, including the rudder, broke.

"There were five or six times when bits of the boat broke and almost to a comic level, within two hours or any bit of it breaking, it was being mended by some friendly local fisherman or expert."

Sandy Mackinnon said the people he met in person or online during his journey were "extraordinary kind"

His godson set up a Facebook page for people to follow his updates which Mr Mackinnon said was "very different from the first trip when I did not even have a mobile phone".

"The number of supportive comments were great and it also had a practical element as people on yachts nearby would get in touch to meet up."

"One thing which really struck me along the way was I thought, to be honest, if you can do this, anything is possible," he said.

"I'm average in every way, not a Bear Grylls, but I thought, if I can do this, I can do anything I set my mind to."