Born in 1945 James taught himself to sail at the age of 6 in Cornwall. He then raced dinghies progressing from Enterprises to Flying Dutchman and 505s. After University he built dinghies and raced Flying Dutchman up to Olympic standards. He participated (by invitation) in the trials for the 1968 Olympics.

He then moved into larger boats, including a 63 foot Seine Pilot Cutter and working on a trawler. He has clocked up a total of over 50,000 miles although he has never done any long (over 400 miles) non stop passages.

He bought his present Nicholson 32, Araminta of Hythe, jointly with his son Henry in 2001 which is the boat in which they intend to do the AZAB. CLICK HERE TO EMAIL JAMES.

Henry Walker

Born in 1977 Henry was taught to sail at the age of 5. He mainly sailed dinghies until he did the Tall Ships Race to St Petersburgh in 1995. After that he sailed a variety of boats doing deliveries and a number of races.

After qualifying as an accountant he took six months off to deliver a new catamaran from Cape Town to the Miami Boat Show, a distance of around 6,500 miles. Henry has cruised Araminta extensively in the Channel and down to Brittany and the Channel Islands, including some single-handed passages.

He also owns a Boss twin trapeze dinghy which he races when not sailing Araminta.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL HENRY.