Harrogate insurance man risks the Round the World yacht race

A Harrogate insurance underwriter who's never sailed before will set off on the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in less than two week's time.
Harrogate man Mick Husband in Gosport last week helping prepare the yacht for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.Harrogate man Mick Husband in Gosport last week helping prepare the yacht for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
Harrogate man Mick Husband in Gosport last week helping prepare the yacht for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

Mick Husband, 61, who lives in Killinghall, had no sailing experience whatsoever until he decided two years ago it was time to take on this epic and, possibly, dangerous challenge.

Mick said: “I’ve never sailed before but I want to show that, with the right training and, most importantly of all, the right attitude, it’s possible to achieve great things.”

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Currently in Gosport on the south coast getting his boat ready for the start of the race in Liverpool on August 20, Mick will be raising funds for Shooting Star Chase, a leading children’s hospice charity caring for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families.

His mammoth journey round the world by yacht is not something that Mick is taking lightly, nor his wife, Alison, nor their two daughters Anna and Lara.

The first man who achieved this heroic nautical feat was Sir Robin Knox Johnson who got the idea from Sir Chris Bonnington who got the idea from climbing Everest!

Mick said: “There are less people who have circumnavigated the globe by boat than have climbed Everest.

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“It just as much as much a challenge for Alison, as me. Because of the race, we will be apart for 11 months in total.”

Born and bred in Harrogate; Mick went to Harrogate Grammar School when a boy, he’s been in insurance underwriting all his life.

It’s been a successful career. At one point Mick was the chief underwriting officer for a US insurance company responsible for all the underwriting in Europe.

Still, in ten days time, Mick will be taking to the high seas in a 70-foot ocean racing yacht as a member of one of 12 Clipper teams in the race.

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Perhaps his love of a challenge comes from the years he and Alison spent living in the south, a time he now describes as “missionary work, trying to show the southerners how to live.”

Despite the long months apart and the obvious risks involved, Mick’s wife is entirely supportive of his efforts in the world’s greatest yacht race with trained amateur crew members skippered by a qualified professional.

Alison said: “It’s a huge challenge Mick is about to take on. To say I am proud of him would be an understatement.”

Mick has set up a JustGiving page for his charity Shooting Star Chase.

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