Having been given just months to live, Jazz Turner sailed a solo circumnavigation around Britain. She explains why – and how – to Helen FretterOn June 29 a lifeboat crew was attending a multicoloured little yacht that had run hard aground off Folkestone, on the south-east corner of England, in the early hours of the morning.
\nThe yacht was a 27ft Albin Vega, sitting high and dry on the rocks, and its skipper a petite young sailor called Jazz Turner, who was in the closing stages of a solo circumnavigation of Britain \u2013 and also happens to use a wheelchair to get about on land.
\nAt first glance, Turner and the Albin\u2019s situation looked hopeless: the yacht would surely require towing off, the single-handed skipper would surely require assistance.
\nBut the rescue crews were asked not to intervene. Jazz and her team had a plan, and she was going to get herself and her yacht out of this predicament on her own.
\nDespite her limited mobility Turner was able to kedge off and refloat after dragging first a bow and then a stern anchor out across the rocks.
\nIt was a remarkable act of seamanship by any standards, but Turner spent hours crawling across the slippery shoreline, hauling anchors and chain that weighed nearly as much as her own 40kg frame, then pulling in on the stern anchor lines by hand to get the yacht\u2019s rudders back into deeper water.
\nIt worked, the Albin refloated \u2013 relatively unscathed \u2013 and Turner went on to complete one of the most incredible sailing achievements of recent years.
\nTurner\u2019s yacht Fear aground just before her voyage end. Photo: Project Fear
\nFace everything and rise
\nJazz Turner\u2019s solo sailing circumnavigation was named Project Fear, and her beloved Albin is named Fear, for \u2018face everything and rise\u2019.
\nIt\u2019s an apt sentiment, as Turner has faced more adversity than most. She was initially drawn to sailing quite by chance \u2013 a school friend had been given a voucher for a day\u2019s sailing experience as a birthday present, but the typical English summer weather was uninviting, cold and wet.
\nWhen her friend didn\u2019t want to go, Turner jumped at the chance, and realised instantly that she loved it. She began dinghy sailing aged 13 at her local club, Newhaven & Seaford SC.
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t afford my own boat, so I walked down to the club every Sunday morning, on Wednesday evenings after school. I\u2019d go around the dinghy park and ask people if I could go sailing with them.
\n\u201cEventually they brought down a Topper for me from our club inland site, which I raced and learned to sail that way,\u201d she recalls. From the Topper she progressed to the Laser (now ILCA) at Weir Wood SC, and helmed a double-handed Fireball dinghy.
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However, the sailing clubs weren\u2019t just a source of fun. Turner had an unstable home life, often moving around, and finally left home as a teenager.
\nFellow Fireball racer and friend Chris Turner realised Jazz\u2019s situation and took her in \u2013 later formally adopting her. Sailing had not only given Jazz a passion and an outlet, but it also brought her a new family.
\nJazz Turner approaches Brighton to complete her around Britain adventure. Photo: Ingrid Abery
\nRemarkable story
\nBut that was far from the end of Turner\u2019s remarkable story.
\nDue to her chaotic childhood, Turner had never had some unusual medical symptoms investigated. Chris Turner\u2019s wife, Carolyn, is a GP and realised that some of the conditions Jazz lived with \u2013 frequently dislocating joints and unexplained allergies \u2013 needed proper diagnosis.
\nThat diagnosis was Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome; a genetic, progressive condition, which affects connective tissue throughout the body, and over the years the condition has increased in severity.
\nOn land Turner uses a wheelchair, as it\u2019s painful to bear weight and she is liable to falling. Gastro-intestinal failure means her digestive system struggles to process food and drink.
\nJazz has raced in a wide range of dinghy fleets including the RS200. Photo: c\/o Jazz Turner
\nHer foster dad, Chris, explained to our sister title PBO: \u201cShe also has a Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) condition which means her heart rate goes through the roof; assistance dog Phoebe tells her to sit down before she passes out.
\n\u201cWhen sailing she has a clever watch, which gives her a shorter warning of five minutes.\u201d
\nIn December Jazz was told her condition had become terminal, and she had months to live. She was just 26.
\n\u201cThey offered her a bed at the hospice but she\u2019s a 26-year-old who wants to live life to the full. She might die quicker doing so but she\u2019d rather do that than be in a hospice with tubes \u2013 that\u2019s a jail sentence,\u201d Chris explained.
\nLiving every day
\nLiving life to the fullest for Turner was always going to involve sailing.
\nDetermined to continue despite her worsening physical symptoms, she had previously begun sailing Paralympic and adaptive classes, such as the 2.4mR and RS Venture. \u201cI found out that I wouldn\u2019t classify: even if sailing was re-included in the Paralympics I wouldn\u2019t be able to go because my disability isn\u2019t eligible.
\nRacing in a Dart 15. Photo: c\/o Jazz Turner
\n\u201cI wanted to chase something similar to the Paralympics and still feel like I had a focus, so I switched over to big boats,\u201d Jazz Turner recalls.
\n\u201cBut I was struggling to get opportunities crewing because people were scared of my wheelchair or scared of my disability. I was getting really frustrated. So I decided I\u2019d get my own boat with the intention of potentially racing it or taking on some bigger challenge.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t necessarily know what that challenge was: I just knew I needed my own boat.\u201d
\nSonar keelboat sailing in the Solent. Photo: c\/o Jazz Turner
\nChasing a dream
\nTurner had a total budget of \u00a310,000 and bought the 1970s Albin for \u00a36,000, leaving scant funds for the total overhaul required.
\n\u201cShe was pretty unmodified from when she was first built. She didn\u2019t really have any modern electronics; it was all original winches, original rigging, original wiring.
\n\u201cI had to totally rebuild her from the ground up,\u201d Turner recalls.
\nInitially the shoestring refit was carried out by friends and family, but as Jazz\u2019s plans crystalised into an around Britain challenge, more and more companies in the marine industry began to support her and she was able to make upgrades, including new sails and electronics.
\nMinor adaptations were made for her mobility: all lines are led to the centre cockpit, and fear sails downwind with a goosewinged jib rather than a spinnaker.
\n\u201cOther than putting up the jib pole, there was no need to go on the foredeck at all,\u201d she explains. \u201cThen I have a series of straps that hold me onto the windward side of the boat, as well as a lot of handholds and extra supports so I could pull myself around using my body and not be reliant on my legs.\u201d
\nTurner also competed in Para sailing classes, including the SV 14. Photo: c\/o Jazz Turner
\nIt wasn\u2019t until late 2024 that Jazz knew whether a truly solo sailing adventure would even be possible.
\n\u201cIt was nearing December when I finally did my first solo, solo sail. Up to that point I\u2019d always had someone else on board as a backup.
\n\u201cI went out, past Dover and back. It was a lot, but it was good. That was when I realised I was actually going to attempt this solo, non-stop and unassisted.\u201d
\nAround Britain
\nTurner and Fear set off on their round Britain challenge on 2 June from Brighton marina.
\nIt did not go well. \u201cIt was a brutal start, properly brutal. I had 20 knots of south-westerly, upwind, that didn\u2019t drop for the first four days,\u201d Jazz Turner recalls. \u201cEverything, everything, that could have broken did break.
\n\u201cIt was exhausting physically, and very exhausting emotionally \u2013 because I thought we\u2019d done loads of sailing to test everything, and then things were still breaking. I genuinely thought we\u2019d be forced to turn around. I remember I was off Poole and my electronic compass had stopped working.
\nShowing true grit turner refloated the boat herself during her Round Britain. Photo: Project Fear
\nI was on the phone to my parents and dad said, \u2018Look, it\u2019s okay. You can come home. You can start again. We\u2019ll start you again next week.\u2019
\n\u201cAnd everything in me wanted me to say yes, but all I could shout down on the phone was \u2018no!\u2019 \u2013 and then hang up on him, because how could he even say that? That was when I realised I was going to push on no matter what. It just might nearly kill me.\u201d
\nWhen Jazz says the challenge might kill her, she\u2019s not talking purely metaphorically. Maintaining body temperature and processing food are among the vital physical functions disrupted by Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and even harder offshore.
\nAnother complication is that her joints easily dislocate. \u201cWithout being able to brace my legs, I get thrown around an awful lot. Physically, that is massively exhausting and painful, but all my joints dislocate. So every time I get knocked, a joint falls out and I have to put it back in.
\n\u201cIf I do a tack wrong or something, I can knock my hip out, knock several fingers out. And then once the boat\u2019s on the new tack, I\u2019ve got to reattach and relocate all those joints and carry on sailing.
\n\u201cIt happens daily, so I\u2019m used to it, but it doesn\u2019t stop it from hurting. And I couldn\u2019t take most of the pain relief because of the risks with drowsiness.\u201d
\nSailing Round Britain
\nOver the top
\nDespite the rough start, Turner carried on. After nearly two weeks at sea, she realised she\u2019d fallen into a rhythm.
\n\u201cIt was passing Fastnet rock on day 11. When I first started out in yachting, it was a Fastnet race year and I\u2019d applied to loads of boats to do the race. I\u2019d been turned down from each one \u2013 basically being told by teams that my disability was too complex and they couldn\u2019t support me.
\n\u201cSo passing Fastnet was one of those moments where I suddenly thought we actually might pull this off!\u201d
\nFear was flying and the passage up the west coast of Scotland proved an unexpected treat. \u201cIt was really enjoyable. We had a breeze behind us pretty much the whole time, about 20 knots, just surfing down waves. So we made it to St Kilda by day 14, which was a lot faster than planned.\u201d
\nGoing into the challenge, Turner hadn\u2019t set herself an end goal. \u201cI didn\u2019t set any expectations because I really didn\u2019t know how long things would take \u2013 I never actually planned the second half of my route because I never thought I\u2019d ever make it that far!\u201d she recalls.
\nTurner\u2019s yacht Fear aground. Photo: Project Fear
\nSecond half
\nThe return leg proved not so kind. \u201cIt was horrific. I thought by the point we were heading south, the worst had to be over. But the east coast and North Sea lived up to its reputation. A short, sharp, chop that was uncomfortable to sail through.
\n\u201cNot nice for the boat, not nice for me, not good for the autopilot. That combined with the fact that you were having to slalom between oil rigs, tankers, and wind farms. It was pretty bloody miserable.\u201d
\nTurner had onshore weather routing from Paralympian and offshore racer Hannah Stodel, and would check in twice a day via satellite communication.
\n\u201cBut a lot was just a case of keep going. There\u2019s a massive storm coming? Reef, tough it out, carry on. Because once I\u2019d turned south, there weren\u2019t any anchorages I could get into and out of under sail alone.
\n\u201cI think we saw 52 knots at one point in the North Sea. I was quite far offshore, and it was just a massive squall that came through. I was fully reefed and just drifted on the poles. But I had complete faith in Fear.
\nTurner is reunited with her parents, Chris and Carolyn, at the end of her circumnavigation. Photo: Fergus Kennedy
\n\u201cShe didn\u2019t let me down in the slightest. She\u2019s a bomb-proof little thing.\u201d
\nThe only point Jazz\u2019s challenge was in true jeopardy was that grounding the night before she finished. \u201cI was essentially drifting because there was no wind and an awful lot of tides. So I went inside to check the chartplotter, and I must have fallen asleep.
\n\u201cThe next thing I know, all the alarms were going off and I can see I\u2019m in less than a metre of water. I throw myself out the companionway, look up to see the cliff, then chuck the rudder over to try and tack out to sea. But we\u2019d hit and it was too late.\u201d
\nAfter calling her family and team she formulated the strategy of using anchors to winch herself out.
\nEven getting on and off the beached yacht required some quick thinking. \u201cThe boat was high and dry, on its side. So I was able to slide off the front. I had on board a long piece of rope with a load of knots in, so I tied that onto the windward guardrail, and then I could pull myself back on board by pulling myself up the knots on the rope.\u201d
\nAshore after her circumnavigation. Photo: Fergus Kennedy
\nSuccess recognised
\nJazz Turner completed her round Britain by sailing back into Brighton marina on 30 June after 28 days and 2,070 miles of sailing. She became the first disabled person to sail around the British Isles solo and unsupported.
\nHuge crowds turned out to greet her, her adventure having drawn the support of sailing A-listers including Ben Ainslie, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Pip Hare, and Ian Walker.
\nThe achievement took a while to sink in. \u201cThis project started as nothing more than something to keep me going at a time where I didn\u2019t really see any hope or any future for myself,\u201d she reflects.
\n\u201cIt was very much a personal challenge. The fact that it has inspired so many people to believe they can do more than what\u2019s expected of them \u2013 that\u2019s a great bonus.\u201d
\nHowever, Turner is not done adventuring yet. \u201cI think i\u2019m going to attempt a transatlantic in fear next year. I learned a lot while I was out there,\u201d she said. She is also seeking sponsorship to compete in the RWYC\u2019s 2026 Worldstar Solo Round The World Race.
\n\u201cPretty much immediately afterwards, it\u2019s been, \u2018oh, what can I do next?\u2019 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The post Inside Jazz Turner\u2019s solo circumnavigation around Britain appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Having been given just months to live, Jazz Turner sailed a solo circumnavigation around Britain. She explains why – and how – to Helen FretterOn June 29 a lifeboat crew was attending a multicoloured little yacht that had run hard … <\/p>\n