Compassion Magazine Winter 2022

Winter 2022 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 22 We were all very relieved when the fog lifted and we could see the red and green harbour lights. My niece, Ellen, was effectively promoted to first mate as she ably helped Dhara keep the course and read the charts for our entry into harbour. On day 4 in the evening, we sailed into the port of Tréguier, where we were welcomed by friends and partners who had travelled there from the UK as well as my children’s father and half-sister – and the creative crew that had been following our progress and doing their best to get film and photographic footage of us during our adventure. The idea behind this creative project – named ‘In his slipstream’ – is to make a film and photo essay that we can use to raise awareness about life- threatening mental health issues and spread the word about Blue Spirit. An online fundraiser (still open) was set up to raise funds for this project and has been successful enough to allow the team to reach the post-production stage. We hope that something beautiful will come of the footage of the trip and of the mini ‘fest noz’ (ceilidh) we held to celebrate Laury’s life, the interviews with the different people involved, portraits and some video diaries from the crossing. At the end of it all, I am proud that my family and friends and I managed to pull this project together and do something in memory of our amazing Laury. It has made my family closer and helped us understand another aspect of our son, brother, cousin, nephew. Personally speaking, even though sailing is probably not ‘my thing’, I now understand on a deeper level not only what the benefits of sailing are, but why Laury was so keen to get me to learn. Some of the crew of the Pelangi