I would like to share something personal.

In July I had my 55th birthday. Recently there have been times I felt I may not have seen this birthday. Fortunately I have, and the future looks brighter than ever. And it shines a light on why the Sail4life organisation is so important.

When I fell ill and was diagnosed with cancer, my life fell to pieces. I lost my ability to work, my business had to close. I was crushed physically, mentally and financially. My connection to my friends and community disappeared, and I lost my identity, assuming a new one as a cancer patient - nothing else. Cancer treatment is hard and consumes you. I was lucky: I had an amazing care team, a promising prognosis, and the support of my loving family and close friends. I got through it.

What I didn’t know or expect was that following my treatment I found myself lost. I was no longer a cancer patient. I was lost, and I found this more confronting and difficult than everything which had gone before.

As a critical thinker and problem solver, I turned my thoughts toward rebuilding myself, re-finding my identity and becoming a new - and hopefully better - me. I was also aware I was not alone with these issues. A great many who endure the challenges of cancer find themselves in the same situation, with the same sense of loss and the need to rediscover themselves and rebuild their confidence and belief in themselves.

Sailing is what I know. Sailing is what I am passionate about. I know the positives it can offer.

Aside from the physical activity aspect, it offers a tremendous sense of accomplishment. It makes you realise just how much you are capable of. The feeling of making an inanimate object floating on water move forward using nothing more than wind is an amazing experience. Completing a long voyage or a major event can make one feel an incredible sense of achievement and create memories which last forever. Being a team sport, it also involves you within a community, a community with shared passion and the ability to open doors to new opportunities and experiences outside the sailing sphere.

Sail4life was founded with the ideals that these powerful positive attributes could improve the lives of those affected by cancer. The charity may give them a way forward along a path they have never considered, and in the long-term not only re-find themselves but discover a new passion for their future.

Some would have you believe that sailing is a sport only for the privileged few. This is not the reality. Boat ownership is expensive and not within the reach of many of us, but participation as a crew member is accessible to anyone with the willingness to do so. As a sailing friend's father likes to proclaim, “sailing is not for everybody, but it is for anybody”

Sail4Life sees the truth in this proclamation and exists to help those “anybodies” who want to set sail into their future.

Peter Rechenberg,

Co-founder/director - Sail4Life limited