Damian Foxall Round the World

Watching Damian Foxall the heroic round the world Irish sailor tonight on the Late Late show made me think of my career sailing the oceans. When I say that I sailed the oceans it is technically true, I did sail across the atlantic and pacific a couple of times but I was lucky enough to do it in the comfort of one of the finest boats ever to be made, the 100 metre Tatoosh. For those of you who dont know I worked for Billionaires for a few years as a personal chef but that is a whole different story.

What annoys me so much is that in this modern modern day world of celebrity culture any old randomer who lives in a house for 12 weeks or happens to be a good gardener is propelled to ridiculous heights whereas people with real talents and huge courage like Damian are not given the respect they deserve. Let me tell you something...Sitting in the middle of the ocean on any sort of boat, yet alone a a 60 foot flimsy craft as sailed by Damian is very very fucking scary! The nearest land mass can be 1000s of miles away, the waves crashing over the boat and you are feeling as sick as a dog, you are literally totally and utterly alone! Well Damian was in that situation whereas I was in a similar situation but had the luxury of 6 engineers to fix any mechanical issues, Facebook access via internet, 3 chefs, a cinema, beer and a double bed. It is very hard to explain just how hard it is sail under the situations that Damian Foxall faced day in day out and most people will never understand what it is like (it can best be discribed as going to work tomorrow, staying there for 3 months, getting drenched every 5 minutes, getting very cold, going to the gym every 3 hours, sleeping very little, eating hydrated food, feeling like you have the flu constantly, non stop concentration, not seeing another person, missing your loved ones and not having a change of underwear)so that is why this man needs to be rewarded beyond the 15 minutesd of fame his achievements will receive.

I would love it if our culture changed and we could reward people like Damian Foxall as they should be rather than making huge stars out of peoople who have no evident ability and whose only talent is not wearing underwear on a night out!