Sunday 20th July 2008 and Thursday 24th July 2008

The Sailors’ Society was delighted when Ben Fogle agreed to present the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the Society.

The Sailors’ Society was keen to have a presenter who understood life at sea and the isolation that can be felt on the ocean. Ben Fogle was the obvious choice to make our Appeal as he had experienced isolation on the remote Scottish island of Taransay and had contended with the rigours of the sea when he rowed the Atlantic with James Cracknell. Ben spent a year on the island of Taransay as part of the BBC’s Millennium Project Castaway 2000. He was marooned with a small group of people who had to fend for themselves with little contact with the outside world, experiencing the isolation of separation from loved ones.

Ben described his experience of rowing across the Atlantic with Olympic oarsman, James Cracknell, in just a twenty foot boat as both terrible and wonderful. It took the two of them two months rowing in two-hour shifts battling the ocean, the weather, and the currents. They suffered dehydration, hunger, isolation, and homesickness in their quest to row the Atlantic.

Ben Fogle

Whilst at University in Portsmouth Ben enrolled as an Officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, as a Midshipman. He then spent several years in Latin America, before volunteering in the year 2000 to be marooned on Taransay, a remote windswept island in the Outer Hebrides as part of the BBC’s big millennium project Castaway 2000.

Ben has since become well known as the presenter of numerous television programmes including Animal Park, Countryfile, Wild in Africa, and Extreme Dreams. He has written several books, including The Crossing, Conquering the Atlantic in the World’s Toughest Rowing Race co written by James Cracknell, and has written for newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, the Sun, Country life, the Evening Standard and more.

Ben’s sporting achievements have included completing the Marathon Des Sables and setting the British pairs record when he rowed across the Atlantic Ocean with Double Olympic oarsman, James Cracknell, in 49 days. Ben and his wife Marina also recently set the world record for sailing from Portsmouth to Cork in the Big V sailing race in just 49 hours.

Donate here

Dates/times

Sunday 20th July 2008       7.55am and 9.26pm
Thursday 24th July 2008     3.27pm

Frequencies: 92.5 – 94.8 fm depending upon where you live

For more information, call Helen Alexander on 023 8051 5959