Biography:Sailmaker Andrew Bedwell has been involved with boats pretty much all his life, starting off in his parents' Class 4 offshore race boat at the age of six months! His parents also owned a marine shop, so not unexpectedly, boating became infused throughout his childhood. Up to the age of 20 it was mainly powerboats and zapcats, but since then almost exclusively sailing boats. Initially Andrew was racing sports boats, then doing deliveries. The last 10 years or so have seen him concentrating on long solo offshore passages, also raising money for charities - most notably a solo voyage from Whitehaven around Iceland and back, and around Britain in a 21 ft yacht. Andrew's next project aims to break the record for the shortest boat to cross the Atlantic, in a vessel of around a metre long!
As one of Team Britannia's competition winners, Andrew will be a crew member on one of the round the world legs, and with his extensive offshore boating experience, he'll make an ideal watch keeper. |
