Swapping supercars and the open road for sail power

In the latest instalment of his monthly motoring column, the Virgin Radio DJ and ‘most hugged man in Britain’ swaps four wheels for something altogether calmer.

Scroll through our gallery of pictures above to see more of Christian's latest adventures...

Christian writes: I ended last month’s column saying how much I’d enjoyed my year ‘at the helm’, writing this motoring column for the County Press.

Christian recently ended up taking the helm - literally!

Little did I know that I’d be taking it literally a few days later. For the helm is exactly what I’ve been behind as I swapped the open road for the open seas.

Ever since I worked at the East Cowes Marina as a summer job back in my teens I’ve wanted to know how to sail, and how to sail properly.

So instead of disappearing to a green-list location on holiday I decided to take the plunge (not literally I hoped) and enlist on a day skipper course to ensure I knew my jib from my jibe (or gybe).

I’ve got an extricable pull to the water since growing up on the Island and living in London it’s pretty clear that the Thames doesn’t cut it. It may look blue on the opening credits of EastEnders but I can promise you that it’s anything but. So swapping the big smoke for the Island coastline and The Solent was a no-brainer.

Of course, while I’m always desperate to learn new things it’s a long time since I took an exam. And this course wasn’t a cruise (*weak pun intended).

It was five days theory and five days practical, with a barrage of questions along the way, so while I initially thought I could be sat at the back with a beer in mind watching Turner-esque sunsets the reality was anything but.

The theory is all about map work (thankfully not mop work) and works on the premise that despite all the boats being kitted out with state-of-the-art satellite tracking you need to know how to navigate without modern-day assistance. It’s a bit like turning off traction control and sat-nav in the car, then covering the windscreen.

Admittedly I really enjoyed this part until it came to night-sailing when the skipper gave me a set of coordinates and said for me to take him there.

Is it Portsmouth? No, it's a passing tanker!

A few minutes later he asked me to identify the lights in the distance. “Aaah, unless I’m mistaken that’s Portsmouth,” I said confidently. I was mistaken, it was a passing tanker which looked about the size of a small city as it went by.

It’s incredible how different things look when some of your normal senses are taken away from you, but after you understand the language of the sea there’s nothing more satisfying.

There are rules, and plenty of them, but once you learn the signposts and symbols the sense of freedom on the open water is indescribable. No traffic jams, no road rage (or the sea equivalent) and not a petrol station forecourt in sight.

By the time I’d got my sea legs it was time to get back to terra firma, yet there was no time for rest and recuperation as it was straight to the airstrip and a drag race with YouTube motoring sensation Shmee. I’ll let you know more about that next month, but safe to say it was a wake-up call going from 15 knots to 150mph!

But what a week I’d had. My day job is giving away dream cars with BOTB, my weekend job is speaking to the nation on Virgin Radio, but I can honestly say that any spare time I have around the edge will be spent on the water.

Here’s to another month in paradise, land-lubbers!