We recently caught up with Andy Johnston, a retired company director whose life has been anything but ordinary. Beyond his career, he worked as a professional scuba diving instructor and volunteered as a firefighter, and he continues to serve his community as a Community First Responder with Yorkshire Ambulance. Now, Andy is preparing for his greatest adventure yet, training for the ultimate bucket-list challenge: the Clipper Round the World Sailing Race.
Andy’s embarking on this incredible challenge with one goal in mind…well two… to complete his leg of the race (hopefully the fastest!) and to raise £10,000 for Just ‘B’ who supported his son, Thomas following the death of his mum and Andy’s wife – Sarah.
Sarah heartbreakingly died seven years ago of an aggressive form of lung cancer just 300 days after she was diagnosed. Thomas was just 12 at the time.
Talking about his son, Thomas, and the journey after losing his mum, Andy said;
“Thomas is 19 now, and without Just ‘B’ I don’t know where we would be. The support they gave him, I believe stopped my son going off the rails. He really struggled to get into school for about 18 months after Sarah died. He was upset, angry and he felt his life was over because his mum had died. He didn’t see the point of carrying on and trying to achieve anything.
“Fast forward and Thomas is now thriving at University in Liverpool, he plays cricket and ultimate frisbee and has even taken up running. This is the incredibly shy teenager that I know, and yet, suddenly there’s this confidence in him that’s so lovely to see. I’m so proud of him.”
Never heard of the Clipper Around the World Sailing Race? Let us fill you in…
The Clipper Race is a challenging event where participants race around the world in different yachts with sails, not engines. The race, starting in Portsmouth and ending there after 11 months, covers about 70,000 miles across various continents. The race is divided into legs, with each leg lasting about four to six weeks. Andy plans to use his advanced medical training as a medic on the boat and will join the race in Seattle on April 26 2026, sailing to Panama and then to Washington, D.C.
Talking about the selection process for the race, Andy said;
“At 55 I knew I was going to try and retire, but I didn’t know what I was going to do with my time, so I thought I’d learn to sail. I learnt to sail in this 28 ft yacht with a keel and a couple of sails on Windermere at around 53 and that was going to be the apex of my sailing ambition.
“I saw an advert for the Clipper Around the World Sailing Race, and I thought, I’m going to apply for that because I’ve got no chance of getting selected at my age and serious lack of fitness at the time. After COVID and lockdown, I had symptoms of long COVID for about 18 months, so this challenge is a really good excuse to get fit again, because I put probably four or five stone on over that three year period.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime especially at my age, to prove that when you’re in your mid 50s, you’re not finished.”
About Andy…
Andy is adventurous by nature and has led a very active life which makes this challenge the perfect fit for him. Originally from Liverpool, Andy moved to Harrogate in 1997 after meeting his first wife Sarah. He started a new career as a scuba diving instructor and following his training he worked in the Caribbean, before returning home to start a relationship with Sarah.
On his return, Andy opened a scuba diving center in Leeds which he ran for nine years. He then joined North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service as a part-time firefighter after he experienced a flood and realised how short they were out in the villages of retained firefighters.
Andy stepped away from firefighting in 2017 to care for his wife and to focus more on the side of his business that provided safety and medical services for film and television. His work has taken him onto sets of productions such as The King’s Speech and popular series including Heartbeat, Emmerdale, and Peaky Blinders.
Over the course of his busy career, Andy’s medical training has developed from basic first aid, learned during his scuba diving days, to advanced trauma skills gained as a firefighter. He has since built on this foundation with specialist training, qualifying him to carry out advanced interventions such as tracheotomies and chest decompressions for pneumothorax.
Andy met his current wife Mandy, following an introduction by a mutual friend shortly before lockdown. The pair took the plunge during the pandemic and moved in together to enable them to spend time together and they married in Harrogate in June 2023.
Andy said; “Mandy is quite an amazing person. I do feel blessed that I have met in my life two phenomenal women that I’ve been lucky enough to spend my life with, and Mandy’s incredible. She’s a force of nature. She really is.
“I’ve promised Mandy that I won’t do anything reckless and silly that potentially could get me killed. The leg that I’m doing is the most sensible and the safest, but it’s still not without its hazard.”
Is the Clipper challenge a ‘fair’ race?
Obviously, the aim is to win the yacht race, but how feasible really is it? Talking about the logistics of the race Andy said;
“By the time I’ve done three levels of training, the organisers of the race will have looked at the people who have trained up to that point, and they try and place you with people who are all of a similar sort of level on each boat, because they want it to be a fair race.
“They don’t want one boat full of old crocs who can’t sail and can’t climb the rigging. They want 11 equally matched boats, so it’s a real competition. All the boats are identical, and then hopefully all the abilities across the demographic of the cruise are all going to be similar.
“Each of the 11 legs within it has several races and on each race of each leg, there are 30 – 40 points for the winning boat, and then it drops down to no points for the last boat.
“There are sections of each leg where there’ll be a sprint between two geographical points on a map, and the first three boats to win that sprint will get an extra three, two and one point. It’s possible in each part of each race you can win 13 points, or you could win nothing.
“For the last race, there was literally two points between the winning boat and the boat that came second. So, there was jeopardy, literally up to the last day of that race, after 11 months of who was going to win it. It wasn’t as if someone won it by 3040 points and everyone gave up.”
How much do you want to win Andy?
Taking on this incredible challenge is a huge commitment both financially and physically, we know you have the same burning question as we do…Andy are you in it to win it? Andy said;
“For me now it’s all about taking part. Okay if I’m on a successful leg, that will be a huge bonus and then if I’m ultimately part of the winning boat again, that is something extra to be really proud of.
“I think just competing and being part of such an amazing event is enough of a win for me at the moment.”
The training is on!
Andy’s main focus in the lead up to the race is to reduce his weight and improve his fitness. Andy recently took part in a training week, which gave him his first taste of what life on a Clipper Yacht will be like.
Sadly, disaster struck and Andy had to restart the week after suffering a back injury which meant he wasn’t medically fit to continue. Andy preserved and restarted the week when he had recovered sufficiently and despite not describing himself as accident prone, suffered another mishap- a bruised coccyx – ouch!
Talking about the training Andy said; “Doing 26 knots, sailing on a racing yacht down the channel, when the decks at 45 degrees and you clipped on and hanging onto the boat for dear life, that was really exhilarating.
It was real good buzz, with a great bunch of people who were completely international. The crew were from all over the place, all wanting to do the challenge for different reasons.
“I’ve got eight weeks of hard work in the gym and on the treadmill to try and shift a bit more weight and just get a little fitter, because they have said the moment I’m not fit enough. On the training I did struggle with the physical side of it, the agility and obviously I had the fall and stuff. It is process though and I’m as fit as I needed to be to at least get over the first part of the training and I’m working hard to build on that.”
Andy has now completed three out of four levels of training – and has the bruises to prove it. He’s on track to be fully prepared in time for his race leg next spring.
Why it Matters
Andy is taking on this extraordinary challenge as a heartfelt thank you to Just ‘B’ for the vital support they gave his son during the most difficult time of their lives. By pushing himself to the limit, Andy hopes to give back, helping ensure that others facing grief can access the same care, emotional support, and specialist services that made such a difference to his family.
We wish Andy the best of luck with his training and can’t wait to hear more. Support Andy with his fundraising by donating to Andy’s Justgiving Page
