Pete’s after dinner talks offer something different. A blend of humour, storytelling and reflection, drawn from a lifetime of experience on land and at sea.
Drawing on a wide range of experiences, from solo ocean racing and global expeditions to building boats, leading teams and raising a family, Pete weaves together stories that are both engaging and meaningful.
There is humour throughout, often understated, but always grounded in real moments.
Alongside it comes a perspective on decision-making, resilience, risk and what really matters over time.
Each talk is shaped to suit the tone of the evening and the audience in the room, ensuring it feels relevant, relaxed and genuinely enjoyable.
Pete’s after dinner talks are built around stories, but not in the traditional sense. These are experiences shaped by real moments, shared with honesty, humour and perspective.
From historic voyages to modern-day challenges, each story offers something more than entertainment. They create connection, spark reflection and give audiences something to take away long after the evening has ended.
Whether light-hearted or thought-provoking, the stories are carefully chosen and shaped to suit the audience, ensuring the talk feels relevant, engaging and memorable.
A reflective and often amusing account of Pete’s voyage recreating a historic journey to Australia, weaving together history, family, risk and adventure.
Pete’s most recognised race – a solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, four and a half months alone at sea.
Pete’s after dinner talks are shaped to your audience and your event, balancing humour, insight and storytelling to create something that feels both engaging and memorable.
A 12,000-mile voyage from Cornwall to Australia in a 37ft traditional wooden lugger, built from scratch and sailed in the wake of seven Cornishmen who made the same journey over 150 years earlier.
For Pete, this was not about competition or speed. It was about stepping back, building something by hand, understanding it completely, and then trusting it in one of the most demanding environments on earth.
The boat itself was as close to the original as possible. Built using traditional materials and methods, with fallen Cornish oak forming the frames, she was designed to reflect the spirit of the original Mystery while incorporating only essential safety considerations. There were no modern navigation systems. Progress depended on the stars, the weather and constant judgement.
Life on board was very different from Pete’s previous racing experiences. Instead of speed and efficiency, the focus shifted to sustainability and balance, managing energy, maintaining morale and making steady progress over long periods of time. Conditions were often unpredictable, and decisions had to be made continuously: when to push on, when to ease back, and how best to protect both the vessel and the crew.
The journey took over four months, with a stop in Cape Town before continuing across the Southern Ocean, an environment known for its relentless conditions. Without the pressure of competition, every decision came back to responsibility. Responsibility for the people on board, for the boat itself, and for completing the journey safely.
What emerged was a very different kind of challenge. Not a single defining moment, but a constant test of consistency, judgement and trust.
More astronauts have circled the Earth than the number of people who have sailed single-handed non-stop around the world without assistance. The most recognised of Pete’s races was the 1996/7 Vendee Globe non-stop single-handed round the world yacht race in his Open 50 yacht Aqua Quorum.
Aqua Quorum was the first British boat to enter the Vendee and the only new yacht to complete the course in a year which sadly claimed the lives of two sailors, with only six of the sixteen starters finishing the race. Subsequent races have to stay further North in the Southern Ocean as they round ‘safety waypoints’. With a revolutionary swing keel she was shunned by many as a flawed design, but she went on to be the standard by which future Vendee boats would be based. Pete was the fastest single-handed sailor at the time.
The race turned Pete into a national hero overnight for the dramatic rescue of fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli in hurricane-force winds. Pete, who scuppered his own chances of winning the race in order to save Dinelli, was awarded the MBE by HM The Queen and the Legion d’Honneur by the French President for his actions.
Up against much bigger and better funded vessels, Pete had risked everything – including his family home – to get to the starting line.Separated from his wife and three children for months on end, Pete knew he would have to draw upon his vast experience and summon all his self-belief to complete the race. An onboard fax machine gave him that all-important link home and kept his spirits up.
Events took a dramatic turn for the worse in the notoriously hostile environment of the Southern Ocean when winds of up to 80mph pounded Frenchman Raphael Dinelli’s sinking boat. After receiving the distress call, Pete sent what may have been his last fax to his wife to explain what he was about to do and immediately turned round to rescue the Frenchman. He battled for two days to reach the near-dead Dinelli, who was extremely lucky to survive 48 hours in a freezing life raft.
Pete now became nurse to Dinelli, who suffered from hypothermia and was so stiff with cold he could not move for days. Pete made him sweet tea and gave him physiotherapy while he made his slow recovery. The pair became firm friends, vowing to sail together and toasting their future on New Year’s Eve with a bottle of champagne Dinelli had had the incredible foresight to bring aboard! Dinelli, realising what was important to him after his ordeal, asked his girlfriend to marry him using Pete’s fax machine and – after she accepted – asked Pete to be best man at his wedding. They have since competed together as co-skippers in the Transatlantic Jacques Vabre Race in 1997, winning in their class.
Pete’s single-minded determination to finish the race became clear when he was forced to perform self-administered surgery at sea after rupturing muscles in his already painful and swollen elbow. Without anaesthetic and following basic instructions from a surgeon over the radio, Pete sanitized a scalpel, cut into the flesh and drained off the excess liquid. Thankfully the wound saw no sign of infection and Pete continued to sail his heart out, becoming the fastest British sailor to sail single-handedly round the world in 126 days and 21 hours.
Pete is the author of the best-selling book about his yachting adventures – ‘Close to the Wind’, where Pete shares his adventures, thoughts, hardships and philosophy during and throughout the ten years of preparation for the 1996 Vendee Globe. Close to the Wind is published by Headline Book Publishing (1998).
