Stride Forward team battle boat changes and challenging conditions at Cowes Week
by Alice Driscoll 4 Aug 15:35 BST
2-8 August 2025
Stride Forward team at Cowes Week 2025 © Paul Wyeth / Cowes Week
There's something new going on in the Childerley household at this Cowes Week. With Stuart getting back to competitive racing for the first time since suffering a life changing injury, his wife Lisa, daughter Abbey and son Ben are also racing together at Cowes in a three-crew XOD. "So Lisa, how have you got on in the races so far?" I ask. A chirpy input from Stuart in the background says "Not as well as us!" Friendly family sailing competitiveness has returned to the Childerley home.
If the satisfaction and adrenalin from a couple of great days of competitive racing could be bottled, then that is the nectar Stuart Childerley is currently enjoying. "I feel broken and physically exhausted though" he admits, saying he's very pleased that all racing at Cowes has been postponed today due to the high winds.
Fearing that he would never get back to the same high level of competitive racing that he enjoyed before his accident - and with the added bitter disappointment of having to cancel a long-planned Etchells world racing campaign with his son Ben - Stuart has found a new perspective thanks to skippering the Stride Forward race boat at this year's Cowes Week.
With the majority of crew not only being inexperienced at sailing but also many of whom have life-changing injuries, Stuart admitted that at first, he wondered how they would manage.
The crew include Jim Goldsby, who lost his lower right leg after a cycling accident; Ben Pearson who was a semi-professional rugby player before an injury resulted in the loss of his lower right leg; former sailor Andy Smith, who lost his leg above the left knee after a motorcycling accident; another passionate sailor Stuart Gilmore, who elected for an above knee amputation after a car collision crushed his right leg; Dave (Paddy) Corcoran, who served 16 years in the Royal Marines until he was medically discharged after sustaining severe injuries to his lower limbs in Afghanistan and Stride Forward founder Holly King. One crew member who was intending to take part, Laurence Greenhough, was injured in a fall at his home before the weekend and is unable to compete. His position was taken by Martin Cowell, a friend of Stuart's and a highly accomplished national and international sailor, who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma resulting in a suppressed immune system. Two new members will be taking part from Tuesday include Somerset-based farmer Nathan Hewitt who elected for a below-knee amputation following a farming accident and Rory Mackenzie who was serving as a Combat Medical Technician in Iraq when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle, resulting in a high above-knee amputation of his right leg.
With just a couple of days of training, the team's first race on Saturday at Cowes in Class 3 gave them a great overall result but was marred by a collision on course with another boat.
"There was close racing and even though we were on starboard, we had to do an emergency tack to try and avoid another boat. There was quite a significant impact, with several members of our crew being thrown across the boat," he says. After checking everyone was OK and taking some time to recover, the crew were determined to finish the race, getting a credible 7th place in class.
"But back onshore, we realised that the impact damage was significant and having got a surveyor to assess it, we lodged a protest and then had to look at what other charter options were available as, by then, the Stride Forward team were determined to carry on. The thought of not going sailing the next day was a real driver for us all," says Stuart.
Thanks to incredible input from the sailing community including Unity Racing and LV Yachting, the Stride Forward team were back on the water by 10.10 am the next day - but now were in a SunFast 3300 and placed in the much more highly contested IRC 2 class.
Racing in a new style of boat against some of the highly polished and experienced IRC2 entries presented some challenges for the team, but with Stuart's mantra of "just focus on the next three legs" and ensuring that everyone was enjoying the racing whilst learning and progressing resulted in the team coming 6th in class, also beating their sister ship. "This is a fantastic result and to me, it really highlights that racing boats shouldn't be afraid of taking on crew with physical limitations," says Stuart.
This realisation is also endorsed by Stuart's wife Lisa, who has always felt that he could return to competitive racing. "I think he could do a lot of things that he did before the accident," she says "and hopefully sailing with the Stride Forward team has convinced Stuart that if he found the right boat with the right people around him, he could race competitively again."
Holly King, founder of Stride Forward says this is exactly what the charity aims to achieve. "We want those who have undergone life-changing injuries to get back to where they were before, to regain their confidence and rebuild their lives. I'm so pleased to see how Stuart and the team are demonstrating that at Cowes Week," she says.
Stuart agrees: "Part of my torment after the accident is not to categorise myself as disabled. Yes, I have a limitation but I want to be able to get back to what I was doing before. What Cowes Week has shown me so far is that is there is no reason why we can't all do something together with some adaptations."
And for the rest of the crew? "There's been discussions on board and things said that you wouldn't normally hear from a bunch of blokes, many of whom have been living with their life-changing injuries for much longer than I have," says Stuart. "We're all exhausted but also all really motivated to be here. And then, once back on shore with some time to relax and enjoy the post-sailing activities, we're just the same as any other competitor."
With the forecast for Tuesday's racing looking bright and sunny, here's to ongoing success for the Stride Forward team.