All at sea: Shropshire couple's grand adventure wins nautical prize

The couple were celebrating today after being awarded a prestigious nautical prize for their adventure. Dan, 32, of Westbury, near Shrewsbury, and his wife, 31, have been honoured with the Royal Cruising Club's Challenge Cup.

The 119-year-old trophy is awarded for "the most outstanding cruise of any duration".

Dan and Charlotte's journey included 16 days in the Atlantic Ocean where they did not see another boat, a trip through the Bermuda Triangle, and a 200-mile trip up a Gambia River.

The couple travelled in the 34 foot junk-rigged schooner, called Hestur, which Mr Johnson spent two years building, and he said they were overwhelmed to have received one of sailing's oldest prizes.

He said: "We were just blown away, it was an amazing surprise. We feel very, very, honoured. There are some great names on the cup and it is quite a privilege, we cannot quite believe it."

Mr Johnson, who attended Mary Webb School and Science College, said the challenge of sailing had proved both physical and mental.

He said: "It is quite amazing, you get used to it. You have to hang on for dear life. On the return home we had a few days of absolute flat calm but most of the time you just have to hang on and try and keep yourself going. It is fairly full on."

Mr Johnson is a boat builder who is currently plying his trade in the couple's current base of Ullapool, in the Highlands of Scotland.

Their route saw the couple travel on a boat he built himself. They sailed from the UK to France, through Lisbon, Madeira and the Canaries, to the Gambia, then to the southern Cape Verde Islands before heading across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and back to Scotland.

Speaking about not seeing another boat for over two weeks, Mr Johnson said it took some getting used to.

The Royal Cruising Club was founded in 1880 by Sir Arthur Underhill and a group of friends to encourage cruising in small yachts.

Members, then as now, contributed to the enjoyment and safety of others by writing accounts of their cruises for the Club Journal and publishing coastal guides.

Many familiar sailing names have been RCC members, including Claud Worth, Erskine Childers, Tilman, Miles and Beryl Smeeton, and Eric and Susan Hiscock.

The Club's prime objective are described as the furtherance of cruising under sail. It says its membership, by invitation only and limited to four hundred, "enjoys the same friendly intimacy as Underhill's group of Victorian sailing eccentrics".

• Visit www.rcc.org.uk

"You just have to accept it and you get used to it after a couple of days because it is the norm," he explained.

"The feeling of nothingness is enormous. You suddenly realise how much space and how much nothingness is out there. It is just a vast open space of nothingness so you really feel quite on your own."

The boat includes a small engine which can power it at around "running pace" but the majority of the journey was undertaken by using its sails to harness the wind.

Mr Johnson said: "On the first Atlantic crossing I think the engine ran for two days but in Gambia on the long river we had to motor all the way up and down because there was no wind."

The journey also took in the Bermuda Triangle,but Mr Johnson said the high point was their river trip in Gambia.

He said: "Without question the highlight was the trip up the Gambia river. It felt like we were the first British explorers to ever discover the place. It was a proper safari with hippos, monkeys, it was so exotic, and there were some very charming people.

"The Bermuda Triangle was very strange. It is a strange area, there is almost continuous thunder and lightning around you."

The couple collected their prize at an awards ceremony in London on Thursday and are now thinking up what their next challenge will be.