‘Sailing round Britain saved me from PTSD'

When ex-Royal Marine Chris Craven was hit by post-traumatic stress disorder, he sailed his way free.

In 2008 I got ill. Very ill. I did not know what was happening to me. After investigations for all sorts of physical problems, I eventually broke down and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I began receiving help and slowly, things started to improve. Over the course of time, a friend suggested that I got a boat. He said it was one of the best moves he’d ever made – drifting around with the sun on your face, mobile phone switched off, just watching the world go by. It made him feel just great.

I took his advice and I bought a well-used Mirror dinghy in dire need of repair. Once restored and after a few trips out on the River Axe estuary it went back on eBay, not because I didn’t like it, but because I had found something that I hadn’t felt since my youth when I was stress-free and innocent. I had a desire to go further, and that meant a bigger boat.

Expanding horizons

The next one was a Selway Fisher Design, Grace Hawar and she was a great river boat. The more I learned, the better I felt. I also realised that I was not prone to regressing back into myself when afloat and as long as I was on board, I did not have to rely on the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques I had been taught. Even when I was ashore, it seemed I needed them less and less. I was now optimistic and I wanted to go to sea. This led to Grace’s sale and the purchase of a Seadog 30 named Tongareva, the boat that really turned my life around. I could live on her and I could go to sea in her and astbourne Dover Lowestoft she gave me back what the post traumatic stress had taken away from me – focus, determination and optimism.