Interview with Freddy Benjafield for Mutiny

Why on earth would you want to sign up to something like this?
For me, the biggest appeal was that we could go out there and do something modern sailors don’t do every day. It’s not every day you get to sail the way sailors of old did. I wanted to see if I could do it as well as them.

Why do you think you were chosen?
I think probably mostly because of my sailing, to be honest. I went to a maritime school, I’ve been sailing all my life, I was practically born on a boat. Everything I brought towards it was sailing-based, and navigation and stuff like that.

How did you prepare for the series?
To be honest, I prepared by eating everything I could find. My diet for weeks on end consisted of a tub of Ben & Jerries and a pie for breakfast, and then ridiculous amounts of food for the rest of the day. I ended up weighing about 86 kilos, which is huge for me. I ate everything in sight, because I knew food was going to be scarce, and I needed to bulk up. That was the easy side of it. The other thing I did was reading up on the journal of Captain Bligh, and a bit of revision of celestial navigation and stuff like that. But the best part was definitely the eating.

What were your worries going in to the series?
I think my biggest concern was the people I’d be sailing with. I didn’t know how many of them would have sailing experience, or whether they would be practical at all. That was one of my biggest concerns. The other part is how mad it was, to be honest.

What was the reality like, compared to the theory?
The reality of sailing with everyone was brilliant. Everyone chipped in and was very willing to get down and dirty, they were all very good at learning. Kit certainly made my job easier.

What did you miss the most, from everyday life?
Food. Food, definitely, and probably a soft bed. Sleeping on those floorboards wasn’t really the highlight of the trip, to be honest.

What was the aroma like, all living on close quarters on the boat?
At first everyone was nice and fresh and clean, and you could smell the boat, the wood and pine, stuff like that. And then you gradually start to stink. You go a couple of days without a shower and it’s not too great. But everybody just stank. And then you got to this weird point where you couldn’t smell anyone anymore, because you got so used to it. I don’t know what was worse, smelling that bad, or the fact that we got used to it.

What kind of relationships did you form?
A real bond formed between some of us. In the watch that I had towards the end, with Sam and Luke, that was some of the best parts of it for me. Especially at night, you just sit down, steer the boat, there’s a bit of wind, the stars are out, and you spend a good four hours just chatting to them and getting to know them. It was definitely a bond of brotherhood with pretty much everyone on the boat, basically.

Were there ever tensions among the crew?
There were definitely tensions, yeah. One or two members definitely caused some angst. There was a lot of friction. It was a bit poisonous at times, to be honest. But I think everybody annoyed each other at some point. I’m absolutely certain I got on the nerves of some of the other people towards the end.

What was Ant like as a skipper?
He was very good. To be honest, I came into this thinking he might be useless. I’d never dealt with someone from Special Forces before, and I didn’t know what sort of sailing skills he had or anything. I was kind of expecting to listen to him, but listen to Conrad more. For me, it’s all about the sailing. But as we went along, I got to know Ant better, and to realise that he was an incredibly good leader. We definitely wouldn’t have completed the trip if it wasn’t for him. He knew exactly what we needed to do when we needed to do it. I have a lot of respect for him.

What were your lowest moments?
I think my lowest moment was being becalmed. When there’s no wind at all, there’s nothing you can do. Usually, when you’re becalmed it’s very hot as well. It was a clear sky, so we were so hot. We were low on water as well, and low on food. That was the roughest part, for me, because there was nothing I could do to make the situation any better. There was no wind, so I couldn’t sail us out of it.

What were the high points?
There were a couple. One of them was seeing some false killer whales. Another was Vanuatu – it was absolutely incredible. I’ve never really experienced anything like that in my entire life. And going through the Great Barrier Reef – that was a life goal for me that I never thought I’d get to do on a boat that size. It was just incredible.

What did you learn from this experience?
I think a lot of the time, I have to prove myself, I’m quite a young, baby-faced guy. And I think I’ve learned that I don’t have to prove myself as much as I thought. And I’m a lot tougher than I thought I was.