After almost a year at sea 19 year old Sophie Hetherton is now back on dry land and at home reacquainting herself with her family and friends.

It has been an amazing year full of ups and downs and experiences which most of us can only dream about (or have nightmares about).

Commenting on the race experience, Sophie said: “I still find it hard to believe what we’ve just done. Last year when the race started, I was 18, just out of school and had never really done anything to challenge myself. I made myself an early promise to embrace every aspect of the experience and immerse myself fully.

“Sailing the world and interacting so much with a wide range of ages, backgrounds and personalities on board was an incredible life experience for me. We never had conflict on our boat, our skipper Matt taught us to communicate openly every day which helped us all develop great respect for each other and I always felt equal and valued.”

“I would love to inspire more young people like myself to do the Clipper Race. Aside from being a huge adventure, it is an incredible life development experience that I highly recommend. I’ve learnt how to communicate with people of all ages and work with them as a team to cope with very challenging situations. My confidence has grown huge amounts and I know, going forward to University and beyond, that I will take these life lessons with me.” [ http://www.seapupsophie.co.uk/#!blog/c1s76 ]

The Team at Contented Dementia Trust wish to welcome Sophie home and also to thank her for raising over a thousand pounds for the Trust – Thank you Sophie and well done on your tremendous achievement!

If you would like to add to Sophie’s total there is still time just go to her JustGiving page and make a donation : https://www.justgiving.com/seapupsophie/