Ann Shoebridge had her first sailing experience as a young teenager, crewing for her brother on the 12-foot catamaran he had built in the family’s living-room. Her boating experience went from there to canoeing, the highlight of which was a two-week trip in 16-foot Canadian canoes down the South Nahanni River in Canada’s Yukon.
Ann has managed to sail at least once on each of the Latimer-owned boats over the years whether or not there were any Latimers on board, and enjoyed the experience enough to want to do more. She suspects that the most impressive feat she accomplished as co-cook on Chimere in January 2008 was being small enough to crouch down in the galley to access the locker under the sink, which none of the owners are able to do. Fortunately she can also cook reasonably well – in fact, has done considerably more cooking than sailing – and over years of camping and hiking has often had to manage catering without refrigeration.
Ann is a registered physiotherapist but practices as an Alexander Technique teacher, working with chronic disability through to elite performance. She is also practiced at doing things she is not actually trained for, which is a useful attribute in circumstances where anything may happen. She will temporarily abandon her three teenage children, her private practice, her singing commitments and her Master’s degree studying injuries in musicians in order to join Chimere in Vanuatu. She is joining the trip because altruistically she wants to be a useful member of a team doing such badly-needed work, and selfishly because it appeals to her sense of adventure.