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For Steve White, sailing is a passion turned lifestyle. Ten years ago he started out as a novice, now he stands as one of Britain's best offshore sailors, indeed one with a genuine chance of winning one of the most prestigious prizes in his sport - the Vendee Globe.

The view from the deck

How it all started...

Born in Derbyshire, but a Dorset resident for many years, White began his journey just under ten years ago, and hasn't looked back as he explains:

"I did a trip around the Fastneck rock in the middle of winter, the wind was blowing 30 to 45 knots and it was absolutely fantastic.

"I had no idea you could sail professionally, and it wasn't long after the 1996 Vendee, and I had been reading about Christophe Auguin and the boat he had, which is very similar to our boat here.

"After finishing that trip and mulling over the events of the the previous Vendee, all of a sudden something snapped. I handed in my notice and went to work in a boatyard and started to sail four or five times a week."

Steve's cramped living space

Priceless

Although it cost him a lot of money to get started, he is convinced that following his dream was no gamble:

"Regarding finances, early on, obviously you don't know anything and nobody's going to pay you so you've got to put in the time for nothing to get your foot in the door.

"There obviously comes a time where you do become useful and you can make a half-reasonable living out of it, though you're never going to be fantastically rich."

"When you're starting a project like this as we did in the February of last year, we remortgaged the house and packed in a good secure job and went for it."

"If we thought it was a gamble we wouldn't be doing it. There is no room in our camp for 'what ifs?' or 'might nots' - it's 'do or do not'. We won't be beaten and we'll get there in the end."

The boat - 'The Spirit of Weymouth'

Local pride

Steve is among the world's most promising yachtsmen/offshore sailors, and is one of the real contenders for the Velux 5 Oceans race which takes place in October 2006.

He's very proud of his Dorset roots and is keen to bring his team to the area in his quest for success:

"It's incredible. It's taken nine years since I actually made my vow to do this to put all this together, and to actually come back to your home town with a boat you've put back together with the event that are in front of us, it's incredible."

"The next event is the Velux 5 Oceans, which is single handed, round the world over three legs, so it breaks it up a little bit. The first leg is 11,000 miles from Bilbao to Freemantle, then Freemantle to Norfolk and then Norfolk back to Bilbao.

"It gives us a chance to get the boat in the Southern Ocean, drive it hard in strong downwind conditions, see what I'm made of and treat it as a practice for the Vendee."

Steve has a wealth of electronic aids

So what does he think is his greatest achievement thus far?

"Sailing wise I think it was winning the OSTAR, the first monohaul, the first thing that had raised my profile. I'd done quite a bit of sailing previously but there wasn't a great deal in the media spotlight and that gave us quite a bit of coverage."

Offshore...

As well as being a talented sailor, Steve is also a proud father and husband.

However as he admits there isn't always time for them, let alone other pursuits.

"There isn't room for anything else outside of sailing and family, and I don't get time to see my family as much as I should."

The ship is extensively equipped

British media

With the multitude of sports available on television and the rest of the press, sailing has found it difficult to make real headway in the British sporting media.

Steve says that the British coverage does not compare well with its continental counterparts:

"If you go to France, the people come and talk and want to know about the boats - they know the boats like we know football teams and the skippers like we know David Beckham and people like that.

"If you open a French newspaper while the big races are underway  you will see very very good coverage and we just don't see that here unfortunately. The profile is on its way up, and the likes of Ellen MacArthur do wonders for the sport.

Dorset's sailing legacy

With the Olympic sailing coming to Dorset in 2012, Steve is fully aware of the capabilities of some of the local competitors and what they can do.

Steve received a formal introduction

"You've got Paul Larson over in the sailing academy, he's done lots of mileage and is well known in sailing circles.

"I'm also led to believe there are a considerable amount of promising sailors in Weymouth ahead of the Olympics, although we're probably the only offshore, big boat sailing competitors in the area."

Ambitions...

There's one event in the calendar for sailors which stands out, and naturally, Steve would love to be involved in it come 2008:

"The goal is to do the next Vendee, that's the big goal. I think if we don't win that - we'll get a new boat built and do the 2012 Vendee. If they still allow them we'll get a 60ft Trimar.

"They're like the boat we've got but instead of four tons of leads at the keel, you've got three hulls. The speeds of those boats are phenomenal... and they also break up so they're quite exciting.