SHIPWRECKED on a desert island 200 miles from anywhere, Steven Jarred and five friends found themselves stranded and unable to contact home.
Eight months into a dream trip around the world the group found themselves marooned in the middle of the Indian Ocean where they remained stuck for more than two months.
Now 30 years later Steven, 54, from Great Baddow, believes the experience changed his life for the better.
"For all of us sailing was a passion and when someone had the idea of sailing around the world it seemed an easy choice compared to my work as an audit clerk.
"Back then it was unchartered waters. We didn't have the technology that people such as Charlie Pitcher use, it was just the simple 'sun, sight, and sextant' to guide us but in many ways that just made it much more of an adventure.
"For 13 months before we left I spent every evening and weekend building the boat that would become our home, showing up exhausted at work each morning," said Steven, an IT manager.
The group of six struck out in December 1982 from Heybridge Basin to cheering crowds and police cannons being fired.
Over the next few months the 46-ft boat carried them safely through a force 10 gale off the Bay of Biscay to New Year celebrations in the Canary Islands to trading cigarettes with locals in the Cape Verde isles.
Steven added: "I just remember how kind and generous people were in the sailing communities all across the world.
"People emptied their supply cabinets to keep us fed on the trip – they were just so impressed that we were doing it."
But then disaster struck. As the friends all slept on July 30, 1983 they heard an almighty bang.
"It was about 10pm when we felt the impact. We all rushed up on deck to see what had happened and realised we'd struck land – the boat was a complete wipe-out and despite several attempts we realised we were shipwrecked.
"We later learnt we'd drifted from our route and ended up on a tiny island off the Seychelles called Astove. There were six others living there harvesting coconuts and nobody could leave except by the supply ship that came by every six months."
The nervous islanders impounded the group's radios leaving them unable to let others know of their whereabouts and the stranded friends were forced to salvage what they could from the wreck.
"Our families had started panicking back in the UK as they couldn't find any trace of us," said Steven.
"We eventually managed to get a message via radio back to the Seychelles but we ended up staying for nine weeks.
"While we were there we helped them plumb proper toilets, made them stronger wheelbarrows from aluminium stripped from the boat and also fed ourselves by fishing in the ocean.
"Julia even managed to catch a hammerhead shark using a piece of wood and some string," Steven added.
Eventually a battered supply ship arrived at the island to take the group back to the mainland.
But rather than heading home, Steven and fellow castaway John flew to Delhi, travelling back to the UK overland via Pakistan and Iran, only getting back to Essex in January 1984.
Stephen, who still stays in touch with his fellow crew members, said: "The loss of the boat meant I'd lost my life savings but what we experienced was completely priceless.
"Just on our travels home we lived through an earthquake in Pakistan and somebody trying to shoot us in Iran – it was the most incredible time.
"The trip had created a huge gap in my CV but back home I found myself getting interviews simply because people were so keen to hear about the trip, so it proved to be such an asset."
Steven has since constructed commercial boats in Kenya, lived in Texas and Australia, and notched up 23 stamps on his passport. However, now in Great Baddow with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Steven says there's no place like home.
"I can't put my finger on it but I've travelled all over the world and there's just nowhere like Essex – it's where I'm from and it's where I've always come back to," he said.
