-          I  put together a ‘Fleet Sponsorship’ proposal and presented it to the Crown Prince who agreed to guarantee a loan in lieu of the original £6million contract

-          I secured a loan of $11.5million from Standard Chartered putting up my house and all assets as collateral to cover the remainder

-     I then leant $3.5million of this money to Quest to pay suppliers, build the marina, run the website and pay wages

-     Some of the loan was raised by me to pay off all Maiden II debts including Andrew Pindar's loan with interest, Ansbacher, ALL the crew and shore crew and the refit for the Oryx Quest in Qatar.  That has remained my personal debt - Not Quest's.

-     We did not, funnily enough, pay people that were trying to screw money out of us because they thought we had millions in the bank - It was those people who were to end up making the most noise at the end - not the wonderful people, team and suppliers who actually made the event happen and who have been so supportive over the past year.

-          The skippers were all paid $1million each to enter the event.  Steve Fossett was paid $2million as one of the other entries pulled out and John Harwood-Bee threw his toys out of the cot because he didn't get the money to buy Cheyenne on behalf of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.  He then tried to sue me because I didn't give him $2million to buy a boat. Hmmmm!

  December 2004      

At this point we still hadn't been paid by QSI so I had to advise them that unless they paid Quest, the event would have to be postponed-          HE Sheikh Hassan met with HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and asked that QSI paid the 3million.-          HH then suggested a $3million LOAN to me not the £3million to Quest as agreed

-          I was up to my neck in it by that point but figured if I could just get the event up and running then they would pay us back and a loan agreement was signed with QNOC

-     QMSF distributed the funds to suppliers named by Quest.  It was one of the most painful processes our poor accountant had ever been through - This is another story for another time in more detail.  Suffice to say here that when we finally managed to wrestle the accounts out of them, they had used some of our money for 'entertainment' without our permission - SICKENING BEHAVIOUR

-           The Director General of the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee then decided that DAGOC would sponsor Maiden II as the Qatari entry and promptly took $750,000 out of the $3m loan without my permission - Unbelievable even for them!!!

-          There is a lot more to this part of the story but I will keep that to myself for the moment!

 February 2005        

HE Sheikh Jassim, Vice-President of QNOC started the event on February 4th in front of the world’s media

-          QSI was then actually quietly dissolved during the event with the £3million still owed to Quest - No-one told us at the time of course!

 April 2005

-          The event reached a successful conclusion ($46million of PR in Qatar’s key target markets)

-     After the 'after race parties' the crews went home before the Prize Giving to be held in Doha in June       

            We then found out that the QSI that owed Quest £3million had been dissolved and new set up  with new shareholders. 

-          I was then told that the £3million would be paid towards next event only - it could not be used to pay suppliers of The Oryx Quest 2005 or the Prize Money - Oh and I could not use the funds to pay myself back.

-     I had to refuse

May 2005         

On 31^st May our company solicitor is told that QSI have changed their minds AGAIN and have agreed to pay the £3million (with proviso of control over the payments and that they must be relevant to the event)-          I then agreed to the restructured agreement and our solicitor’s office drew up agreement  June 2005

-          5^th June – Prize giving went ahead.

-          There was a letter confirming payment by QSI in the envelopes presented by HE Sheikh Jassim bin Thamer Al Thani - Was he a fall guy?

-     8th June - THE BOMBSHELL - No payment will be made by QSI to Quest for anything

-     17^th June I flew home to meet with Kroll Worldwide re potential administration of the company to protect creditors whilst our solicitors dealt with QSI.  Kroll agreed that we had a strong enough position to put the company into administration which we then did during July.

  July 2005 

-          I returned to Doha on 13^th July to meet with HE Sheikh Jassim re payment

-          On the 18th July the Foreign Minister refused to give me an exit visa to go home to sort our banks etc

      I will write at a later date with the full details of being held in Qatar illegally for 28 days as it really deserves a closer look as it wqas the final nail in the coffin that tipped me over the edge and pretty much ensured my bankruptcy and Quest's administration. 

Obviously there is lot more to write about the Foreign Minister.

Sept 2005

-           I was made bankrupt on my 43rd birthday, lost my house, all my assets seized including my life insurance policy that protected my daughter.  My mother had to go into a home.  The worst year of my life began. 

-      I won my court case in Qatar which proved I was held illegally and can therefore pursue Personal Injury

-      Found out that the marina has been stolen (oh yes!) and the race village tents had 'disppeared'.

Sept 2006

-      I was discharged from bankruptcy on my 44th birthday!

 October 2006  

-          HH Sheikh Tamim has paid back some of the Fleet Sponsorship to the bank but has not paid me back for my part of the loan

-          Maiden II, worth an estimated $2million, has since been sold for $40,000

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