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Friends marry after spending 1,029 days sailing together
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-13 14:37 Two friends who spent three years sailing 32,000 miles around the world have married after falling in love at sea. Jim Brockett, 42, and Gerardine McNulty, 35, were just friends when they decided to leave their jobs to embark on the life-changing adventure in January 2006. They used their combined life savings to buy a yacht, Albert II, and visited 42 countries during 1,029 days at sea. As they swam with dolphins in New Zealand, fed sharks in the Pacific and enjoyed some of the world's most romantic sunsets together love began to blossom. The couple got engaged in December 2007 when, dressed in a Father Christmas suit, Mr Brockett proposed to his travel companion – known as Ged – on the island of Phuket, Thailand. They arrived back in Britain last month and on November 29 married in front of 120 guests at The Old Bell Hotel in Malmesbury before flying out for a honeymoon at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Mr Brockett, a former RAF pilot with 15 years sailing experience, said: "It truly was a dream come true for me – it was a trip that will stay with me for the rest of my life. "But the best bit was being with Ged for all that time. "We got on together so well and things just seemed to click and fit in place perfectly. We never really had any major fallouts. "Marriage was not something I was thinking about but the relationship just got stronger and stronger until it seemed right to propose." The couple had known each other for two years before the trip after meeting through friends in a local pub. Mrs Brockett, who had no sailing experience, said: "When he asked me to go with him I didn't hesitate to say yes. "Some might say it was a bit of a risk but the way I see it, nothing venture nothing gained." They couple set sail from Lymington Harbour in Hampshire in January 2006 and travelled to another 42 countries including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Australia, Panama, Egypt and New Zealand, until returning home in November. Now Mr Brockett says they plan to look for jobs and settle back into "normal life" together. * The 42 countries they visited, in order, are: 1. Ireland 2. Portugal 3. Spain 4. Barbados 5. St Vincent and the Grenadines 6. St Lucia 7. St Kitts 8. Martinique 9. Dominica 10. Antigua 11. St Martin 12. Saint Barthelemy 13. British Virgin Islands 14. Columbia 15. Panama 16. The Galapagos Islands 17. French Polynesia 18. Western Samoa 19. Fiji 20. New Caledonia 21. Australia 22. New Zealand 23. Vanuatu 24. Indonesia 25. Singapore 26. Borneo 27. Malaysia 28. Thailand 29. Sri Lanka 30. The Maldives 31. Yemen 32. Eritrea 33. Sudan 34. Egypt 35. Cyprus 36. Turkey 37. Greece 38. Croatia 39. Malta 40. Italy 41. France 42. England
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