The RNLI has been named charity of the year by the Champagne G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge Club, whose members include explorers and adventurers such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Ben Fogle and Dee Caffari.

The club met on the Isle of Wight in May, competing in a sea kayaking race, with Bembridge lifeboat acting as marker. Bembridge Coxswain Steve Simmonds spoke to the group before dinner. The RNLI later received an exclusive signed portrait of the club’s members, which was auctioned at Cowes Week.

Champagne G.H. Mumm has been associated with explorers, adventurers and sportspeople since its foundation in 1827. The RNLI enjoys the support of many of the Cordon Rouge Club’s inspirational members and is delighted that the club has pledged official support to the charity’s lifeboat crews and lifeguards – ordinary people also doing extraordinary things.

(See a review of Dee Caffari’s autobiography on page 31. Readers of the Offshore supplement will find an interview with Dee on page 12.)