A Dorchester sailor took on an intrepid adventure across the northern Pacific ocean.

Lottie Small took part in a sailing expedition that crossed vast stretches of the ocean from Honolulu in Hawaii all the way to Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.

She was part of a crew on a yacht called Maiden, which undertook the 2,500 mile journey in just 13 days.

Lottie applied for a place as a ‘mile builder’ to help increase her offshore sailing experience. She was accepted, after which she set out for Hawaii. The boat had an all female crew for the journey, and it was skippered by Wendy Tuck.

During the voyage, the crew had to rotate jobs frequently, with members all having to do jobs below decks and cook meals at various points in the journey.

The crew had to deal with various different weather conditions throughout the journey. At some points the crew faced windy conditions, and reached top speed of 13 knots, while also motoring when there was no wind at all to work with.

The crew also noticed rubbish around on every day of the journey, and they are sending a message to people to reduce their plastic waste to make a difference.

The boat received a warm welcome upon its arrival into Vancouver, where many people greeted them as they entered the city. The Maiden is a noteworthy yacht - it came second in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race, in which it was skippered by Tracy Edwards.

The boat was later discovered again in the Seychelles in 2014, after which Edwards set out to bring it back to the UK and Southampton.

This yacht now sails around the globe, doing charity fundraising for girls’ education and to help girls live safe lives that are free from violence and harm. Lottie had been told multiple times throughout her school life that sailing was not a viable career for her. In spite of this, she completed the impressive voyage and is now studying Navigation and Maritime Science at the University of Plymouth.