Martin at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.
WIGHT LIVING
IF YOU were to design a new bus-pass generation of Action Man a scaled-down Martin Woodward would be ideal.
The blue-eyed, weatherbeaten, craggy hero, with thinning blonde hair, would come equipped with all manner of devices and be capable of a wide range of daredevil tricks.
He would parachute his way into a situation, to do his business, and aqualung his way out, after karate-kicking the opposition to death.
The full-size black-belt, first dan, version possesses all these skills. He doesn’t use the killing bit, though.
Woodward, the former coxswain of Bembridge Lifeboat, is a real-life adventurer, with both his marine salvage business and his myriad interests.
And he’s just returned from his latest bit of derring do. Not one to do things by halves, it’s been achieved in two countries in a couple of months by a bloke, at an age when many are content with sock-toasting telly.
What’s more, this chap once suffered a serious back injury in a North Sea diving accident.
He could easily have been on the marine scrapheap but, in typical fashion, he shrugged that off, got back into the water and into business. As he throttles back on that, a bit, he is embarking on challenges new. All at the age of 61.
Martin left Bembridge on October 2 to climb Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro. By October 8 he had reached the 5,895-metre summit and came home for a few days, to see his Ryde School teacher second wife of 21 years, Katherine, and their 17-year-old daughter, Jessica.
Martin also has a married 39-year-old daughter, Donna, by his previous marriage, and a ten-year-old grandaughter, Brooke.
He then jetted off to cycle the 2,000-mile length of New Zealand and all compass points in between, with his friend, Clive Rogers, from Poole.
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| Clive Rogers and Martin arrive at the most southern point of New Zealand, at Bluff. |
Unlike a lot of other charity challenges, when those taking part first raise funds to get to their exotic destination, Martin funded this one himself.
He set a fundraising target of £10,000 to be split between the RNLI Bembridge appeal for a new lifeboat, pier and boathouses and the IW Historic Lifeboat Trust.
The trust restores veteran lifeboats, which are then used for RNLI fundraising and re-enactments.
It was one of those heavy clinker-built boats in which he rowed around the Island. He has also run the 60 miles around it, done four London Marathons and ridden across South Africa on his bike.
He’s been a diver for more than 40 years, working worldwide on oil exploration and archaeological shipwreck projects and he has been down to eye-popping depths of 500-plus feet.
His career has been in, or on, the water since he left Sandown Grammar with a single O-level and then the King Edward VII Nautical College in London, where he trained as a Merchant Navy deck officer.
But it didn’t take him long to get in the water and form his own diving company, which has taken him on wreck, salvage, recovery and oil rig work all over.
Using a proton magnetometer, which picks up large metal bulk underwater, he has discovered scores of previously uncharted wrecks. One of his most notable finds was the missing Second World War submarine HMS Swordfish and the destroyer HMS Acheron.
There have also been many steamships, assorted losses from the sailing era, aircraft, anchors, cannon, munitions, gold and bodies of those who went down with their vessels.
Checking hulls for bombs and customs operations have also been carried out, too.
Still busy with paid work, Martin is continuing to cast his net beyond the sea. Next year he is planning expeditions to Nepal and Peru.
But, back to the recent past.
After completing the Tanzanian caper, Martin and Clive set out on North Island, New Zealand, on October 23. By December 9, they had pumped their pedals up mountains and down dales, reaching the southern tip of South Island.
"As we had a few spare days in hand before our return date, we decided to carry on cycling along the remote south coast, and up to Dunedin, clocking up a total of more than 2,100 miles," said Martin.
"We did not take the direct north-south route but a much more difficult roundabout route, taking in all compass points of NZ, also via the Eastern Cape.
"This took us over some very hilly and mountainous terrain, including the west coast of South Island. The ride was also against strong prevailing SW winds and the worst spring and summer weather New Zealand has experienced in more than 60 years."
Not content with that, the pair decided the ride should be both unsupported and self-sufficient, which would mean carrying more than 50kg of tents and equipment on the bikes.
Now safely back in Bembridge, Martin is busy on his latest challenge — reaching the £10,000 fundraising target and, so far, he’s about a third of the way there.
He said: "It is so hard to raise funds in this day and age — harder than doing the actual challenges."
• Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/martinwoodward1
Reporter: richardw@iwcpmail.co.uk