Keeping the Candle Burning with Jean & Gerry Baptist - parents of Motorola Crew member  Looking back, it was almost inevitable that Mark would apply to go on the Race. He and his sister Polly sailed dinghies together for years at the local sailing club. Polly went on to work as a cook on a charter yacht in Turkey and the Caribbean and Mark began to sail bigger boats, so it was not a huge surprise, when after going over one of the BT Challenge boats at the Southampton Boat Show, Mark said that he and a friend had applied to join. They both gained places. Price Waterhouse gave him leave of absence and the chaos began. He moved back home - to save money - and the house was turned into another BT Challenge office. It was only after a marvellous day down at the boatyard in Plymouth, seeing the boats being fitted out, that we felt part of the adventure. Motorola and some members of the crew were there and of course someone special, his skipper Mark Lodge.  T-shirt production then took over. "Tough Cat" was created and the garage turned into a screen printing workshop, with the whole family involved printing, ironing, packing and posting. Suddenly everyone wanted T-shirts and parcels were posted all over the world. As September '96 approached we had to hand over to professional printers, but we had had a great deal of fun. The day the race began in Southampton was incredible. We rented a boat with some friends , following Motorola almost out to the Needles before waving a tearful goodbye. The house remains a BT Challenge office. Cuttings from newspapers are gathered, the Motorola crew's newsletter read, enjoyed and filed; films sent from various parts are developed, enjoyed and boxed. Faxes, letters, postcards are all logged. Everyday everything revolves around, "Where is Motorola in the Race ?" and plotting their progress.  I saw Mark on TV the other day. "What's it like to be the father of a media star ?", I was asked the other day at the sailing club, "Stressful" , I answered, "It's probably easier sailing the Southern Ocean" . Written by Jean and Gerry Baptist,
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