'We pulled our kids out of school to sail the world - it was tough but they learnt a lot'

A couple withdrew their children from school to embark on a yacht journey to Africa, despite having no previous sailing experience. Daniel Monk, 41, his wife Bow, 36, and their daughters Amelia, 13, and Olivia, seven, sailed from Falmouth to Cape Verde in a 45-foot yacht they named Pancakes.

The father-of-two had always fantasised about sailing the globe after overcoming a 13-year battle with drug and alcohol addiction, and described it as "a dream come true" to do so with his family.

Despite their limited experience, the family navigated from Madeira to Tenerife and then down to Cape Verde on a boat of that size. Daniel, who owns Cask World and is from Cornwall, said: "It was just always a dream to buy a boat and sail the world."

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Daniel explained: "We believe in being out there. If we're connecting with nature that's more valuable than some Gucci. We thought how can we allow the kids to have a childhood without being influenced by external factors? It was a dream come true. As a family I'm over the moon the children got to experience that."

Daniel's addiction began when he was 16 years old. He said: "I just started partying. It turned out I was allergic to alcohol. I would take drugs and just lose control. I was still functioning so it was very easy to say I didn't have a problem. My addiction was more binging."

"When I started getting to age 23, 24 and 25 that's when I realised mornings were difficult. It took me to a dark place." He was still grappling with his addiction when he met Bow in Bangkok in 2010, but by the following year, he had taken the decisive step to enter rehab.

It was a three-year journey for Daniel to achieve sustained sobriety,