A BLACKPOOL psychiatrist became a shrink on the ocean waves when he took part in the world's toughest yacht challenge.

Blackpool-born Dale Harrison, 37, newly-appointed consultant psychiatrist to the Fylde Community Health Trust, was a crew-member in this year's BT Global Round the World Challenge.

The well-travelled doctor - who has practised in South America, Denmark, New Zealand and Australia, conducted research in India and lived on a kibbutz in Israel - was on holiday with his wife and four-year-old son in New Zealand when he saw the Challenge boats.

Intrigued, he left his name, and two weeks later was invited to join the crew of Motorola, facing 40-foot waves and 70-knot winds in the Southern Ocean.

"To go round the world the wrong way - against the tides, winds and currents is really tough," he said. "Because I was the medic, the crew looked to me for reassurance. But there were days when I thought I wasn't going to make it. And I certainly wouldn't go back to the Southern Ocean in a hurry."

As waves lashed the boat, injuries were inevitable, and Dale found himself dealing with a broken collar bone, fractured ribs, a broken tooth and a gashed face, which he stitched in a force eight gale. Motorola finished a creditable fourth out of 14 boats.

Coming home to Blackpool, where his dad still grows tomatoes on Marton Moss, may seem an anti-climax, but not to Dale: "Psychiatry is an exciting field, an adventure in itself," he said. "You feel you can really make a difference to people's lives."

Some crew members have found difficulty settling down to ordinary life, but not Dale: "I'm fortunate, I have a new challenge - my first consultant's post."

He will, however, not be sailing around the Fylde coast: "It's just too cold!"

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