Welcome to my blog about my
participation in the Clipper Round the World 13-14 Yacht Race.
As I approach the time when
I join my boat in San Francisco, I have reflected on how I have got to this
point.
This initial posting is
fairly long as it covers nearly two years. Subsequent news will be shorter, so
if you want to skim this part please do. However, I hope you find it
interesting.
It all started when Cathy
and I were Christmas shopping in Birmingham early in November 2011. On Moor
Street Station, Cathy pointed out a poster showing a yacht and the words,
“Sailed by people like you”. This was one of the very successful poster
campaigns run by Clipper Ventures who run the Round the World Yacht Race. I have undertaken a few challenges, the London
Marathon, Three Peaks Challenge and cycling across England in a day and this
race certainly grabbed my attention.
Research on the internet led
me to seek more information and an application form. By mid-November, my
application was accepted and I was invited to attend an interview at The Boat
Show in London on the 8th January. One question of many for me now
was, if I got accepted, would I divert the money I had saved for a new BMW or
Harley Davidson motorcycle now go towards this adventure!
The interview with Dave
Cusworth, the recruitment manager at Clipper, went well. Most of the discussion
was about team building, competitive natures, sleep deprivation and pushing
oneself into situations well outside of one’s comfort zones. Scary stuff but
exciting!!
Two days later I received
the e-mail to say that I had been accepted for the 2013-14 Round the World
Yacht Race. Did I really know what I was letting myself in for and also what I
was letting Cathy in for? We had a few conversations on this and Cathy gave her
blessing, albeit with some concerns.
The Race is made up of 8
Legs and I was thinking that I would do either the first, leaving the UK and
racing down to Rio de Janeiro or the last from New York to the UK. Being a bit
of a glory boy, I plumped for the last, Leg 8. Then I spoke to someone who had
taken part in a previous race and who told me that one Leg was not enough and
that I must see the Panama Canal. In short, I then added the Leg from San
Francisco to New York via Panama.
Level 1 Training
On Friday the 13th
April, I drove to Gosport to join 8 other people from all parts of the world to
undergo my Level 1 training. Some had done some sailing before or owned their
own yacht, whilst others had never stepped on a yacht. We joined a skipper and
first mate who would bring us all up to a set standard. We were on Serica, a
sixty foot, 30 tonne yacht that had completed the 40,000 mile Round the World Race
on four previous occasions. She was now one of the two training yachts based at
Gosport.
The training was excellent. The key points were safety,
learning to communicate as a team and learning much about sailing such a craft
in various conditions. Two experiences will live with me forever. The first was
being at the helm at one o’clock in the morning as we approached the Needles
off the Isle of Wight and a force 9 gale developed. The skipper instructed me
to steer towards two columns of red lights which could be seen on the mainland.
This was easier said than done as the wind and the sea meant that I was using
all my strength to hold the helm on the correct course. It was also daunting to
suddenly lose the lights on the mainland as we plummeted into a trough between
the waves and to be confronted by a solid wall of black water! The skipper
decided that conditions were too severe for a first time crew to stay out and
he took the helm and headed to Weymouth where we tied up and spent a rather
more comfortable night.
The following day, we found
ourselves in the Solent in quite calm conditions. Volunteers to go up the mast
were sought. I offered and was asked by the
skipper to take my camera. My task was to photograph all elements of the
rigging such as nuts, bolts and radio antennae to feedback to the maintenance
team in port. I donned the harness and was attached to a halyard (piece of rope
attached to a winch). What an experience it is to be at the top of a 75 foot
mast, swaying from side to side, taking photos one-handed and looking down to
see the two dots (people) that were responsible for keeping me safely at that
height on a piece of rope! I did manage to take a selfy though.
The week ended and the
skipper recommended that I go forward for the next level of training. On a
practical note, because I am tall, he
suggested that I do some work on strengthening my core in order that I can keep
low and keep my balance in difficult sailing conditions. Being described as being
akin to “Bambi on Ice” has led me to undergo nearly two years of gruelling abs
work at the gym.
2011-12 Race Finish
On July 22nd 2012,
we went to see the boats arrive back in Southampton at the end of the 2011-12 Race.
It was a great sight to see the boats led in by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on Suhaili,
the boat on which he completed the first single handed non-stop
circumnavigation of the globe. The excitement of all the families welcoming
home their loved ones was fabulous. I also had the opportunity to speak to one
of the skippers from a previous race, Brendan Hall, who had written a book about
his experience of sailing a yacht around the world with an amateur crew. Team
Spirit is well worth a read.
Level 2 Training
On the last week of October,
I returned to Gosport to join another set of people to undertake Level 2
training. This time I was on Geraldton, one of the 68 foot yachts that had
earlier in the year completed the 2011-12 Race. This boat had now
circumnavigated 4 times and like its fellow 68-footers, would give way to the
new 70 foot boats being manufactured for the 2013-14 Race. Our skipper this
time was Simon Bradley, a very experienced sailor. He had circumnavigated as a
crew member with Clipper in 2000 and then was the skipper of Jamaica Clipper in
the 2007-8 Race. More recently he has worked for the Gypsy Moth IV Trust and
skippered the boat in the Queen’s Pageant on the Thames. Simon’s training style
was seemingly laid back, but the level of seamanship he taught and equipped us
with was high. We were now becoming trained as a racing crew with each sail
change or manoeuvre being timed. We were pushed hard and this led to my only
bout of seasickness to date.
We were doing repeat sail
changes to the east of the Isle of Wight with the weather getting stronger and
a lumpy sea developing. We were told that lunch was ready and that we should
eat it as quickly as possible. Down went a pasty and baked beans served on deck.
(No G&T’s here followed by a light salad!). Immediately, we returned to the
hard physical work. Regrettably, lumpy sea, hard work and rapid eating only led
to my lunch heading seaward very quickly.
Besides on-deck roles, I
also learned how to wool a spinnaker. This is where you roll
up the spinnaker along its length and then place a woollen tie around it
at two foot intervals so that when it is hoisted, the wool breaks and the
spinnaker bursts into a massive curved wind-filled sail. We also practiced
towing another boat in the event of breakdown or loss of vital steering gear
and also practiced transferring essential emergency items between boats whilst
at sea.
After three days on the
water, we went to a local college to undertake
our Sea Survival course. In the morning we were taught the theory of survival
at sea by a couple of ex-Royal Navy veterans (including the fact that if you
manage to catch fish, only eat their eyes, flesh and liver as these contain valuable
protein). In the afternoon we learnt how to board life rafts whilst wearing
life jackets--not an easy task!
There then followed a three
day and two night sail down to the West Country and then over to Cherbourg and
back. We were introduced to the watch system, being on deck for 4 hours and
then sleeping for 4 hours all through the day and night. However, I learned
that staying in the bunk for those 4 hours were not easy when the boat was
leaning at 40 degrees. I was prevented from falling out by a thin strip of
material called a lee cloth strung from the bunk side up onto the bulkhead!
At all times we practiced
sail changes, gybing, tacking and the man overboard (MOB) procedure. We also
learned what it was like to sail across the English Channel - one of the
busiest shipping lanes in the world - at night. It was during this time that
the fantastic opportunity Clipper provides and the somewhat quirkiness of the
situation suddenly hit me. There was young Sam Gundry, just 17, steering a 30
tonne ocean racing yacht across the shipping lanes of the English Channel in
the middle of the night and he hadn’t yet got a driving licence!
Once again, a group of
people had come together and had formed a good team. There were our three
doctors so we were in good hands, James the young ever hungry electrician who
took everything apart but didn’t know what an Oxo cube was and had never eaten
a hard-boiled egg, Chris the yacht racer who taught us sail trimming, Nick the
retired police officer and rugby referee with whom I had many discussions,
Helen who had a pharmacy’s entire stock of every anti-seasickness remedy, Sam
our young helmsman and Yasmin who was always cold.
Team Allocation
On the 11th of
May, 2013 over 450 crew members meet in the Guildhall Portsmouth to be told
which team we would be allocated to for the Race. The meeting was also streamed
live on the internet so that those from other countries could watch.
The twelve skippers took it
in turn to announce the names. Vicky Ellis, read out my name and I knew I was
in Team Switzerland. So I would be sailing under the leadership of a 30 year
old blonde!
A team working session then
followed to introduce ourselves and plan the next few weeks in terms of team
building, roles within the team, crew contracts and team ethos. Vicky
immediately impressed us with her no nonsense approach, her desire to have
safety at the top of her agenda and to make sure she has a happy and
enthusiastic team sailing with her.
Level 3 Training
Despite a delay in the
delivery of the new boats from Chinaa, I was lucky to spend the whole week on
the actual boat I would be on during the race. This was the new 70 foot
twin-helm design with much more of a streamlined racing shape.
The crew for the week
consisted of 9 team members from Team Switzerland plus our skipper Vicky as one
watch and nine members of Team Qingdao with their skipper, Gareth Glover being
the other watch. Gareth had circumnavigated in 2011-12 as skipper of Team New
York. The new boats have reduced numbers of bunks and so we were hot bunking
with a member of the other watch. Each day, one member of each watch (known as
“mothers”) would pair up to do all the meal preparation, cooking and making
drinks.
During the first two days we
got to know the boat, our new team members and how to work as a cohesive unit.
During the week, all the
yachts raced from the Solent to Eastbourne, over to Alderney and back to the
Solent. Once there we practiced further tacks, gybes and MOBs. The latter was
made much more realistic than in previous training as we now had life-sized
dummies to rescue and they weighed as much as a human, particularly when wet.
Once back in port, a number
of us stayed aboard until the next day when the boat would be officially named
during a ceremony attended by both our sponsors, Swiss Sailing and Mercy Ships
along with Miss Switzerland and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Not unsurprisingly,
Miss Switzerland proved more popular for photos with the male crew members!!
Boat Preparation
In August, I spent 4 days
helping change the boat from what was little more than a shell into a place
which would be home to people for up to eleven months and which would stand up
to the rigours of the world’s oceans and weather extremes. For some reason, one
of my specialities became the construction of the bunks. I assume I was chosen
because I am one of the largest crew members and if the bunks would support me
for a good night’s sleep, then they would be fit for all.
The Start
The boats sailed from
Gosport to the Thames and in to St Katharine dock from where they would start
the race.
The start ceremony was quite
a spectacle as each boat left the dock and formed up for a parade of sail in
the Thames. Tower Bridge was opened especially for the parade. We had booked
places on a spectator boat and accompanied the parade down to the Thames
Barrier. The boats then continued out to the estuary where a racing start was
held the next morning.
The Race
So the Race start was over
six months ago. Team Switzerland are doing well and are 6th out of
12 boats overall. Vicky gained the distinction of being the first female
skipper to cross the finishing line in the Sydney-Hobart race and then went on
to win the race from Hobart to Brisbane. There have already been many stories
told and many twists and turns to the Race.
My story starts very soon.
Just the small matter of our daughter’s wedding before I depart!
But what a great event for
me to think about as I cover almost 9500 nautical miles on Switzerland or Heidi
as she is affectionately known.
I hope to share my
experiences with you on a regular basis.
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| 75 feet up the mast! |
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| What the well dressed Clipper legger is wearing this season! |
