This is the first of a series of blogs I intend to write about my preparation and attempt to race sail the Pacific in April 2018.
I am doing so with CLIPPER. http://clipperroundtheworld.com/ (please use this site - it provides masses of information about Clipper and the race as well as some fantastic video footage and testimony.)
(both myself and my brother Mike have signed up - we will be on different boats.)
My blogs will be a personal account only and will serve as a record for me and hopefully provide an insight for anyone else that reads them.
Here is some basic information as a starting point.
I am doing so with CLIPPER. http://clipperroundtheworld.com/ (please use this site - it provides masses of information about Clipper and the race as well as some fantastic video footage and testimony.)
(both myself and my brother Mike have signed up - we will be on different boats.)
My blogs will be a personal account only and will serve as a record for me and hopefully provide an insight for anyone else that reads them.
Here is some basic information as a starting point.
- Clipper is the name of a business - which happens to be based at Portsmouth. (see the web link above).
- It owns a fleet of 12 identical yachts called Clipper 70's - 70 feet long and weigh about 35 tons. These boats have been around the world twice before.
- Every two years Clipper stage a round the world race for their 12 matched yachts. The race is made up of 8 legs (from one port to another with short stopovers to make crew changes , essential maintenance and revictual). Each leg is a separate race and the overall winner is the boat that does best over the 8 legs that make up the full world circumnavigation. The race has worldwide interest.
- The race takes about 10 months.
- It is a truly international and cosmopolitan event with crew recruited from all over the world.
- Mike and I are on the 2017/18 race which starts from Liverpool on August 20th.
- Some people sign up to do the whole circumnavigation. Some do one or more legs.
- Mike and I are doing leg 6 - the Pacific crossing from Qingdao on the east coast of China to Seattle on the west coast of the USA. The Pacific is the world's biggest ocean. Our crossing route is in the north Pacific. It is over 6600 miles (twice the Atlantic). It will be cold and of course like any ocean - stormy at times.
- The crossing time for leg 6 is likely to be between 30 & 35 days + we have to get to China and back from America under our own steam. We will pick up the boat to start leg 6 in April 2018.
- Leading up to the race every crew member has to do the same 4 week comprehensive training program.
- Each boat needs a crew of about 20 people to sail a leg. Half of the crew will be made up of people who are doing the whole race and the other half will be made up of "leggers" like Mike and I.
- Clipper try to balance each crew so they roughly have the same gender, age and experience mix.
WHY HAVE I DECIDED TO DO THIS?
Making a personal decision to invest quite a lot of money, certainly a lot of time - and to some extent put your life on the line is a big decision. My personal reasons are quite simple.
Making a personal decision to invest quite a lot of money, certainly a lot of time - and to some extent put your life on the line is a big decision. My personal reasons are quite simple.
- I have used this quote before when describing the need to run a marathon. " the rewards for those who persevere far outweigh the pain that must precede victory " (Ted W Engstrom). There is nothing like the feeling you get at the end when you know to your core you have been tested and acquitted yourself well. It is a highly personal feeling and can be quite wonderful and certainly deeply emotional. Sailing the Pacific offers such an opportunity because it will be tough - maybe the hardest thing I have done.
- I love planning something like a trek from the comfort of my home - and then actually doing it. There is a lot to think about - a lot of preparation to be done.
- I like competition and team sport. The race format offers that and it also offers a real opportunity to work with some great people in a very meaningful way.
- In my retirement - ha! I plan to make recreational sailing one of my main activities. The Clipper training and completing the leg will vastly increase my sailing knowledge and experience.
WHY THE MIGHTY PACIFIC LEG ?
To do the whole circumnavigation would be amazing of course but it would mean almost 12 months away from home and cost about £55k. In both respects this is too much for me at this time.
Any leg would be wonderful and a fantastic achievement. However I have chosen the Pacific leg. To me it is the most defined leg - maybe the most romantic leg (to sail across the Pacific). The Pacific seems in another world and as the Clipper description says below - actually race sailing across the Pacific is still restricted to a relatively small number of people. It will also be a ferocious test because of weather, sea conditions and scale. There is not much bigger - so something amazing to achieve. I have in mind "swansong" and finally putting my feet up - ha!
Here is some prose from the Clipper site about The Mighty Pacific Leg - leg 6 :-
As you depart China, expect to be treated like a superhero as the media and spectators snap away, video, cheer and applaud as you walk down to your racing yacht.
The first few days when snow fell on a grey sea will be long forgotten as you work your boat to the maximum and reach the first waypoint at the southern tip of Japan. It might be a bit early to smile at the memory of the huge Pacific rollers that picked up your 70-foot yacht and allowed it to surf at 30 knots down into the trough ahead, save that for your first cold beer ashore.
After more than a month at sea, crossing the International Date Line and with nearly 6,000 miles left in your wake, you will be preparing to make one of the most momentous landfalls of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
If you are on watch, it could be your shout that alerts your team that the west coast of America has been spotted. By then, the incredible start spectacle put on by the Chinese sailing city of Qingdao will be distant memory but one that will live with you forever.
Knowing that you are one of the few people that will ever race a yacht across the planets greatest ocean makes the cold, wet and exhausting race completely worth while. You lived team work, not just talked about it. You stayed safe, raced fast and looked after yourself and your crew mates. The only thing better than living one of lifes greatest challenges, is sharing it with an amazing team.
ABOUT THE CLIPPER 70's
The third generation of one-design Clipper Race yachts debuted in the Clipper 2013-14 Race, proving to be faster and more dynamic than previous Clipper Race yachts, breaking speed records of 35 knots [One DLL, Leg 6].
The twelve 70-foot yachts make up world’s largest matched fleet of ocean racing yachts. Designed by renowned naval architect Tony Castro, they are the shining jewel in the Clipper Race crown, perfectly adapted to this grueling sailing challenge.
As with all lean, mean ocean racing yachts, the Clipper 70s are not for the faint hearted. They are by design stripped of all luxuries. Crew must become experts at living in a confined space, managing all their kit and belongings as they settle into their new home.
The Clipper 70s feature twin helms, twin rudders and a six-foot bowsprit, which allows the inclusion of three large asymmetric spinnakers and a suite of Yankee headsails, which combine to increase performance and boat speed. The new hull design produces better performance and control, especially in the light winds encountered near the Equator or between weather systems when crossing oceans. The design provides total control in the heaviest of conditions, ensuring not only high speeds, but safety too.
Today’s fleet is in stark comparison to the one which began the very first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996. Development ideas have been taken from both previous yacht designs: the Clipper 60s and Clipper 68s.
The first few days when snow fell on a grey sea will be long forgotten as you work your boat to the maximum and reach the first waypoint at the southern tip of Japan. It might be a bit early to smile at the memory of the huge Pacific rollers that picked up your 70-foot yacht and allowed it to surf at 30 knots down into the trough ahead, save that for your first cold beer ashore.
After more than a month at sea, crossing the International Date Line and with nearly 6,000 miles left in your wake, you will be preparing to make one of the most momentous landfalls of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
If you are on watch, it could be your shout that alerts your team that the west coast of America has been spotted. By then, the incredible start spectacle put on by the Chinese sailing city of Qingdao will be distant memory but one that will live with you forever.
Knowing that you are one of the few people that will ever race a yacht across the planets greatest ocean makes the cold, wet and exhausting race completely worth while. You lived team work, not just talked about it. You stayed safe, raced fast and looked after yourself and your crew mates. The only thing better than living one of lifes greatest challenges, is sharing it with an amazing team.
ABOUT THE CLIPPER 70's
The third generation of one-design Clipper Race yachts debuted in the Clipper 2013-14 Race, proving to be faster and more dynamic than previous Clipper Race yachts, breaking speed records of 35 knots [One DLL, Leg 6].
The twelve 70-foot yachts make up world’s largest matched fleet of ocean racing yachts. Designed by renowned naval architect Tony Castro, they are the shining jewel in the Clipper Race crown, perfectly adapted to this grueling sailing challenge.
As with all lean, mean ocean racing yachts, the Clipper 70s are not for the faint hearted. They are by design stripped of all luxuries. Crew must become experts at living in a confined space, managing all their kit and belongings as they settle into their new home.
The Clipper 70s feature twin helms, twin rudders and a six-foot bowsprit, which allows the inclusion of three large asymmetric spinnakers and a suite of Yankee headsails, which combine to increase performance and boat speed. The new hull design produces better performance and control, especially in the light winds encountered near the Equator or between weather systems when crossing oceans. The design provides total control in the heaviest of conditions, ensuring not only high speeds, but safety too.
Today’s fleet is in stark comparison to the one which began the very first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996. Development ideas have been taken from both previous yacht designs: the Clipper 60s and Clipper 68s.
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