Level 3 training - another intense week of sailing is now under my belt. For the first time we sailed on a Clipper 70 - ( the actual boats used in the forthcoming 2017/18 race).
The first day however was in the classroom. We completed the ISAF course. ISAF is World Sailing's Offshore Personal Survival Course. It was massively thought provoking. For myself (and the others I think) I left in a rather sombre mood initially. We spent the day going through the things that can go wrong on a boat - their consequences - and how to avoid them.
Injuries from falling is obviously one - and on a pitching boat with lots of hard surfaces - that is easy to understand. The mantra - stay low - one hand for you - one hand for the boat.
Another - a major one is being hit by the boom, flogging sheets or swinging blocks. Weight and tensions are massive. The are "no go" areas designated - but they change at different points of sailing - and things can break of course. A lot to remember.
The most scary one is "man over board". A scenario - your boat is speeding down wind at 20 knots under a massive spinnaker in heavy sea conditions. Someone goes over the side. To depower the yacht - turn around - locate and retrieve is a massive undertaking. Separation distances because of boat speed can easily be 100 meters a minute. To get the boat under control (head sails down) and in a position to go back could easily take twenty minutes and has been very much longer. Locating a dot in a massive ocean of breaking waves too is to say the least very hard. We then learned about cold water shock, hypothermia, and secondary drowning. How long you can survive in a cold ocean? Put together - well it hardly bears thinking about. The answer is to avoid it happening - and to avoid it happening you have to "clip on". Attached to your lifejacket (which must be worn at all times on deck) are strops which when "clipped on" attach you to the boat (although they may not stop you going over the side - but a tethered retrieval should obviously be easier). This was drilled into us. You must clip on. The problem is being clipped on is a pain as it makes moving and functioning more difficult - and it is all too easy to cut corners or be forgetful.
Several things came out of the ISAF course for me. First of all this was serious. There is no scope for messing around particularly as we are probably doing the most full on leg - the formidable stormy and cold north Pacific. (Clipper has an excellent safety record but a bright young woman lost her life here in the last race. Momentarily not clipped on - over the side - long time retrieval despite the best efforts of her crew mates - and she died and was buried at sea. Terribly sad.) I MUST stay clipped on. No lapses of concentration. No short cuts. The other is I am going to invest in a "dry suit". They are expensive. They are a pain to get in and out of - but they keep the water out when you are on deck in stormy weather - but their main virtue is they will give you a bit more of a chance in the sea in terms of time as they will help to keep the cold out. (Clipper are also providing personal locater beacons attached to life jackets which should make some difference in finding the MOB).
Enough - as I said the ISAF course did leave me in a rather sombre mood. On reflection that was its purpose. It was set up to make you think - to wake you up. To be realistic. It has definitely done that.
After ISAF it was on the boat and sail training. First the Clipper 70's. They followed the 68's (which were used for Level 1 & 2.) In many respects they are similar but also there are significant differences. Apparently the 70's are faster downwind boats and I prefer the deck layout - with the snake pit tailed back to the main cockpit area and there is a double helm. There are significant differences in the layout downstairs with the main crew bunks aft on the 70's and unlike on the 68's separate from the wet sail locker - a big advantage. The galley was also much better to use although our skipper made us laugh when he said cooking in a Clipper oven is like leaving it out in the sun!
The sailing. We had a really excellent week. Tremendous skipper and mate in Matt and Dale. A really nice bunch forming our crew. 10 of us. No massive ego's. No know it alls. We gelled well as a team and in fact this was a lot about what week 3 is about. I have mentioned evolutions in earlier blogs. To date evolutions were performed very carefully - step by step. Now we are working on getting up speed and anticipating the next step - making the whole thing slicker and faster with racing in mind.
The other big development for us was the introduction of spinnakers. The Clipper navigation route around the world is the "right way" ie going with the prevailing winds - the trade winds - rather than beating against them. This means there will be a lot of downwind sailing - the wind behind and the spinnakers come into their own. Clipper boats carry 3 asymmetric spinnakers - Codes 1 2 & 3 for different wind strengths. They are huge - half the size of a tennis court or bigger and a lot of cloth to handle. When they are hoist you can feel the boat surge away - as these huge sails fill and billow at the bow. But a spinnaker is a handful. The size, the tension on the sheets and the fact they fly largely outside the boat and have to be hauled back in. We learned a lot. Inside and outside gybes, trimming, letter box drops and recovery and the very time consuming repacking with wool! A lot to learn. Teamwork and communication is absolutely essential.
We had two especially strong wind days. On the first day we bombed down from Portsmouth to Brighton under spinnaker, in no time. Then is was a tacking fest back, beating against big seas and plenty of wind. The boat was often at 45 degrees - waves coming over the leeward gunnel. It was a taste of what is to come and how full on it will be. You have to crawl to the high side at times. Most of the crew felt dodgy. 5 including me were actually sea sick. Not a lovely feeling but we got going again. The hardest bit I find is being below deck - especially in the galley.
The second day was brilliant. Perfect conditions for a Clipper yacht. We had one reef in our main and yankee 3 and staysail for a beat into the wind down the Solent to round the Needles. This was great fun as it was a Sunday and there were plenty of boats around. We tacked and tacked. Great practice. We wizzed past every yacht we came up against. We were laughing and cheering. Wow. Then eventually around the Needles and up the back of the Wight under our spinnaker. Fantastic. It took us about 7 hours. Then back into Gosport Marina - shower, beer and dinner. It is amazing how strangers can gel in a week.
I have learned so much. Confidence is growing in what I am doing. I am beginning to feel a bit of a sailor - ha! Confronting the ISAF course was necessary - crucially important. I will carry it with me. There are dangers - there are risks of course - but being out there - being challenged and feeling the wind and the speed and the power of the sea is quite incredible. It is addictive!
Here are one or two photos :-
The first day however was in the classroom. We completed the ISAF course. ISAF is World Sailing's Offshore Personal Survival Course. It was massively thought provoking. For myself (and the others I think) I left in a rather sombre mood initially. We spent the day going through the things that can go wrong on a boat - their consequences - and how to avoid them.
Injuries from falling is obviously one - and on a pitching boat with lots of hard surfaces - that is easy to understand. The mantra - stay low - one hand for you - one hand for the boat.
Another - a major one is being hit by the boom, flogging sheets or swinging blocks. Weight and tensions are massive. The are "no go" areas designated - but they change at different points of sailing - and things can break of course. A lot to remember.
The most scary one is "man over board". A scenario - your boat is speeding down wind at 20 knots under a massive spinnaker in heavy sea conditions. Someone goes over the side. To depower the yacht - turn around - locate and retrieve is a massive undertaking. Separation distances because of boat speed can easily be 100 meters a minute. To get the boat under control (head sails down) and in a position to go back could easily take twenty minutes and has been very much longer. Locating a dot in a massive ocean of breaking waves too is to say the least very hard. We then learned about cold water shock, hypothermia, and secondary drowning. How long you can survive in a cold ocean? Put together - well it hardly bears thinking about. The answer is to avoid it happening - and to avoid it happening you have to "clip on". Attached to your lifejacket (which must be worn at all times on deck) are strops which when "clipped on" attach you to the boat (although they may not stop you going over the side - but a tethered retrieval should obviously be easier). This was drilled into us. You must clip on. The problem is being clipped on is a pain as it makes moving and functioning more difficult - and it is all too easy to cut corners or be forgetful.
Several things came out of the ISAF course for me. First of all this was serious. There is no scope for messing around particularly as we are probably doing the most full on leg - the formidable stormy and cold north Pacific. (Clipper has an excellent safety record but a bright young woman lost her life here in the last race. Momentarily not clipped on - over the side - long time retrieval despite the best efforts of her crew mates - and she died and was buried at sea. Terribly sad.) I MUST stay clipped on. No lapses of concentration. No short cuts. The other is I am going to invest in a "dry suit". They are expensive. They are a pain to get in and out of - but they keep the water out when you are on deck in stormy weather - but their main virtue is they will give you a bit more of a chance in the sea in terms of time as they will help to keep the cold out. (Clipper are also providing personal locater beacons attached to life jackets which should make some difference in finding the MOB).
Enough - as I said the ISAF course did leave me in a rather sombre mood. On reflection that was its purpose. It was set up to make you think - to wake you up. To be realistic. It has definitely done that.
After ISAF it was on the boat and sail training. First the Clipper 70's. They followed the 68's (which were used for Level 1 & 2.) In many respects they are similar but also there are significant differences. Apparently the 70's are faster downwind boats and I prefer the deck layout - with the snake pit tailed back to the main cockpit area and there is a double helm. There are significant differences in the layout downstairs with the main crew bunks aft on the 70's and unlike on the 68's separate from the wet sail locker - a big advantage. The galley was also much better to use although our skipper made us laugh when he said cooking in a Clipper oven is like leaving it out in the sun!
The sailing. We had a really excellent week. Tremendous skipper and mate in Matt and Dale. A really nice bunch forming our crew. 10 of us. No massive ego's. No know it alls. We gelled well as a team and in fact this was a lot about what week 3 is about. I have mentioned evolutions in earlier blogs. To date evolutions were performed very carefully - step by step. Now we are working on getting up speed and anticipating the next step - making the whole thing slicker and faster with racing in mind.
The other big development for us was the introduction of spinnakers. The Clipper navigation route around the world is the "right way" ie going with the prevailing winds - the trade winds - rather than beating against them. This means there will be a lot of downwind sailing - the wind behind and the spinnakers come into their own. Clipper boats carry 3 asymmetric spinnakers - Codes 1 2 & 3 for different wind strengths. They are huge - half the size of a tennis court or bigger and a lot of cloth to handle. When they are hoist you can feel the boat surge away - as these huge sails fill and billow at the bow. But a spinnaker is a handful. The size, the tension on the sheets and the fact they fly largely outside the boat and have to be hauled back in. We learned a lot. Inside and outside gybes, trimming, letter box drops and recovery and the very time consuming repacking with wool! A lot to learn. Teamwork and communication is absolutely essential.
We had two especially strong wind days. On the first day we bombed down from Portsmouth to Brighton under spinnaker, in no time. Then is was a tacking fest back, beating against big seas and plenty of wind. The boat was often at 45 degrees - waves coming over the leeward gunnel. It was a taste of what is to come and how full on it will be. You have to crawl to the high side at times. Most of the crew felt dodgy. 5 including me were actually sea sick. Not a lovely feeling but we got going again. The hardest bit I find is being below deck - especially in the galley.
The second day was brilliant. Perfect conditions for a Clipper yacht. We had one reef in our main and yankee 3 and staysail for a beat into the wind down the Solent to round the Needles. This was great fun as it was a Sunday and there were plenty of boats around. We tacked and tacked. Great practice. We wizzed past every yacht we came up against. We were laughing and cheering. Wow. Then eventually around the Needles and up the back of the Wight under our spinnaker. Fantastic. It took us about 7 hours. Then back into Gosport Marina - shower, beer and dinner. It is amazing how strangers can gel in a week.
I have learned so much. Confidence is growing in what I am doing. I am beginning to feel a bit of a sailor - ha! Confronting the ISAF course was necessary - crucially important. I will carry it with me. There are dangers - there are risks of course - but being out there - being challenged and feeling the wind and the speed and the power of the sea is quite incredible. It is addictive!
Here are one or two photos :-
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| beating back |
 |
| Our Level 3 crew. Skipper Matt & Mate Dale on the left - tremendous sailors. The landlady was just about to kick us out! |
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