How did Billy end up on a Clipper 68?

I was recently lucky enough to spend a week on one of the Clipper round the world yachts, taking part in their level 1 training. This is not an easy thing to get on to…

For those of you who don’t know what the Clipper round The World Race is, I will explain. In essence, it is a round the world sailing race covering 40,000 nautical miles and is divided into 8 legs. Nothing unusual about that you might think. The difference about the Clipper race is that the people who make up the crews come from all walks of life, and many of them have absolutely no sailing experience whatsoever prior to their compulsory 4 stage training weeks that they must complete before taking part…. It was level 1 that I took part in.

This kind of race is normally the domain of seasoned pros, but Clipper provide the 70 ft yachts and an experienced  qualified skipper to safely guide the crew through the many difficulties that they will encounter during each of the legs. This is a race that has some of the best yachts in the world sailing through some of the most dangerous seas in the world with some of the most experienced skippers in the world. Crewed by amatuers. What’s not to like?

Luckily for me one of our sponsors, Elliot Brown Watches, are the official time keepers for the race. They spoke to Clipper and drew up a plan for one lucky firefighter to be selected to take part in leg 6, sailing from China to North America and covering over 6,500 miles of the North Pacific in about 33 days. For Clipper to make a decision as which Firefighter is best suited to the task they shortlisted all the entrants down to a group of 8 and those 8 were invited to all take part in a level one training course. This is how I found myself dockside at Gosport Marina last week…

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with Ocean rowing. Well, our boat is essentially a yacht without sails. When we are out on the Indian Ocean we will be using the same navigational equipment that you find on a yacht, the same water making system, the same energy cells and the same satellite communication system. We will also be subject to the same weather patterns, issues with a saltwater environment and, to some extent, we will be hoping that the area of the boat above the waterline will make use of the wind in the same way that a sail does. (There is a huge debate about Ocean Rowing boats that are designed specifically to have the maximum amount of “windage” in their designs, they are often referred to as “blown boats” and cause no end of arguments in the Ocean Rowing community, ours is not a blown boat, and we will cover this in another blog.)

So, my week on the water was well spent, as it gave me an opportunity to refresh my sailing skills. It also happens to be a fact that I just love being on the water. If you don’t believe me, just check out this photo…

Pretty happy wouldn’t you say?

So, Friday evening I found myself in the marina office waiting for everyone else to turn up. I was immediately struck by the massive range of people who were turning up for the course. By the time we had received our fobs to gain access to the marina and were making our way to the boat that would be our home for the week we had Data analysts, a retired doctor, an app developer, people from the city, somebody who worked for a yacht charter company in Gibraltar, 4 fire fighters and a few others that I have absolutely no idea what they do despite them explaining it several times – I suspect that they didn’t really know either. There were more girls than guys. The oldest was 50 something and the youngest was 18. Some had sailing experience and others had never set foot on a boat before. Adventure, it seems, appeals to all and this is the one thing that that we all had in common. We went through the obligatory safety tals (Clipper are absolutely fastidious when it comes to the crews safety) before settling in for the evening on board by picking our luxury bunks and having a chat before turning in for the evening.

It was lie, they are not luxurious…

The next morning we all got up early and showered in the marina (there are no showers on board and this trip to the showers was a daily tradition that I won’t bore you with, just take it as read that we all enjoyed a daily dose of hot clean water that didn’t have to be pumped by foot!).

The first day also happened to my turn to be the “Mother Watch”. This meant that I would be responsible, alongside Scott (who is a good friend of mine from Berkshire Fire and Rescue service and founder of Split Lip Adventures), for feeding and watering the 17 people who were living the dream – this was actually OK. The food was simple, and it ended up that we didn’t actually have to cook while we were out on the water. People were grateful for any food at all, and everybody loves a cup of tea or coffee. More safety talks ensued until finally we were off!

I have been sailing before. In fact, I have covered approx. 25,000 sea miles under sail. This will be no problem I thought to myself feeling rather smug. I was very, very wrong. You see, all my sailing has been on traditional yachts, yachts that are basic and reliable and easy to master. A Clipper 68 is not a traditional yacht. The best way that I can think to explain it is through the medium of horses. Everything that I had sailed on before had been a bit like that bored old pony that you find at kiddy animal farms – old, friendly, slow and absolutely no way is it ever going to expend on calorie more than it needs to. The clipper 68 is like a thoroughbred – uptight, raring to go, crazy and will kick your head in if you don’t treat it right. I knew what needed to happen to make the boat go forward, but I really had my doubts as to how to make this happen…

I’m going to end this here, as I read somewhere that posts should be around the 500 word mark to prevent people becoming bored. I am double that, and can hear you yawning.

The next post in the series will be titled “Broken boat, broken bones and a force ten gale”.