Clipper Round The World 15/16

Leg 8 on the Clipper Round the World.

Race 1, from New York to Canada across the North Atlantic to Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Race 2, over the Irish sea to a port in Northern Europe. Race 3, the final race is across the North sea to London.

Sailing CV.
I have only been interested in sailing for the last two years and my sailing experience is limited to dinghy sailing plus 10 days at sea on practical sailing courses. My marine qualifications are Practical to RYA Day Skipper & Theory to RYA/MCA Costal Skipper & Yachtmaster Offshore.

30/10/14
I applied online to join the clipper 15/16 yacht race,

I had to pay a deposit of £100 to book an interview, this sum would be credited to my account with Clipper Ventures PLC if I was successful in my application.

I received an email in reply from Clipper with possible interview dates.

21/11/14

I went to Clipper HQ were I met Della Parsons and Vikki Gillard Crew Recruitment + 4 other applicants including Allan who said he was an Airline pilot with BA, a couple who were self employed in healthcare and a man who decided it wasn't for him ?

We had a group discussion were each person said their name, occupation and related the story of how they came to apply to join the race.

I told the group that I had read Team Spirit by Brendan Hall an ex Clipper skipper, I had done my day skippers practical course in Gosport in September 2014. At the time the clipper fleet was in the harbor so I went to have a closer look at the yachts, they were very impressive and that made me think of the idea of doing a leg on a clipper race, I think, sailing across an ocean is dangerous and the only way of doing it safely is in a clipper race.

The Clipper Fleet in Gosport, September 2014. 

The paint has come off the hull after the 13/14 circumnavigation.

Della replied, O it is, I did my circumnavigation on Hull & Humber with Brendan Hall, she related the story about a mast breaking and Brendan had to leave the boat, it was very lucky that we had a qualified yacht master on board. (looking at me) She went on if the skipper had done his job properly he should be able to leave running the boat to the crew by the last leg. (my leg)

Della said, the cost of insurance was about £350 per leg, a £500 deposit has to be paid to reserve a place and about £2,500 before stage one training and the balance before allocation day in June.

I was interviewed by Vikki, I told her that my ulterior motive was to do the millage and days at sea so I could do my yacht masters practical assessment, Vikki replied, your log book will be signed and everything you will have all the miles you need. I asked if I would get a certificate to prove I had done this, she replied, yes and they have started putting the total millage on them.

We were issued with a Magazine and DVD.

We then went to look at a Clipper 70,

The Clipper 70 has a mast head rig and the sale plan is a cutter rig with a Main, Staysail,Yankee Jib and Asymmetric spinnaker or gennaker for the 15/16 race.

The mast on the clipper 70 is about 90ft, its hard to imagine how tall it is.    

This is a sheet winch, on the Clipper 70, its very large about 8" diameter.

This image is a render of the Clipper 70 produced by an artist working in the 3ds Max pipeline. To give some perspective, the eight black dots are 8" winches

31/12/14

I have just finished reading A World On My Own by Robin Knox-Johnston, I decided to read this book because he is the boss at Clipper Ventures, It was like a diarists account of the first ever non-stop solo round the world voyage, from Falmouth in June 1968 to Falmouth in April 1969, 313 days at sea.

17/2/15
I receive a large number of emails with attachments from Clipper Ventures, If anyone is interested check out the collateral in the dropbox below.



18/2/15
I decided to add a video-

The Bowline

 

On the Clipper yachts the bowline is used for securing the sheets to the Yankee Jib & Staysail clue's,  It is also used on the ends of mooring lines and whenever a loop is required. 

20/2/15
I have just finished reading Racing Skipper by Mike Golding. I read this book because it was on the recommended reading list in the Clipper Training Manual. Mike was the skipper for Group 4 Securitas (International) B.V. He competed in the Sir Chay Blyth's, British Steel Challenge and the BT Global Challenge, both east west circumnavigations. He had a crew of 22 people to manage. The book was about the leadership, training and motivation of crews, working with polar data to asses crew performance, setting up the boat etc. The skippers in both races were professionals and the crews paid for their places, as with Clipper Racing. I assume this book was on the reading list to help us to understand the skippers role.

28/3/15

I did my VHF SRC course today. There was a lot of abbreviations.

25/4/15
Crew Allocation Day. - My Skipper is Darren Ladd or Daz.
I went to the Portsmouth Guild Hall for this event, crew allocation means allocation
to the skipper's team.
The actual boat name will be revealed in the future.
450 people attended and we all got goody bags, crew wrist bands, Rio Jackets and our head photos were taken.
After the allocations were announced we split up into groups of about 40 people
and moved into large conference rooms were we started planning our race.
At the end of the day the 450 of us had to stand in front of the Guild Hall for a Team photo.
There was at least 3 TV news teams and Clipper media teams taking photos, crew bio's etc.
UNICEF the worldwide children's charity was announced as the official race charity.

I decided to add the video-

1/5/15 to 7/5/15

Level 1

I started my level 1 training with;

Jim Prendergast - 40 - Skipper.

Diane Reid - 42- Mate. also a race Skipper-Mini Transat Ocean Race campaigner.

Bank Holiday Monday, we were in a force 9 gale off the Isle of White and it was awesome!

I took this video with my iphone it shows Clipper/RAF training.

The two people in the initial clip are the Skipper & Mate.

In tribute to Sarah Young.