I just completed my Level 1 Clipper Training to begin to prepare me to sail around the world. The last week has been enlightening and refreshing but before I dive into the details, I realize I might need to give a little backstory. I have been preparing for the last few months to trade in my life as I know it in order to embark on a journey that feeds my soul. I have been reducing my possessions, rehoming my animals, and training replacements at work while reading manuals, practicing knots, and watching webinars to ready myself for an adventure of a lifetime. I signed my contract with Clipper Round the World Race in January 2023 which will allow me to board a seventy-foot sailing yacht with around 20 team members to sail the trade winds from the United Kingdom to Uruguay then across the South Atlantic to South Africa, through the Roaring Forties to Australia, around the southern Australian coast and up to China, then across the Pacific to Seattle, then to New York via the Panama Canal, and finally across the Atlantic once more back to the UK. The race starts at the beginning of September but I will be back and forth from home to the UK for a total of 4 levels of training and a team-building weekend.
© Clipper Round The World Race
I finally made it to level one training. It seems like it took so long to get here and then it happened all of a sudden. I felt oddly at peace the entire time until about 24 hours before I flew out, then the nerves kicked in and thankfully dissipated again. My flights were uneventful (which I can appreciate). Navigating the train system in the UK was slightly more confusing than I had hoped but with the help of strangers, I made it with no wrong turns. I had a nice stay for one night in an AirBnb. A quick ferry ride from Portsmouth to Gosport in the morning. Then, I spent the day relaxing on the beach reading before checking in for training this afternoon.
My training skipper’s name was Nigel and my first mate was Sascha. Training teammates were an eclectic group with varying stories. A cinematographer from Poland living in LA, a physicist turned engineer and outdoor adventurer from the UK, a wastewater treatment graduate student studying in India from Scotland, a motorcycle dealer from Mexico, an undergraduate student from Scotland, an all-around earth roamer from the Netherlands but living in Portugal, the Brazilian who sold skidoos and worked on boats and farmed, a pediatrician from Canada, logistics specialist from the States, an interior designer from UK, and my partner in crime was born in South Africa but lived most his life in Australia before moving to Qatar recently and runs a media business. We had some extremely stimulating conversations and I walked away with a much broader view of the world, some amazing stories that were shared with me, and a handful of book recommendations that I am looking forward to reading. There was no political discussion rule on the boat but we did get into the weeds a little on sustainability and human impact.
We were broken into teams and assigned a partner and worked our way through different positions on the boat each day. They included being an Engineer one day, checking the water intake filter, oil, coolant, and diesel levels, and steering hardware. Even though we will be under sails for the race, we still need the engine to move in and out of marinas and in the event of emergencies. Navigation another day, making entries in the log book, recording our location, direction, sea state and anything else deemed noteworthy. Deckhands some days, checking the condition of the boat above deck and preparing sails for the day. And Mother Watch another day (we will come back to this one later).
We covered safety on the boat including life vests, clipping on, danger zones, and a little doom and gloom. We covered Man Overboard (MOB) procedures and ran 3 drills with a dummy that is typically named Bob but ours was named Lisa. We also worked on sailing! ‘Evolutions’ as they are called included hoisting sails, reefing (taking in part of the mainsail), tacking (turning the boat with the bow passing through the wind) and gybing (turning the boat with the stern passing through the wind). Throughout our evolutions, we stepped into various rolls including snake pit, running the sheets, operating the running backstays, and helming. I loved all of them.
My two highlights from the week included:
Sailing. I loved it. I loved the power of the wind, how the boat handled that energy, being outside, being with a team that was also enjoying it. The tiny baby heel that we experienced one day when the wind picked up for a bit. Being in a great learning environment. And being present.
And making sandwiches. This might sound super silly but this moment felt a bit special to me. Charles and I were almost last up on “Mother Watch”. It was our responsibility to make sure that our team members were fed, coffeed and tead (not verbs but I am using them as verbs), and the galley stayed cleaned that day. Everyone had done a nice job on Mother Watch so far but I looked at Charles the day we were supposed to start our Mother Watch and let him know I wanted to knock it out of the park. When it came time for us to make sandwiches, we went all in (at least as much as we could on a boat out on the water). We made order slips with each person’s name and passed them out so we could make sandwiches exactly as people would prefer checking all their preferred condiments and veggies. We rolled the slices of meat, Charles did a phenomenal job slicing cheese and tomatoes, we organized the leaves of the lettuce. We did diagonal cuts to show off the over the top organization inside the sandwiches and Charles took charge of plating with a kitkat presented as the edible garnish. Sure, we made a lot of extra plates to wash instead of just sending them up on deck in paper towels but we had so much fun putting an excessive amount of energy into such a simple task and working to make it beautiful. I think back to my previous life and how everything was rushed… With harsh deadlines and too much to do and a stopwatch on every activity and the next activity being primed in my brain before I would finish the current one, the sandwiches I would have made two months ago for my crew would have looked vastly different from the sandwiches I had the opportunity to make last week. I also love that I had a partner alongside me that was 100% willing to indulge in this experience with me!
I enjoyed this experience and I also enjoyed getting to step outside myself to observe my interactions with the world and being proud of where I am at in life. I love asking those who I view as wiser what the secret to life is. It is such a vague question and they can really take it anywhere. Two responses that I heard this week were “face your fears and chase your dreams” and the other was “have fun, have fun, have fun” I can’t say I faced any fears this week, but I am chasing my dreams and I am having fun doing it.
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