Clipper Round The World Race
Discussion
yes had a friend who was on Bekezela 23/24
he had an interesting time .......to say the least I think it cost him north of £50k
a few words from his blog hopefully nothing too personal
The Boats
Built for racing and not for comfort. Incredibly fast and robust sailing machines. But.
I can only describe the living conditions as a badly designed 1950’s caravan - tilted at 45 degrees most of the time - moving violently in three dimensions all the time.
A dodgy caravan on a rollercoaster.
It doesn’t stop moving when you are cooking, eating, sleeping, looking for your socks or using the toilet.
You're the ball in a pinball machine.
Living space suitable for no more than 8 gymnastic dwarves, but in reality shared with a crew of 16 ‘ish.
If it’s warm it’s an oven. If it’s cold it’s a fridge - running with condensation. Colder and wetter on the inside than the outside. Bunk and mattress that was never designed for a human being.
The Training
All crew complete 4 levels of training. I’ve done the first two. The training is excellent.
Level 1 was day sailing from the UK, getting used to the Clipper 68 boats - different to anything I’d sailed before - everything is big, heavy, fast and unforgiving. Long days of sailing but great fun. June - so shorts and sunscreen needed. In the pub every night. Gentlemen’s sailing.
Level 2 was most of a week in wintry November in a sustained force 9. Sea state as big and confused as I'd ever seen before. Never more than a few hours sleep and 17 hours of darkness a day. Lots of crew in their bunk, or unable to do much, due to chucking up being in fashion. Not gentlemen’s sailing.
I wasn’t fazed by the weather or the watch system or the squalor - done all that. But after a week I was wrecked - I couldn’t wait to get home for a good sleep. Ten days before my hands stopped aching from hand steering for hours in heavy weather - only two of us up for sharing the helming in those conditions. Bruised from clattering across the galley at 2 in the morning whilst making a cheese sandwich. My own fault - but a cheese sandwich is worth the effort.
Four weeks of that, and worse, in the Southern Ocean, while actually trying to win a race, is going to test me to my limit.
Level 3 training in a couple of weeks.
The People
Almost without exception, the people I've sailed with who've done a previous Clipper race, or who are doing the training with me for this race, are ….. exceptional.
It’s humbling. And almost without exception I’d be happy to share the overcrowded caravan and the pinball machine with them. But not the cheese sandwich. Obviously.
The Jobs
As well as there being a little bit of sailing involved, there's a list of speciality jobs to be allocated amongst the crew:
Engineer - keeping all the below deck systems going on the pinball rollercoaster wet caravan - engine, generator, water maker, gas and electrical systems - principle tools are gaffer tape, string and guesswork. Oh, and toilets. There are two of them and they seem to block on a regular basis. In 2023, how can boat toilets still be so crap. I'm depressingly qualified for the engineer thing, wished I wasn't, wished I hadn't 'fessed up to Clipper, don't want it and I'm in hiding. So we know what's going to happen then.
its a long time to spend with people you dont know .
and if you die ...and people do they get buried at sea . you cant keep a body in boat while sailing in the Atlantic
best of luck
Boat toilets are blissfully simple unless they've done something daft like fit electric or worse a vacuum system; if automatic does it make a whooshing sound when the flush is pressed? Manual ones are reliable but not idiot-proof, if people put anything other than s
t, piss and a moderate quantity of toilet paper down them things will go awry but in a readily fixable way.
Having done a fair bit of offshore sailing, albeit not racing, the description is dead right; if the weather is up there's little rest and it can get a bit "groundhog day" when it goes on for a long time, which it will in the southern ocean.
t, piss and a moderate quantity of toilet paper down them things will go awry but in a readily fixable way.Having done a fair bit of offshore sailing, albeit not racing, the description is dead right; if the weather is up there's little rest and it can get a bit "groundhog day" when it goes on for a long time, which it will in the southern ocean.
Edited by hidetheelephants on Monday 1st September 13:16
Mate of mine did the North Atlantic last leg on Great Britain a few years sgo. It was the year 3 crew members died on other boats, very sad, first fatalities in all the history and 3 to boot (IIRC two were separate cases on the same boat). The last one had to be buried at sea (Southern Ocean or Pacific, can't remember which).
He enjoyed the training but wouldn't do it again. As said in second post, being at 45 deg constantly in the cabin was a pain for rest. The on deck stuff was more fun but he was glad he didn't do more than 1 leg and that cost about £35k back then.
He enjoyed the training but wouldn't do it again. As said in second post, being at 45 deg constantly in the cabin was a pain for rest. The on deck stuff was more fun but he was glad he didn't do more than 1 leg and that cost about £35k back then.
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