The final countdown: Delivery and final prep

What a crazy week! Straight from work to the boat and then straight out sailing the next morning - busy busy.

The delivery was a lot more relaxed than training, as we were in watches the whole time and not doing lots of drills just for the sake of it. Having said that, we sailed so quickly in the first St few days we would've been about 2 days early so we spent a lot of time pootling around Dublin bay and the Isle of Man running a couple of drills and working on our lines and improving our seamanship (I am now a queen of whipping (lines)!)

Some highlights:

- Dolphins playing on the bow and Roy trying to train them with a banana in his pj's

- Having Sunday pancakes with nutella (thanks David L!)

- Getting more confident in my knowledge and instincts, especially at night

Some low points:

- Getting seasick for two days and feeling so miserable I was thinking about quitting the whole thing and not sailing to Uruguay. Luckily when the seasickness faded my spirits lifted, which was definitely helped by some of my crewmates saying they'd had similar feelings themselves

- Trying to cook fish and chips in the terrible Clipper ovens - there just isn't enough room (or heat) for 19 portions!

Final prep in Liverpool has been pretty full on but a great experience. I think it'll pay off too - our seamanship is definitely up there, with our bilges being complemented as the best in the fleet by the maintenance guys, and our new Kemp Method for milking lines (patent pending ;-)) has given way more effective results than any of the other boats. Our dedication as a team is really high as well - we started the deep clean before 8am after partying late on arrival when the other boats didn't start for quite a while after us, and we've started earlier every day all week. The team is really gelling too which is great, and we had an awesome mass crew dinner last night with 40 of us and our friends and family.

A calm-ish day today and tomorrow with family before setting sail on Sunday - watch this space, as my next update will be from the boat!!

Diary of a Level 4 Clipper trainee

Thursday 13th -

Train down to Portsmouth straight from work. Revised like mad on the train (as usual) and a quick chat with Nigel S on the way to the Gosport ferry as it turns out he was on the same train!

Headed over to the marina to get my berth (Roy very kindly let me stay on the boat even though I hadn't been able to help with prep day) and bumped into some Team Roy crew camped outside the Castle! Went down to the boat to claim a bunk (engine topside again) and say hi to Roy before heading back to the Castle for a few drinks. Fish and chips on board the boat for dinner - yum!

Friday 14th -

An early start to make the most of having a shower, then a quick trip into town with Holly for a breakfast croissant and orange juice before collecting my shiny new foulies from New Stores (I definitely did not get my smock stuck on my glasses, and certainly did not need Peter's help getting free). More crew started to arrive, and we set the boat up ready to sail - me and Ben got the staysail hanked and rigged, the foredeck dream team! Remembered to get the sheets under the jackstays but forgot stopper knots, luckily Roy spotted that before we left. Doh! 1st day brain blip.

On deck brief for the week and safety overview before lunch (Trevor and Stian made sandwiches and pea soup). A quick final trip back into town for a hairbrush having left mine at home before slipping lines in formation with the rest of the fleet. We were last out so no-one was watching - a few crew's had trouble getting out of their tight berths.

Chilled afternoon tacking around and sailing to get a feel for the boat again. Anchored at Swanage Bay with Team Sanya ready for paired emergency drills tomorrow.

A rotten cold and a bashed knee (knelt on a butterfly screw on the coffee grinder on the exact spot of my L3 injury) meant I was excused from anchor watch and drugged myself up for the night. Spinach and potato curry for dinner - delicious.

Saturday 15th -

Good night's sleep but still feeling rotten with a very sore knee. I'm on Mother Watch with David G and made boiled eggs and toast for breakfast - tasty but very messy for the crew to eat!

Started the day with emergency steering practice. Weighed anchor and pootled around the bay around a series of buoys. I may be biased (!) but my steering team was definitely the best - we picked it up very quickly. Ship-to-ship transfers next and Andre sent over the heaving line for our first transfer (a bag of kitkats) and got it there spot on first time. They sent us some chocolate digestives back :-) Poor Bob/Ruth was sent over on the dinghy next, and I was the lucky volunteer who had to go the side over to get him back on board after his adventure. Typically the calm sea suddenly turned into a large wave just as I got into the dinghy with Bob, but managed to get him back okay. Towing drills next, then we headed our separate ways.

Fish finger sandwiches and soup for lunch (which I cooked while fishing Bob out of the dinghy!) but I didn't find all of them in the cool box so slightly short rations all round (oops). I had leftover egg from breakfast with some mayo - tasty.

MOB and more emergency drills in the afternoon before heading back to Swanage Bay to anchor for the night around 6. Chicken and chorizo jambalaya for dinner which was very well received by the crew and made up for the short lunch rations (phew). Must get the recipe for myself because the quorn version was tasty! Added leftover spinach which was delicious.

Still feeling rotten despite a drive of energy throughout the day (probably biscuit-fueled) so I got the 10pm anchor watch. Uneventful, although we drifted a little on our kedge so I woke Roy to check he was okay with the wind shift, which he was.

Sunday 16th -

Really good night's sleep and feeling a bit better in the morning - knee wasn't *quite * as sore either.

Disgusting salty porridge for breakfast which I didn't realise until after adding nutella and banana and taking a bite - blergh! Managed to eat the lot but not happy.

Our skipper-free navigation challenge (12 hours without his navigational input) so we split into watches to plan the passage (Starboard - my watch) and check tides and weather (Port). Weighed anchor and fell into watches at 10am. Starboard was off until 2pm so I headed to my bunk for a nap. Cheese toasties for lunch.

Spinnaker hoist as I came on watch, then spinnaker MOB a little after - our best one yet, Roy said it was textbook! Only about 4 minutes from alarm to recovery.

Pretty straightforward watch, we made great speed so ended a little time pacing the Isle of Wight. I volunteered to help for a little while to get some practice in, and somehow ended up helming the spinnaker hoist! Very nervous (I really hate helming) but apparently I'm actually pretty decent - who knew! Left the drop to Port watch just as we went off (hehe).

Monday 17th -

Nice night watch 12am to 4am - just a few tacks, nothing very eventful. Good entertainment on the VHF radio in the form of a PanPan from a stuck Dutch vessel. Warm night - no foulies needed.

Out of the watch system from 10am for the day all on together.

- Went up the mast at last - such an amazing view! I spotted a couple of others going up as well
- Practice abandon ship
- Fire hose / flooding drills
- Practice le mons starts - lots of repetitions to get us super slick. I manned the staysail active sheet
- Crazy hot day
- Halloumi wraps for lunch - so good! Speedy bol for dinner
- Anchored off Cowes ready for the practice race tomorrow - almost the whole fleet assembled! We were definitely the fastest time pick up the mooring buoy though, we sent Nigel S over straight away to stand on it and pass the line through
- Bowl overboard... Washing up on deck I may not have checked the bucket before sending it over the side...it floated past Team Rob next to us before sinking
- Volunteered for a 3am anchor watch as I've got off lightly the last two nights

Tuesday 18th -

Race day! Early morning start to motor to the start line off Pembridge for 9.30 - we were the first to slip the mooring lines. The boats all did a practice le mons start (it took forever to get everyone in line, it was like herding cats!) which we did pretty well on - I think we were first over the line. Then lined up for a practice parade of sail and a practice line start. It was pretty amazing watching all the boats sailing together, it really made it all seem very real. We struggled a bit on the practice line start - I think the excitement went to our heads a bit! Did pretty well on the real thing though.

On watch 2pm to 8pm running down to France. Came through a thunderstorm with lighting all around and force 7 winds - my first proper weather! Great learning opportunity and reassuring that I am skilled enough to hop to any task sharpish and what needs doing quite instinctively. Took the helm towards the end of the watch to have a go helming in rough seas (it had calmed to force 5/6) but absolutely hated it. I was good at it and got to grips with it quite quickly but I really did not enjoy it - my first teary moment on board when I got into my bunk.

Leftover bol for dinner with much awaited garlic bread (holly had gotten our hopes up yesterday) theb straight to my bunk for some sleep before coming back on watch at midnight.

Wednesday 19th -

No-one from Port watch got us up for our watch at 12am and then got annoyed we were late - their fault! Holly defended us to her watchmates well though which was nice. Trailing the fleet now sadly, but hoping to catch more wind round the next mark to catch up.

Thankfully quite a quiet watch after the excitement of the thunderstorm. Great stars but not much wind as we headed parallel to France to the second race mark. Dozed a little on deck during my watch stretched out in the cockpit.

Finally shaken the sniffly cold and my knee is very sore anymore - hurrah!

Back on watch at 8am for a proper porridge breakfast by Ally and Martyna with a fresh fruit salad. Got the Code 3 up and I trimmed for a while - once I got the knack of looking for the curl of the luff it was quite instinctive knowing when to grind and ease. Nigel S took over for a while while I manned the grinder and we had a good bit of banter about all my pleases and thank-yous - looking forward to racing with him!

We managed to pick up a lot of speed and we got into 5th of 9 and 1st of the white boats (we haven't had the bottom cleaned like the branded boats have so we're a fraction slower). The wind picked up a bit and we got the Code 2 out. Tried to be really quiet wooding while the other watch were all asleep (except for Daren who gallantly offered to help as the 6th Wooler).

We had about 15 minutes left on watch before we were due to come off at 2pm, and lunch was late, and we thought Port would drop the kite and hoist the Yankee 2 but we ended up being drafted in to help. The wind got up even more around 2.30pm so we had to stay on even longer to help (still without lunch) and I got drenched by a big wave while riding the rails trying to help speed us to the finish line. Got sent below around 3.30pm to warm up as I was shivering and damp and ended up staying down to help wool the spinnaker so we could finally have lunch(/dinner!). Finally rounded the ever-elusive mark at 4.30pm-ish, coming 5th overall and 1st of the white boats. Great time cheering on deck as we finished in thw sunshine.

Finally had some lunch and motored back to Gosport as fast as we could - we had a table booked at the Castle for 8pm! Got into harbour to drop the main while Roy radioed in for our berth only to find we weren't meant to be in until 10pm (it was 6.30pm at this point)! Luckily since we were right there thy let us in meaning we were first to showers!

After flaking the main Roy sent Starboard off to shower while Port put the boat to bed for the night (only fair since we'd ended up doing more on-watch hours) - best shower ever! Starting to smell myself was not at all pleasant.

In the pub by 8pm for a lovely crew meal and then some drinks as the other crews started to file in. Saw Jenny, Helen and Malcom which was great. Back to bed around 10.30/11pm

Thursday 20th -

All up and breakfasted by 7.45am so we just cracked on with the deep clean. Roy put me in charge so I did lots of running around with a list answering questions about what to do next. I scrubbed in with cleaning down the Port saloon and sail locker - the sail locker is now a sparkling thing of beauty! Annoyingly fell into a deep bilge by not checking where the soul boards had been taken up and twisted my ankles a bit and badly bruised my hip and side - typical clumsy me!

All done by 12.30pm after some faffing around checking everything was done and sorting final bits so headed to the Castle for a debrief and a drink. Train to London with Ally.

A great final week of training!




Stats -

- On-watch hours x 85.5 / Off-watch hours x 45
- 453nm sailed, including crossing the English Channel twice in 24 hours
- 12 hours night sailing
- 66,361 steps / 28.13 miles walked
- 82 bruises

Highs -

- Climbing the mast
- Helming a spinnaker hoist
- Helming a F5/6 at the tail end of a thunderstorm
- Leading a staysail hoist
- Leading two Y2 flakes and a main flake (I like flaking)
- Leading the deep clean

Lows -

- Helming a F5/6 at the tail end of a thunderstorm - although in reflection I am pleased I managed to do it well!
- Salty porridge
- Falling into a bilge

Team Building

It's been a whirlwind since Crew Allocation - the Team Weekend, Level 4 training and prepping to sail off into the sunset for two months has kept me pretty busy!

With only 3 and a bit weeks notice, pulling together a residential team building event was always going to be a challenge, but thankfully it all came together and worked out perfectly in the end. I have to say though, I have a whole new respect for the skippers having to herd so many people - corralling 30 of them into one place at the same time and getting their payment, dietary requirements and suggestions for activities was much like what I imagine herding cats to be like!

We spent the weekend at a wonderful 4* hostel by Stonehenge that had everything we could possibly want and then some (think licensed bar, tree-top walkway, zip-wire, two large garden areas, a classroom for race planning, large conservatory/dining room...) Self-catering was the perfect choice for us as everyone pitched in without being nudged, even to the extent of having too many helpers (an excel sign for the Race), and it gave our Leg 1&2 victualler Julie a great opportunity to practice menu planning and shopping for 30 people on the Clipper budget.

On the Saturday we went on a gorgeous 11-12 mile hike around Amesbury, past Stonehenge and across to Woodhenge in the blistering heat (we only lost our skipper the once), before we settled down to an afternoon of race planning and discussions. We managed to get a Q&A session with 13-14 RTWer Sophie Hetherton as well which was handy for crew fund questions.

Thanks to Quizmaster Nigel A (one of THREE Nigel's in TeamRoy!) we spent a great evening in the garden doing a pub quiz. While my team didn't win, we did at least ace the Clipper round! Our "I'm only as competitive as you all want to be" skipper was in the winning team...

Sunday morning started off with a trip through the forest as we explored the on-site tree-top walkway (including a run-by from a wild ferret), zip-wire (hilariously Roy couldn't undo his own knot for a couple of minutes) and playground. A few big kids had great fun on the swings (Andre, Stian, I'm looking at you!) which got us in the perfect silly mood for the event of the weekend - Sports Day!

When I asked the team what they wanted to do, I have to admit I was surprised by how many of then came back with suggestions that all came together to mean we were having a sports day. Just goes to show, we're all just great big kids wanting to play! Activities included an egg and spoon race, relay race, bucket toss, and sack race. After a very competitive battle for points, the Green Team emerged victorious to claim their medals and chocolate orange prizes - interestingly, the skipper's team! The Grand Finale tug-of-war (Yankee sheets are good for more than just trimming sails you know) was hotly fought over three rounds and much discussion of the angle of the slope in the orchard we were playing in.

All in all an excellent weekend of team bonding, race planning and generally getting to know each other that bodes well for the real thing - I can't wait to sail with these guys!

Level 4 run-down to follow soon.

"And your skipper is..."

What a weekend!

The long awaited Crew Allocation truly lived up to all the hype - nerves, excitement, and much partying.

After a long and nerve-racking morning waiting for my name to be read out, I am thrilled to announce that I am part of Team Roy / TeamCV28 / Team ThreePointFive (we've been officially a crew for all of three days and we already have in-jokes - amazing!).

Skipper Roy's Bio

I'm also super happy to be crewing with not one, not two, but SIX of my training crew mates from Levels 1 and 3 (including five who helped look after me when I had my accident), and the rest are shaping up to be a damn cool bunch.

We spent a great afternoon getting to know each other and thinking about what we believe makes a good team, how competitive we want to be and other crew business, during which I somehow volunteered myself to be Social Secretary (Roy asked who *might* be interested, and I was the only one who put my hand up!). The first test was sorting out dinner after the initial drinks - luckily the wonderful Fran stepped up and sorted out enough tables for all 40 of us while I herded everyone in the right direction. The next test will be organising a residential team building weekend away with only 26 days notice...watch this space!

As well as all the excitement about finding out our crew, at long last the Race route was revealed to us, and although I can't say where I'm going just yet, I can say that I'll be seeing these cuties!

Magellanic Penguins

Exciting times ahead!!

P.S. In a burst of productivity I've set up a Supporters Group for friends, family and fans (!) - please join to become part of Team Roy's journey and show your support

A week at sea and a trip to A&E

Level 3 training? Check!

After talking to Level 3 veterans and frantically cramming the Crew Manual in Wagamama's the night before training, I was worried that the whole "spinnaker thing" was going to be a confusing, tangled nightmare looming over the whole week, when actually I had a blast and a lot of "eureka" moments! (Gybing finally makes sense to me now, hallelujah) 

The awesome Easter crew of CV23! Thanks to Lars for the photo

Highlights

• Finally "getting" gybing
• Hanging off the bow unhanking the Yankee as fast as Carol was easing the halyard (trickier than it sounds)
• Being called "the tough one" by a watchmate - a good boost when I was knackered and doubting whether I could manage to grind up the Yankee!
• Leading lots of tasks with my watch - talking through the process really helped stick things in my head and asking for everyone's input helped us gel as a team and make sure everyone knew what to do and why
• Having a full crew gave us a good taste of what life will be like on the race - it was strange how little I saw of the other watch once we got into the watch system though - apart from the deck handover, we didn't see them at all

Lowlights

• Only getting 45 minutes sleep on one off-watch because of a spinnaker wrap
• Slipping on a hatch and winding up in A&E
• The pervasive smell of bacon - as the only veggie on board a boat where bacon seemed to feature in every meal I spent a lot of time on deck while meals were being cooked!

Life at an angle - the cooker is actually level!  Thanks Matt N for the photo

With a full crew of 17, plus Skipper Matt Mitchell (ClipperTelemed+ skipper in 15/16) and First Mates Carol Eccles and Alex Laline, CV23 was a pretty busy place! We split into watches right from the beginning with 8 in Port (my watch!) and 9 in Starboard. After spending the day studying ISAF theory in a stuffy little classroom it was a relief to be getting on with the boat walkthrough, checking life jackets on deck and settling into our bunks. Amusingly, before we went into the watch system full time and those in the forward bunks started hot-bunking, we had one person too many for the crew bunks so Lars ended up locked in with the sails for a couple of nights on the spare bunk tucked in there.

After some creative acrobatics (a few of us got a top bunk for the first time and didn't quite get the knack of climbing in straight away) and a fair few bumps to the head, we rounded of the night with a trip to the Castle. 

Tip: grabbing the edge of the cave locker by your head helps give you a lift as you launch yourself up - just remember to make sure your lee-cloth is fully loosened so you don't get your legs tangled in it as you swing them over...

Days 2 and 3 followed the usual routine - safety brief below and on deck, pontoon MOB (I was 'swimmer'), and sailed over to West Cowes where we put the boat to bed and headed off to the pub for a drink, then a long day sailing across to Portland reminding ourselves how to do everything and getting used to the layout of the 70's (plus another MOB, where I was swimmer again!).

Thanks Jonny for capturing some of the action!

Once we left Portland we headed east and fell into the watch system properly on a 4 on, 4 off rolling pattern. Saturday saw us hoist the spinnaker for the first time, which went very well, and then drop it and wool it. To the uninitiated and clueless (as I was until I was handed a ball of wool), "wooling" the spinnaker means rolling it up in a very specifically odd way, and then tying strands of yarn all along it and folding it. Sounds easy? Ha! The sail fills the entire below decks, gets tangled, has coloured tapes you need to "run", and the wool likes to break at annoying moments. We're told we'll learn to love it.

Tip: don't ask an ex-race RTW'r (Alex) how many times a day they did this on the race, it will only drive you to comfort eating brownie bites and chocolate bourbons while sobbing into your tea 

After merrily sending Starboard watch down below, the Port watch decided we wanted to hoist the spinnaker again (undoing all that lovely wooling). Sadly, it did not go as well the second time round. The wool broke free part way up the hoist, filling the sail and wrapping it around the forestay. Oops. After trying to untangle it for about an hour, we decided to head to a sheltered spot out of the wind to sort it out, just in time for Starboard watch to come up on deck. 

I was on mother watch with Felicity and in charge of getting dinner ready, so we headed down below with the instruction to have it ready in 45 minutes while everyone else went to sort out the Port watch mess. We duly cooked the pasta and pesto bacon for the appointed time (8pm), only to hear that the spinnaker situation was taking a lot longer than hoped and we'd need to hold it a while longer. The weary and hungry Port watch finally started stumbling down below around 9.30pm where they scoffed a miraculously still warm dinner and threw themselves into their bunks - we were meant to be off watch at 8pm and had to come back on at 12am. As mothers Felicity and I stayed up with the Starboard watch until around 10.15pm or so to make sure everyone was fed and watered and the galley was cleaned up before trying to snatch what sleep we could in the 90 minutes we had before we had to get up again. Who says Clipper is a holiday?!

Tip: don't plan meals involving cooking pink food under a red light - its blooming hard to know when bacon is cooked if the whole galley is bathed in red! 

Happily the next morning dawned brighter, with the Easter bunny visiting the crew during the 8am watch change on Easter Sunday. I'm very impressed that the little smarties filled eggs I'd brought with me had managed to survive intact despite being in my kit bag shoved and kicked at the end of my bunk with my boots being chucked on top of them every 4 hours. Another good day sailing with some stronger winds driving us home, and everyone falling into the 4 on/4 off pattern a little more easily.

Unfortunately with just 2 hours left on what was expected to be my final watch, disaster struck. We were speeding along nicely at 10-11 knots with 3 reefs in and an angle of around 40 degrees when I went to have a turn helming. As I went to grab the guard by the helm a wave shifted the angle of the boat and I slipped on a hatch landing heavily on my nose and right knee. Luckily I was clipped on, so I didn't slide very far down the deck, but it was clear pretty much instantly that I had done some serious damage, potentially breaking my knee, and I needed to get to hospital.

Within about 30 seconds Matt was on deck and assessing my injuries while Carol did a great job of keeping me calm while checking my head and neck over. Their training really showed, and I had absolutely no doubts about their ability to look after me. Handily, there was also a retired GP and nurse on board to help out and get me splinted up using gaffa tape and a wooden stick they found in the sail locker.

While I can't say I enjoyed being the subject, the accident did offer my crewmates an excellent opportunity to practice dealing with a real emergency, and I think they did marvellously! They rallied round, handing over their sleeping bags to wrap me in and keep me warm on deck, sitting with me and including me in the ongoing game of "would you rather" Port watch had started the day before, and generally keeping my spirits up during the long motor back to Gosport and help. They even wrapped me in a sail bag to keep me dry (or so they say, I think they just wanted to get a picture of me pretending to be a sail!).

After a painful few weeks stuck at home on crutches being sent from hospital to hospital and doctor to doctor, I was told that my some miracle I hadn't broken my kneecap or damaged my cartilage as everyone thought, but "just" impinged my intrapatellar pad which should heal in plenty of time for Level 4 training in July and won't need surgery. 

I'm so lucky it wasn't worse, and for once in my life I'm doing as I'm told and resting up so that I can heal quickly - my eyes are firmly on the prize: crossing the Atlantic in August!

P.S. During all the drama my boots had to get cut off - if anyone has any decent size 7's going spare, let me know!!

The cat is out of the bag

Well I guess my (admittedly weak) attempts at pretending to be a normal member of the workforce have failed - a birthday pirate landed on my desk today from the awesome HE team at Cambridge University Press! Have to say, if this is meant to be me, she looks pretty badass with her sword and hat - totally capable of sailing across the Equator and meeting King Neptune toe-to-toe.

Family reunion

What better way to start 2017, my Year of Adventure, than by having a massive Clipper crew briefing?

Now we've all done a week or two of training, had a couple of smaller scale briefings and descended en masse onto St Katherine's Dock for the 15-16 Race Finish, we've made lots of friends which turned the briefing into a giant reunion of all the wild and adventurous black sheep in the family.

Inspirational as always, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston gave a fantastic description of why we're doing something as crazy as sailing across an ocean:

Clipper for me is all about adventure, doing the why not's and living now instead of 5, 10 or 40 years in the future, so this really struck a chord - I absolutely want to live in bright colours.

Lots of interesting info was shared about our race, including the introduction of a new Joker card each team can choose to play in one race only for the chance to double their points for that race. Cape Town, Qingdao, New York and the Sydney-Hobart were all confirmed, but the other ports are still in negotiation. Rumour has it though that Hull is out of the running for Race Start/Finish...fingers crossed for London! Great news as well that personal AIS beacons will be provided with each life jacket.

One strange thing about the Clipper world is that while you may know a person's entire life story after standing watch together at 4am and hauling them out of the water after a MOB drill, you rarely know their surnames. If you forget to ask for contact details in all the excitement, that makes it pretty tricky to reconnect on Facebook or arrange to go for a catch-up drink (or three). Lucky for me I bumped into a buddy from my Level 1 last March (can't believe it has been 10 months since then) who I'd lost touch with and so finally manage to exchange info and arrange to catch-up soon.

Can't wait for the next big get together in May - the long awaited Crew Allocation!



Great snapshot of the briefing (plus a glimpse of yours truly at 2:11 - Hi Mum!)