The Clipper vs Paid Holiday balancing act

A few people asked me at Crew Briefing recently about how I'm managing my work holiday allowance with all the training I need to do for Clipper as well as the thru-hiking I did earlier this year for British Red Cross.

To answer them and anyone else who is struggling with this, here are my tips for getting the most out of your paid holidays!

Bank holidays are your new best friend

You may have avoided them like the plague before now for fear of being attacked by swarms of hyperactive small children on holiday being trailed by exhausted parents, but they are your new BFF - time to embrace them. I've got my Level 2 booked for this August bank holiday weekend, and that's saved me a whole day of holiday that I can use to relax at Christmas or have a long weekend with a friend. Pretty nifty, eh?

Plan ahead

Back in November 2015 I booked my Level 1 and 2 training for March and August 2016, and recently I booked in my Level 3 for April 2017. While to some this may seem like crazy levels of organisation, actually by doing this I could plan around bank holidays (remember: you're now BFFs) and have worked it so that for three weeks of training, normally 15 work days, I've only had to take 10 holiday days. That's a whole extra week of paid time off hanging around for other Clipper activities or for less exhausting holiday options (long weekend in Paris anyone?).

Planning ahead also means that you're much more likely to get on the course you want when you want - bank holidays are training hot spots!

I hope this helps anyone who has been struggling a bit :) And if anyone else has any great tips for making the most of your holiday time, please let me know!

Team GREAT Britain charity t-shirts

The amazing Debbie Porter (remember her jammed-packed with hot tips and kit advice guest post from back in February? http://caitlinsclipperchallenge.blogspot.com/2016/02/debbie-porter-15-16-legs-1-2.html) is spearheading the Team GREAT Britain t-shirt effort to raise money for Official Race Charity Unicef and asked me to share this message:

Sailing is GREAT t shirt. Just £15 to help children in danger. www.justgiving.com/SailingisGREAT

Team GREAT Britain, are asking for a minimum donation of £15 to UNICEF in return for a fantastic limited edition Sailing is GREAT T-shirt.

The t-shirts are navy blue and come in four sizes - XL, Large, Medium and Small.

Please make a donation in your name and then contact Debbie Porter (debsyporter@outlook.com) to either arrange for your T-shirt to be posted or collected. Postage costs (£2.50) will need to be covered in addition to your donation, or alternatively there are several free pick up points across London.

Thank you so much for your support, and enabling UNICEF to carry on their vital work For Every Child in Danger around the world.

- Debbie Porter

Debbie Porter, 15-16 Legs 1 & 2

Welcome to the latest in an ongoing series of guest posts from my fellow 17-18 Clipper Race crewmates and current 15-16 crew members! This is your chance to learn a bit more about them and why they signed up for Clipper, hear about their experiences, and benefit from some of their hot tips for training and kit. Keep an eye on this space - I have another FOUR in the works already! 

Now, over to Debbie Porter who sailed Legs 1 & 2 with GREATBritain in the 15-16 race - enjoy!

It’s very hard to believe that it is three years since I made the decision to join the 15/16 Clipper Race but I can honestly say, despite all the angst and second thoughts and worries along the way, it is the best decision I have ever made.

I’d known about Clipper for a while having being taught to sail in Gibraltar years ago by one of the current skippers – Darren from IchorCoal – but never seriously thought it was something that I could do as a very amateur sailor. However, I work for the Government and was invited to the dinner launching the last GREAT boat in 13/14. Seated between two members of staff from Clipper, I had no chance once they found out that I sailed and by the end of the dinner I was signed up!

For me, Clipper was about a number of things. I wanted to take a break from my life to take stock and have a proper gap to really think about what I wanted to do next in my career and general life. As a close friend of mine said ‘it’s hard to think about your life when you’re in your life’ and there is nothing like staring out at an endless horizon of sea to help give you perspective on things. I also wanted to become a better sailor. I had done some RORC racing but really wanted to challenge myself and a couple of ocean crossings seemed a good way to do that so I signed up for Legs 1 and 2.

So the three things I wished I’d known before I set sail? First, all the things that I worried about ended up not being problems at all. Yes, you face challenges, things you might not want to do, things that might scare you but once you are out there on your boat and there is only yourself and your team to rely on, you will be amazed what you can do without thinking. Secondly, your team are the most important part of the boat. It is your team that get you through – when there is a bit of a breeze on (ahem) you all need to pull together; when you’re becalmed and it’s hot and sticky you need to hold your tongue and support each other even when someone is irritating; and when you need a hug it will be your crew mates that you will be turning to. And hopefully at some point it will be those lovely crew mates standing next to you grinning ear to ear on the podium! Learn about yourself and what’s annoying, make a point of understanding first when someone seems annoying to you – it is your team that will get you through and they will become your best friends. Finally, I wish I had known how hot it would be on Leg 1. On a hot leg it is like a sauna down below and it can be very difficult to sleep – make sure you take a silk liner as well as that super thick ocean sleeping bag!

In terms of training: it is excellent and make the most of it.  I found level 1 very difficult and a bit of a shock to the system, others found the same. Even if you have sailed before you are learning a whole new way of doing things and the scale makes it 10 times harder. But stick with it and it gets easier. Take the chance to make friends – these are the same people you will be having fun with in port and it’s great to know people on other boats and to compare experiences. Also use the training to try out different bits of kit – don’t  buy loads at once as it may not work for you (merino makes me itch!) and buy your boots close to the end of your training as they will get a hammering at sea! Level 4 was the best training as it was the closest to the final experience and starts to awaken everyone’s competitiveness!

I’ve been asked for kit recommendations a number of times. The best thing I took was a hand held fan that cost about £3 and was the source of much jealousy on Leg 1 as it least moved the air around by my face. My other top tip is to seal your knickers in plastic sandwich bags! The lockers are often full of water (sorry but they are!) and there is nothing worse than wet pants! If they are sealed in a bag you know they will be dry (and also which ones are clean!)

Finally, I’ve been asked what my funniest moment was on board. It’s hard to say really there were so many. But, as ever, the misfortune of others makes us all laugh. Cut to my crew laughing their heads off as I was totally swamped by a wave only 2 minutes after coming up on deck in new dry gear! Or the flying fish to the shoulder blades that happened to numerous crew. My watch leader’s favourite moment was when he asked me to put a compass reading of 370 degrees in the log – took a few moments to remember it only goes to 360!

So there we are – Clipper in a few words. My main advice - just enjoy every moment! Because before you know it someone will be asking you to write a blog about your experiences and you won’t be able to believe that is all over!

• Debbie Porter 

https://www.facebook.com/debbie.porter.7796

Charlotte Willis, 15-16 Legs 7&8

This is the latest in a series of guest posts from some of my fellow 17-18 crewmates and the current 15-16 crew in which they tell us a little about themselves, their Clipper experiences so far, and pass on any hot tips.

Over to Charlotte Willis, Legs 7&8 with the Garmin crew in Clipper Race 15-16 - enjoy! 

Why Clipper Race Legs 7 & 8?

For me, I could only ever do a part of the race due to the time required off work so the whole circumnavigation wasn't an option for me. I originally just signed up to do Leg 8 for two main reasons - one, because I wanted to sail across the Atlantic, and two, because I'm a born and bred Londoner and I wanted to sail home. So Leg 8 suited me perfectly! But then I started my training, and once you start to meet other clipper crew, the buzz about the Race is just infectious and I instantly knew I needed to do more than just one leg. By this point, the majority of the legs for the 15-16 race we full though so I requested that I be added to the waiting list for Leg 7 which Clipper did. I was told I was second on the list so assumed that a place would never come up,  but then two legs into the Race, it did! So of course I accepted and I now cannot wait to start my adventure in Seattle instead! And it also means I get to travel through the Panama Canal which will be amazing!

Any hot training or kit tips for future crew?

Spend money on the important technical clothing which will mean you stay as dry and as temperature controlled as possible. But then for the thermals, the base-layers, the fleeces, the mid-layers, etc. re-use as much stuff as you might already have for skiing or other sports. And most importantly, don't buy everything up front; you'll learn what you actually need (and it's surprisingly little when you're living in the same clothes for days on end) as you go through your training. There's a strict weight limit on board each boat during the Race so get used to packing only the essentials. And put everything in waterproof bags - the boats leak once they've been thrashed around at sea for a while! 

What's the best/worst thing about not joining the crew until Seattle?

The worst is the FOMO (fear of missing out)! I've got to know my Skipper and team mates really well though pre-race Clipper events, a team-bonding weekend, training, and race prep activities. So I feel very much a part of the team, except I'm not actually on the boat yet. So whilst the crew on board do the actual sailing, the rest of us crew back home waiting to join have become a bit of a support group for each other - constantly chatting on social media, meeting up for drinks, hourly race following (and shared conversations dissecting every small bit of the race as well as the other teams) and we've even got to know other crew members friends and family too as we're all supporting the same team. So the best bit is the cameraderie amongst the remaining crew and supporters, and the bonds we've formed. And probably the sheer excitement of counting down day by day until it's my turn! 

What was your funniest moment in training?

There are way too many :) People getting things wrong, stories of snoring and/or sleep-talking, extreme situations which aren't hilarious at the time but all form great stories after they're done... Just generally getting to share this experience with such a random and diverse but like-minded group of people who are all a bit bonkers but all there because they want to do the same thing you do. And whilst most people's friends and families think we're all mad to do something like the Clipper Race, us crew just 'get it'. I have made friends for life along my Clipper journey so far. 

• Charlotte Willis 

https://clippercharlotte.wordpress.com/