Remote

"At times, the closest humans to you will be those on the International Space Station"

While I knew that crewing in the Clipper Race would take me to some isolated places, the realisation that at times the nearest human being outside the Race will be in space adds a whole new meaning to the word 'remote'.

Coping with that isolation will be tough, but luckily I'll have 22 other brave (and/or crazy) souls to keep me company during the 5 week crossing. Might have to pack a star chart just in case we get a bit of down-time on deck and see if we can pick out which dot has the nearest humans on it and give them a wave.

Pushing the limits

At a Team Campfire* recently, I was praised for always pushing myself to do better, learn more, and improve myself and how I do things. Although it may sound strange, before I heard my colleagues say that to me, I didn't even realise I was doing it. To me, that's just what I do, whether that's getting an author to submit their manuscript on time or applying for Clipper 17/18.

I didn't realise either that constantly putting high demands on yourself and pursuing opportunities to really test your limits wasn't all that common either until I saw the reactions of friends and colleagues when telling them I'd been offered a Clipper berth - 

      "Incredible - won't it be hard though?"
      "That's just the kind of crazy thing you would do" 
      "You don't like to take things easy do you?" 

By taking on the Clipper Race 17/18 and engaging with my local community, I hope that I can inspire others to take on new challenges and really push themselves so that when they do something amazing, people say "that's just the kind of amazing thing they would do."

*For those of you who haven't heard of Team Campfires, we didn't sit around roasting marshmallows, we sat in a circle taking it in turns giving each other positive feedback on our work (while sitting around a giant pile of Starburst, Chocolate Orange Segments and marshmallows)