Gee's Sailing Diaries: Part 3

Getting into the Logistics

There are a lot of logistics involved in joining a sailing race on the other side of the world.

To make the most of the opportunity, I wanted to explore New Zealand and Australia in a 'tourist’ kind of way, as I know I'm unlikely to be able to head that way again any time soon due to time and cost. Once I reached dry land again in Vietnam, I also planned more exploring for the same reasons. So not only did this mean transport and visa logistics, organising a house sitter for the cat, agreeing on a sabbatical with my employer and having 13 separate vaccinations over three months to keep me fit and well, but it also meant needing to squeeze 4 months’ worth of kit that caters for all weathers across both hemispheres into a backpack. Including mandatory sailing wet weather clothing and shoes, a safety knife and team uniform, I managed to fit everything I would need into one 60L duffel backpack and a 30L waterproof backpack. At the end of the day, I was going racing and weight and bulkiness had an impact on that, let alone the practicalities of storing it on a 70ft boat with 17 other people (and their kit!). Every single item needed to be absolutely necessary. I couldn't afford to take any luxuries with me and I needed to know that my kit would stand up to whatever the world had to throw at me. I needed to be well and truly in backpacker mode.

It didn't take long before my packing skills were put to the test. Before I'd even met the boat and crew in Airlie Beach at the end of January, I had found myself unexpectedly trail running, kayaking, sea swimming, hang gliding, skydiving, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and just generally getting stuck into adventuring. When I did finally meet the crew, there was yoga on the beach, helping to organise and run a ceilidh – raising over £6000 for charity in the process – and, of course, boat stuff, such as helping with victualling (which is essentially the planning, purchasing and then organising of all the consumables the boat will need for the entire duration of the next race – if we needed something whilst at sea, we couldn't just pop to the shops to get it!).

But then there was the small matter of tropical cyclone Kirrily.

Tropical cyclone Kirrily was a hair’s breadth away from a category 3 cyclone. This was nothing to be sniffed at and, understandably, all we could do was literally batten down the hatches and wait for it to blow over. Race start was delayed by 5 days and this had an impact on the entire rest of the Clipper race timeline. The teams were getting restless being stuck in the same place for so long but you can't argue with Mother Nature and, thankfully, with minimal damage once the storm had cleared, I put on my uniform and headed to the pontoon to climb aboard CV21.

We checked the boats for damage and removed all the storm preparations we had made the week before. Team photos were taken, the last bits of organising below deck took place hurriedly and the race officials gathered on the dock. With military precision, the fleet slipped lines in 3-minute intervals and before I had a chance to properly consider what I was about to embark on, I had left shore. I wasn't about to set foot on land again for another three weeks.

Due to the Great Barrier Reef being a physical hazard, race start was going to be held offshore. The fleet sailed south for a day to Mackay, where we were met by customs officials who checked our passports and ensured everything was in order to allow us to leave the country. After every boat had been cleared to leave, it was another day's sailing out through the Hydrographers Passage to the start line. The crew used this time to get reacquainted with the boat and with each other, settling into life on board CV21.

There are two types of race start in the Clipper Race and both can be pretty exciting. Line starts are more self-explanatory and have dominated the first half of the 23-24 race. The boats aim to cross an imaginary line, often between two buoys for example, at a specific point in time such as a cannon blasting or the end of a countdown. These are usually carried out closer to shore and make for exciting close-quarters racing as well as fabulous viewing for spectators.

Le Mans starts, however, took over for the second half of the race. These occur when race start is required to be held further offshore, for example, for geographical reasons. There is a nominated skipper who coordinates the start and they position themselves in the middle of the line-up so that they can see all of the boats clearly. There is a predetermined headsail plan for the whole fleet based on the weather conditions at the time and, with one minute to go before the arranged start time, all engines are turned off. This is done to keep the boats in an even line. Although it's a sailing race, every boat has an engine for safety reasons, and also to help the fleet keep moving during specific scenarios such as in the doldrums.

All crew must remain behind the aft winch (coffee) grinder – a specific position on the boats – at this time. The crew will order themselves based on the job they are going to carry out to enable them to hoist the sails as quickly as possible (there are no fancy electrics to help us with lifting and shifting here!). When the countdown finishes, all crew members move quickly into position and hoist the sails to the best of their ability. During this time, the boats must also continue to hold a straight course ahead. After ten minutes of sailing on the set sail plan and directly ahead, we are then allowed to "go racing". This means that the fleet can alter its sail plan and are now allowed to change course. Glimpses of different tactics and strategies suddenly start to emerge as the fleet is likely to still be in close quarters for some time after the race start. If the line is not kept well enough or there is a form of disruption during the starting period, the nominated skipper can call a restart, though this is not usually required.

For us, the Le Mans start went off without a hitch. We found ourselves in a really competitive position for the first few days and, along with pleasant conditions, there were limited cases of sea sickness across the entire fleet. I think the two days of sailing to get to the race start helped with this as it was a gentle ease into racing instead of an intense, thrown-in-the-deep-end kind of experience.

But we really had only just begun and it was still a long way to go before land.

The 23-24 race ends at the beginning of August with a homecoming stop in Oban before the fleet returns to Portsmouth and the Clipper headquarters. You can find out more about Clipper and the current race standings here: https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/

If you'd like to follow along with my other adventures, you can find me here: www.instagram.com/GeeAdventurous