Clipper Training (UK)

April 9^th to 16^th  inclusive.

In and around the Solent off the Isle of Wight.

*Note: I was supposed to do Level 2 back to back with Level 1 in October last year but unfortunately I broke a bone in my foot on the evening of the start of Level 2 (on what is referred to as the ankle breaker on the yacht) which meant I had to reschedule for this year. So I am doing Levels 2 & 3 back to back ... and yes, my foot has healed just fine.

We are training on the 68 ft clipper yacht Singapore that will be in the race for 2011/2012. She is bigger in length and beam than the 60 footer from Level 1. The winches are different, with the primary winch being a coffee grinder style. Everything is bigger, sails, halyards and the sheets. The mast is 81 ft with a beam of 18 ft. We are carrying 9 sails including the main. From what I have read you can expect to pay about a million pounds for one of these babies, as long as you order 10 at a time. The normal race crew will be 18 in total.

Training duration is 8 days; 5.5 days on the water and 2.5 days in the classroom, with the focus on reinforcing the safety aspects and skills we learnt in Level 1. The next learning phase is to introduce key racing skills, spinnakers, boat to boat communication and fire fighting. The main focus of the week is on boat speed.

We started classroom tuition with a short range certificate for VHF radio; the course was involved a number of radios set up in the room. Background notes were provided; it was also the first day that we as members of the Level 2 got together.

11 people doing the course. We had the opportunity to quickly introduce ourselves and even at this early stage we had some humour happening.

Our new group was David, TT, Tim D, Tim L, Sean, Emmy, Emma, Joan, Chantal, Alex & me. Ben is our skipper and Jaun the first mate; they are both skippers for the 11/12 race.

We learnt the methodology of radio use including maydays, pan pan and a test at the end of the day; all who attended that day qualified for their radio license.

We slept on board that night. All well.

For the next few days we sailed from the marina either at Gosport, Cowes or Hamble on a day by day basis. The wind was variable, at times not strong enough for some of the drills especially the spinnaker. But by the end of the week we had managed to go through a number of evolutions for each sail. The setting of the spinnaker is still a mystery to me and most of the crew. Practice, practice, practice is what we need.

At times, if you were not in the sun, it was cold in the wind and a number of us discussed the gear Clipper had recommended. I was missing the “middle layer salopettes & top”; others who had already purchased it were warm as toast. Middle layer gear is now on my shopping list.

On our last night we were back in the Marina at Gosport. We had to do the deep clean and then went out to the Jolly Roger for an evening meal. The following day Tim L & I were starting our Level 3 theory so we had to be on our best behaviour, again.

In the morning we said our goodbyes and walked off the yacht to our next classroom.

Quote: Courage is not having the energy to go on, it’s going on when you do not have the energy and that’s true.     Ellen Macarthur