Basingstoke and Deane Rotary Club presented me with another opportunity to publicise the race this evening and, more importantly, to promote the work of the Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education. The venue was the in the rather splendid setting of the Test Valley Golf Club near Overton in rural Hampshire. There was a good attendance including numerous guests from Rushmoor Rotary Club and one or two who had a great deal more sailing experience from me including one fascinating gentleman from South Africa (Mpumalanga Rotary) who had sailed from Cape Town to Rio - effectively leg 2 of the Round the World Race.
Our technology failed us on the evening and that was probably not a bad thing - Powerpoint presentations are not always the popular method of delivery! In the event we had a question and answer session that lasted pretty much as long as the presentation itself which is always a good sign! The gentleman from South Africa was quick to spot that one of the great challenges on this type of event is the need to live in close conditions with 18 or 19 people that you have never met before. There will undoubtedly be times when the stresses of confined living spill over into disagreements and the 'survivors' will be those that recognise both the need to vent feeling occassionally and the need to forget about it afterwards!
July 27th 2009: Pig Racing Night
The Rainbow Pig Race took place at The Hilt in Chandler's Ford on Saturday and raised a massive £900 for the charity based at Fareham. Ham-Shire Pigs were our hosts for the evening and warmed the crowd up with a few table games before the main event of six races involving some often temperamental and unpredicatable pigs. Form seemed to have very little influence but it did not affect the tote nor the auction of the pigs for each race which saw bids in excess of £20 per pig in the final race. Many thanks to our race sponsors; Shana, Ken & Carole, Michael Weakley Associates, Sparks Ellison, The Mayor of Eastleigh and Hiltingbury Community Association. Also to everyone else who helped make sure the event ran smoothly and that everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks guys!
July 13th 2009: Quilley School of Engineering
Quilley School of Engineering is one of several schools in the Eastleigh area that are following the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and raising the awareness of our nominated charity, The Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education. I returned to the school last Monday to talk once again to students who showed a real interest in the event. There are so many links to the school curriculum from languages to geography, maths, science, engineering and (marine) biology. There are other links to the international and citizenship curricula but it is also hoped that the race will inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and face their own challenges in the years ahead.
June 22nd 2009: School visit to Clarence Marina
We were delighted that Sherborne House School accepted the invitation to come down and look round the Clipper race yachts. The yachts are very busy at this time of year and we were particularly fortunate that our own boat, CV5, was in dock having just completed the Round the Island race the previous weekend. Clipper Ventures were absolutely brilliant, with Vikki Gillard, Will Little (RTW crew member on Liverpool in the last race) and Sophie organising the youngsters and ensuring their safety whilst on board the boat. The tour lasted about two hours and started off with a winching competition between the boys and girls. In the event it was a very narrow win for the boys but both teams demonstrated a good technique on the coffeee grinder and were very soon successful in raising a five gallon water canister almost up to the first forestsay of the mast. Clipper must have been wondering if they had recruited the best representative from Chandler's Ford after all!
We then took them below deck and gave them a good tour of the boat, showing them the heads (not impressed!), the saloon, galley, navigation room and the sleeping quarters. We showed them how the bunks can be angled to compensate for the heel of the boat when beating into the wind and the lee cloth that stops crew from falling out when the boat unexpectedly rocks the other way. We then returned to the saloon where refreshments were served. Our second competion saw them being tested on the information we had already given them about how many crew on each boat, how many tea bags consumed each week, how many miles are covered in the race and various other facts and figures. In the end every single student (and both teachers) got at least one question right and were able to leave with a Clipper Round the World T shirt. Without doubt, this was the highlight of the year so far!
May 4th 2009: Netley Abbey Infants School
Congratulations to the students, parents and staff of Netley Abbey Infants School for raising £63.63 towards the Rainbow Centre. They organised a non uniform day to promote the work of the charity and took the theme to a totally new level by wearing rainbow colours. So they not only succeeded in brightening up the school for a day but succeeded in brightening up the lives of the many children that benefit from conductive education at the Rainbow Centre in Fareham!
April 15th 2009: Promoting Rainbow
As part of my preparations and, in particular, to promote and raise the profile of the Rainbow Centre, I have been offering to speak to a variety of local groups and organisations about Clipper. Today I addressed a small group of Rotarians from Southampton, showing them the recruitment DVD and talking about my experiences through training. Its not at all difficult to get people interested in the race; the challenge speaks for itself and whilst I can make no great claims of being an accomplished speaker, I hope that my enhusiasm and the sheer excitement of being 150 days away from the challenge of a lifetime comes across. I certainly received a lot of good questions following the presentation, covering conditions at sea, the various jobs on board and, interestingly, how I was going to adapt to ordinary life on my return.
Of all the advice I have received from former RTW sailors it has been to make sure I have some sort of plan for my return. That may be to develop my sailing skills further (I already have thoughts about the Jubilee Sailing Trust) or simply to fall productively back into my old job (which most people seem to think will be a huge challenge in its own right). Whatever happens, it is clear that there will be a void that needs to be dealt with.
March 8th 2009: Visas and Jabs
It seems I need three visas for my participation in the Clipper race. The Australian visa was relatively easy to secure through their web site and it turns out the Chinese visa can only be applied for within three months of arrival. So I cancelled my interview at their embassy and we will sort that out during the Singapore stopover. That just left the US visa and I went up to the embassy at Grosvenor Square earlier this week to finalise my application. As it happened, the actual process was less painful than the queuing prior to having my documentation checked and prior to the interview itself. In the end though, all went relatively smoothly and my passport was returned to me yesterday, by courier, complete with a visa that lasts for 10 years.
The next big milestone on my preparations comes later this month at the doctors. There, my inoculations for Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Diphtheria and Polio will be supplemented with further jabs for Hepatitis B and Yellow Fever. After that I can well and truly focus on getting myself both mentally and physically prepared for the race which is a meagre 6 months away.
March 1st 2009: Planning Ahead
To all those that think preparing for a Round the World Yacht Race is relatively straight forward, I can assure you it is not. There are many pitfalls to avoid. Apart from the cost of entering, there is the loss of salary for the best part of a year and the preparations to ensure that the bills are all paid whilst you are away - yet still leaving enough cash to feed yourself in port (not to mention the pull of a proper bath and bed for a couple of nights!). But with all these arrangements in place there was one crucial bit of planning that I forgot.
This time next year, I will be sailing from Qingdao in China to California on one of the longest races ever experienced by Clipper crews. The journey will involve some 35 days at sea without seeing land. Half way through that journey I will be celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary mid Pacific. Not the best bit of planning when the person you want to celebrate with is on the other side of the world! One of the toughest challenges of the Clipper Round the World Race is being away from friends and family for 10 months but that separation will be felt acutely on the occasion of special birthdays and anniversaries.
February 17th 2009: Talking to Schools
Last Friday I attended Sherborne House School in Chandler’s Ford and spoke to a large group of students about my participation in the race. Sherborne House is part of the Gems Education Group which manages a growing network of over 100 high quality international schools around the world. Sherborne House joins a number of schools in the Eastleigh area including Thornden, Toynbee, Quilley, Crestwood and Netley Abbey Infants who will be following the Clipper Round the World Race 09-10 through the web site.
Around 120 Sherborne House students from years 2-6 sat attentively as we ran through the route and there then followed a full hour of questions about the race ranging from what we eat, what we do if we crash and how do we go to the toilet! They were all really good questions and showed a genuine interest in the race that will link well with geography, maths, science and other curricular. Sherborne House students proved once again that the work with Eastleigh schools is proving as rewarding for me as the training itself!
8th February 2009: Reflections on Part B2
It's two weeks since my second stint of Part B training and I'm missing the boat already! For most of the crew that week the thought of training at the end of January was a little daunting and, in the event, freezing temperatures and strong winds meant the challenge was suitably testing.
The Clipper Race is timed to avoid the harshest winter conditions - particularly in the Southern Ocean - but on leg 4 we will approach China at the end of their winter and it is quite possible that that we will experience difficult conditions beating in to the wind with plummeting temperatures offering the risk of snow. In that sense the training week was good preparation. Of course you can never reproduce the large rolling seas in the English Channel but in some ways the shorter, choppier seas that you experience in English coastal waters are good for finding sea legs! Fortunately none of our crew experienced any real symptoms of sea sickness.
We did operate with a skeleton crew of 10 (including the skipper and first mate) which is less than 60% of a full crew. As a result we could not successfully operate a night watch so our week was restricted to day sailings with stopovers in Cowes, Weymouth and Poole. Naturally we were very tired at the end of the week - a sure taste of things to come - but what was encouraging was that whilst in the race we experience maximum shifts of 4 hours, most days we were sailing for 9 or 10 hours each day. On Tuesday, we survived a 14 hour day having set sail from East Cowes just after 5am and arriving at Weymouth after 7pm and 77 nautical miles at sea.
We practised most of the standard evolutions and improved our skills at setting up preventers on the boom, poled out headsails and, of course spinnakers. Man over board skills were also practised every day but on this occasion, the skipper also made sure that every crew member had an opportunty to helm the boat during the recovery operation. This is by no means as easy as it looks and you need good callers at the rails to tell you how close you are to the caualty. The biggest risk is letting the wind blow the boat on to the casualty too early with the result that they disappear under the bow only to emerge on the wrong side requiring the helm to come round again. Learning to avoid this is critical to the successful recovery of a casualty.
The net result of all this was that we emerged with a higher level of confidence and competence. If the race was starting tomorrow I would have no qualms about my ability to make a decent contribution to the team, but the next few months will give me an opportunity to focus on one or two areas where I feel that my height and age work against me. This includes mast work and climbing the spinnaker pole.
8th October 2008: Falmouth University
This week I finally received back my assessments from Falmouth Marine School. I was pleased to see that I had reached the required standard and can now proceed with some confidence to my Part C training next year. That's a relief!
Clipper Ventures has a long association with Falmouth and many Clipper trainees go on to secure foundation degrees in Operational Yacht Science. Others have taken the six week course with Clipper Training giving them all the qualifications they need to become a commercially endorsed yachtmaster. It's inspiring to see how former crew members have taken that next big step although, for now, I'm more focused on just developing the experience at sea that will help me to make a positive contribution to the team I join next year.
28th September 2008: The Rainbow Tour
Its been all about Rainbow this last week as we have helped promote their work on Conductive Education at the Hiltingbury Extravaganza, at Waitrose Chandler's Ford and yesterday at the Rainbow Centre as part of their inaugural Open Day.
The Hiltingbury Extravaganza was the seventh event on Hiltingbury Recreation Ground and Val and I have been involved in all those events in one capacity or another. On Sunday 21st September, we combined our respective roles, promoting The Rainbow Centre, Eastleigh Council and the new Community Building that the local Community Association has been raising funds for. We managed to raise a small amount on the day, mainly through the 'higher or lower' card game but it was as much about raising the profile of the Rainbow Centre locally. The event was attended by around 5,000 local residents who were no doubt attracted by the glorious sunshine and a surprise appearance by the Red Arrows, the RAF Aerobatic Team.
Many of those who attended will no doubt also have met us at Waitrose, Chandler's Ford where we were promoting the Rainbow Centre as part of Waitrose's first Charity Week. In this new scheme, Waitrose shoppers are given tokens each time they shop and they use those tokens to vote for their preferred charity. In addition to securing the votes, Chandler's Ford customers donated generously in cash and on Friday 26th September we collected over £500 at the door. Then on Saturday 27th September, the Rainbow Centre opened its doors to the public so that they could see for themselves the wonderful work carried out at the Bradbury Building. Glorious sunshine once again brought out the crowds to see a number of stalls promoting a recycling theme. Sally Taylor from BBC's South Today made a guest appearance and officially opened the event that featured a working beehive, cakes, plants, recycling and a mini farm.
1st September 2008: Reflection on Part B Training
Six months ago I was on my way down to Gosport for Part A training having never sailed on a yacht before in my life. Whilst this was undoubtedly a steep learning curve for me, it was clear that other more experienced sailors were also facing their own challenges transferring from smaller single handed yachts to the ocean racers. In essence we were all learning together. Our instructors were first class and very patient with us and by the end of the week we clearly understood what was expected of us. Part B took us all on to a different level. This was our first training session on a Clipper 68 racing yacht; this will be our home for 10 months starting in September 2009. The boat is longer, wider and lighter to steer than the 60. They are designed primarily for downwind sailing so they are not at their best beating into the wind but feel very solid and safe nonetheless.
We were very fortunate to have Ricky Chalmers and Gordon Reid as our skipper and first mate respectively. Ricky had just completed the 07-08 Round the World Race and this brought an extra dimension to his training whilst Gordon was familiar to many of us from Part A course and brought a welcome continuity to the process. With training comes knowledge, with knowledge comes confidence and with confidence comes competence. By the end of the week you sensed that competence not just in yourself but in all those around you on the deck. The whole crew worked well as a team, constantly discussing techniques, offering and receiving tips with equal enthusiasm. Occasionally we made mistakes but learned from them and when the course ended the high confidence in our own sailing ability more than compensated for the tired limbs, bruises, cuts, galley burns, sprains and memories of sea sickness!
I honestly felt that I was starting to use my intuition to sail rather than simply following the instructor’s advice and that has to be step forward. Hopefully I can get on a few delivery trips to build on the experience. That feeling came about as Ricky designated one crew member to lead on particular sail evolutions and then de-brief the crew on how the evolution went. My turn came as we left Weymouth and I was asked to lead on raising the main sail. This is a relatively straight forward task and if the skipper had sat me down and asked me to describe the process, I probably would have been word perfect. However, doing it in practice adds an extra dimension. You have to remember everything in the right order and also manage the process by allocating specific tasks to individual crew members. It went OK (although I think I forgot about the backstays) and it’s that sort of thing that helps build your own self confidence.
Part C is 9 months away so extra sea experience on delivery trips is absolutely essential for me. My next delivery trip is on 18th October when we take one of the boats (probably Hull & Humber) up to St Katharine Docks in London to help publicise the 09-10 race.
17th July 2008: Rainbow Golf Day Results
Those who attended the charity golf day will have been very impressed by Eastleigh Golf Society's Nick Tustian who entered all the cards on the laptop computer and produced the results as a slide show. It is a tricky piece of software which (below) shows the overall placing, scores for front and back nine and countback. For the staticians, of the 486 holes played, there was only one birdie (12th). There were only 88 pars and an amazing 77 no returns. The hole that played the most difficult was the 7th (tell me about it) and the easiest was the 12th.
14th July 2008: The Highs and Lows of the Delivery
There was undoubtedly a brief moment when I felt a little low on this trip and I’m really not sure whether it was the hint of sea sickness or simply not having enough time to get used to the watch system. The experienced crew tell me it takes 3 days or so to get into it so as this was only a 4 day trip it could just as easily have been the effects of sleep deprivation. Either way it kills your appetite and then the discomfort of cold and wet gets to you a bit more. Funnily enough when I picked up 12 hours or so later and starting eating properly again the cold and wet ceased to be an issue. You just deal with it.
The highs more than compensated. There was a real buzz about sailing in a fleet. For the first time I felt part of a much bigger team. The crew were wonderful and full of stories from 07-08 and advice for 09-10. I saw my first dolphin – and puffin – in the Bristol Channel and I experienced my first sail under spinnaker. I still have to think quite hard over even the simplest evolution but it’s all starting to make sense and the confidence has definitely risen.
Helming was a particularly good experience since without sails it’s easier for the novice to think about what the sea and wind are doing. Still a long way to go though!
It was fascinating watching the skipper who shook out a reef almost single handed whilst my contribution amounted to simply depowering the main. It was impressive to watch that and witness him do the lions share of the work gybing on spinnaker. Probably like other skippers he seemed to be able to control the boat on very little sleep, preferring often to cat nap at the nav station and trusting others to helm and trim.
Classic quote for the week. There is an instruction sheet by the nav station on when to wake the skipper (e.g bad weather, sail change, vessel in the vicinity, etc) and then a special note – "do not wake the skipper for dolphins, whales, mermaids, sunrises and sunsets. He’s already seen them”.
12th July 2008: Rainbow V-Live
Rainbow is 18 years old this month and to celebrate the occasion they held a street party in Fareham on 12 July. Rainbow V-live featured dozens of stalls, sideshows, games and street entertainers, there was also a central staged area where the large crowds were well entertained by a number of acts including Shirin and Streetforce DC.
The weather was kind and hardly a drop of rain fell from the start at 10am until the stall holders started to pack away around 4pm. All in all it was a fantastic day out for the whole family and a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of the Rainbow Centre in Hampshire. Congratulations to Emma and Julie for organising a wonderful day.
Supported and compered by Ocean FM, the event was opened by the Mayor of Fareham Borough Council.
4th July 2008: Friday Night Party Makes 09-10 Race a Reality
A special get together for 09-10 crews was organised and hosted by Clipper Ventures on the night preceding the finish to 07-08. The event was held at the fashionable Circo bar in the Albert Dock and enabled new friends and old to exchange stories on their preparations for next years big race. It was good to meet Paul again who I shared mother watch with on Part A training and to meet two RTWs (Round the Worlders) who are booked in to complete their Part B training next month at the same time as me. It still seems a long way off and there seems so much training that we still need to complete and absorb but we all agreed that would fly by. The whole event worked really well and ensured that all those who have signed up felt very much part of the Clipper family.
27th June 2008: Durban 2010 and Beyond
It's now only 1 week before I join the Clipper Race yachts for the first time in Liverpool. Part A training took place on one of the older boats that circumnavigated the world in 03-04 and were subsequently 'retired' from ocean racing. On 5th July the 07-08 race finishes in Liverpool and 09-10 crews will then have access to the 68 foot Dubois Racing Yachts right through to end of the race in Hull around July 2010.
As soon as the current race finishes, there will be a deep clean of the boats at the Albert dock before they sail back to their home port in Gosport. I have ben fortunate to secure a place as crew on one of the boats for that return journey - with a provisional place on Clipper Durban (though that is subject to confirmation). Hopefully you will be able to follow the trip down through the Irish Sea, around Lands End at up the English Channel on this web site on the Clipper Blog page.
25 April 2008: School Visit
I had my first school visit today to Quilley School of Engineering in Eastleigh where I met year 7 and year 8 students at their afternoon assembly. I’ve seen others do these school visits before and it easy to see how teenagers can be impressed by people close to their own age who are achieving great things in sport. How they would react to someone in their 50’s who is currently an office worker was a different matter. In reality, though, I felt I did have a different angle to sell.
Many young sports stars visiting schools are naturally gifted, have tremendous financial backing and commit a huge amount of time to achieving their goal. It’s often an inspiring story but can sometimes seem a daunting challenge for the ordinary student. The Clipper Round the World Race is based around the ideal of making ocean racing accessible to anyone irrespective of their background, skills, experience and age. If a guy in his 50’s who has spent his whole life working in an office can take a belated gap year to complete in the Clipper Race then anyone can.
The presentation at Quilley started with the promotional DVD for recruiting 07-08 crew members. As the DVD played through, the students saw harsh sailing, calm sailing, destination ports around the world, dolphins, sunsets and mast climbs. Something in there must have appealed to everyone because when the lights went up you could here a pin drop. The questions came thick and fast and were really quite thought provoking. If I ever had any doubts about this race appealing to teenagers those fears were instantly dispelled.
24 April 2008: Part B Training Dates Confirmed
My Part B training course has now been confirmed as taking place between 17th and 24th August this year; just six weeks after I crew on one of the clipper boats returning from Liverpool after the finish of the 07-08 race. Once again we will be sailing from Gosport.
Whilst Part A was very much a beginners course (with 20 foot seas!), Part B is designed to transform competent crew members into safe, efficient racing sailors. We have already experienced a number of sail changes including the 'wind seeker'. In August we hope that calmer weather conditions will also permit an introduction to the spinnaker - an essential part of our armoury whilst racing and we hope to learn how to use them to full effect in a variety of conditions.
I'm hoping that the regular blogs will work a bit more effectively over the next two trips. The training boats had been refitted just before the Part A course and since they never go on extended trips now, the computers had been removed meaning that opprotunities to update the web site were scarce!
7th March 2008: Schools Resource Launch
Today we were delighted to launch our schools project with a detailed presentation of the race at Eastleigh Borough Council offices. The launch was attended by several schools from Chandler’s Ford in the north of the Borough right down to Hamble-le-Rice in the south. Amongst those schools were four of the key secondary schools in Eastleigh and Chandler’s Ford.
The schools project, sponsored by BAA Communities Trust and Solent Skill Quest, aims to provide an on line, digitally rich, resource for teachers in both primary and secondary schools. It is hoped that by allowing students to develop a knowledge of sailing at the same pace as myself some will be inspired to take up the sport and participate in ocean sailing. For others it will hopefully be the trigger to develop an interest in specific parts of the school curriculum and help to further improve educational standards of achievement. There are so many links to existing subjects. Geography, Economics, Maths, Engineering and Science all touch aspects of race preparation. If you are interested in joining the schools project and are located in the Eastleigh BC area, please feel free to contact me.
1st March 2008: Rainbow Photo Shoot
The partnership with Rainbow is now being made public through a number of press releases with the local media. Yesterday we spent the morning down at Royal Clarence Marina in Gosport taking a few pictures. It’s a position I am unfamiliar with since the day job dictates me making a sharp exit stage left whenever a camera is in view. Nevertheless, with heavy rain forecast we were grateful to get all the pictures we needed on a dry, albeit pretty chilly, Friday morning.
We were joined by Helen Somerset How and Julie Woodward from the Rainbow Centre and, despite the cold, we had a great time exploring the training boat and getting some good shots despite the cries of ‘that’s not how you operate a winch!’ I've obviously got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks on the very same boat that we used to get the shots. We’re very grateful to Clipper Ventures, especially David, Thea and Heather, for their support and allowing us to use the boat for the morning.
8th January 2008: The Clipper 60 Training Yacht
With only 10 weeks to go before Part A training Val and I went down to Gosport over Christmas to check out the boats that I will sail on during my first week at sea. Since it was the Sunday before Christmas the place was pretty quiet and we were fortunate to be given access to the marina where the three Clipper 60s are berthed.
Clipper has two fleets of racing yachts.
There are the ten 68’ Dubois racing yachts which are currently taking part in the Clipper Round the World Race 07-08. These will be the same boats that we will sail in 09-10 before they are retired. They are also the boats we are likely to complete our Part C training on, sailing across the North Sea from Hull to Rotterdam in the Wilberforce Race around May / June 2009.
Then there are the three remaining Clipper 60s from the original fleet of eight yachts that completed four circumnavigations of the world between 1996 and 2004. Although the new 68s are four foot longer, they are more than two tonnes lighter. This is largely due to the foam sandwich construction which makes the hull strong yet lightweight. They are also very fast due in no small part to the taller rig and larger sail area.
The Clipper 60s, perhaps more forgiving for novice sailors, are perfectly suited to teach the basics of sailing and seamanship. They also provide excellent preparation for the bigger and more powerful yachts that we will race on.
On board, the yachts are similar in terms of facilities. Two heads (toilets), one shower, a rest area and a single open cabin accommodating individual bunks and storage areas for the crew. These are racing yachts so everything is incredibly basic. Managing the heads in a force 6 wind is a work of art and even crew members moving about the cabin can sustain injuries. As a result, crew members who are not on watch grab a quick meal and then they are off to the bunk with a book or an ipod! Although this is perceived to be the safest place when off watch, the boat movements can be so severe that crew members often need to employ lee sheets stop themselves flying across the cabin.
The galley is quite compact but one of the most important areas of the boat. The quality and quantity of the meals served has a direct impact on the morale of the crew and the ‘mother watch’ – which changes daily - will always have to work hard. Whilst other crew members work a watch system of fours hours on deck and four hours off the mother watch are rewarded with a shower and a full nights sleep.
The navigation room is the other important area where strategy is planned, routes plotted, and race positions logged with HQ every six hours during the race itself. The navigation room also houses a PC with satellite links to enable blogs to be updated as well photos, videos and podcasts to be made available to the many thousands that follow the race from shore.
24th December 2007: The Christmas Gym Video
By popular demand (well, one request anyway) here it is...
16th December 2007: The Why, Which, What and When of Clipper Racing
People I talk to about the Clipper Race generally have one of two reactions. They either think that I am very lucky to have been offered a berth, or they think I am totally insane to even think about it. There is really not much in between. However there are always some common areas that I get asked about.
Why? Why am I doing it? Simple really. My career has always revolved around change and having now been in the same job for over 7 years, a move was definitely on the cards. With a love for South Hampshire the choices were always going to be limited. In 2006 I attended a Grahame Robb Associates seminar where the motivational speaker was Will Carnegie who circumnavigated the globe as skipper in the BT Global Challenge. Having listened to him recalling the highs and lows of the race I knew this was a fantastic challenge - the ultimate leadership and team building course. Neither Val nor I were really convinced we wanted to be apart for over 10 months (rumours of her offering an open cheque are totally unfounded!!) but after a year of talking about it we concluded that this was an opportunity not to be missed. So here I am hurtling toward Part A training in March.
Whilst initially this was about the challenge of the race, I have really enjoyed the last couple of months talking to different commercial partners and identifying how I could use the race to raise the profile of South Hampshire or promote work with schools. With that phase of my preparations approaching a very satisfactory conclusion it gives me the chance to focus very much on raising the profile of the Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education and securing much needed funds for them.
Which? Which boat will I be on? I won’t know that until around June 2009. Clipper Ventures aim to make it as tight a race as possible and they aim to do that by evaluating all competitors during the four weeks of training that we must all complete irrespective of our sailing experience. Only then will they allocate crews to ensure that each of the 10 identical racing yachts have near identical crews in terms of experience, age, skills and gender. Of the 17 crew on each boat there will be approximately half from the UK, and up to 10 who will be completing the full circumnavigation of the globe. The remaining crew members will have enlisted to complete a number of the 7 legs that make up the race. There are likely to be 3 UK named boats (currently Glasgow, Hull and Humber and Liverpool) and I would be happy to serve on any of those. Equally, with friends and relatives on the other side of the pond, I would be happy to race for USA or Canada aboard New York or Nova Scotia. Western Australia would certainly be an honour and Uniquely Singapore seem to have the best food, along with Qingdao who are twinned with my home town of Southampton. Jamaica and Durban really seem to enjoy their sailing. So pretty much any boat so long as I am racing!
What? What will I do on board? I think I’ve said before that as one of the smaller crew members I am resigned to climbing the mast to carry out repairs and as a scuba diver going under water when required. However, most crews operate on a healthy team ethos so everyone gives a hand at all the tasks, be it helming, bowman (the guy who gets soaked at the front), mother, sail trimming or sail repairs. There are also victuallers, engineers, watch leaders, photographers, navigators, medics and diarists. Navigation is definitely an ‘extra’ course I want to take on but whether I can secure that role on board is another matter.
When? We talk about the 10 month race but in reality it is a 30 month experience starting with Part A training in March 2008. Part A comprises 7 days sailing in the English Channel between Falmouth and Dover and round the Isle of Wight. This will be our first introduction to big boat sailing using the same boats that circumnavigated the globe in 03-04. We will sail day and night using the watch system so it will give me first hand experience of sleep deprivation and, hopefully, some testing sea conditions. In September, our second week of training is likely to take us out into the Atlantic Ocean and our third week, early in 2009, to the North Sea. Our final week of training will be another North Sea crossing under race conditions competing against the other 9 boats. By that time, the 07-08 race will be over and the boats refurbished ready for use by the new crews. Then around July 2009 we will stock the boats and sail from Gosport toward the start line ready for the off in September 2009.
13th December 2007: 100 days to Part A Training
It's been a busy week in the day job so I this is the first chance I've had to write an update. There is a lot happening behind the scenes though and I hope to share some exciting news over the next few weeks. It was always the intention to use 2007 to develop the corporate partnerships and I am grateful to Grahame Robb Associates and Eastleigh Borough Council who have already confirmed their participation.
2008 will be all about training and raising money for the Rainbow Centre. The Justgiving site will officially be launched in January but the intention is to back that up with a number of events during the year that will support the fundraising drive. We hope this will include a dinner dance, a golf tournament and a jazz evening. There is also the idea of a 24 hour sponsored row around Lakeside but perhaps we'll leave that until we have some warmer weather!
In the meantime, I've added 'spinning' to the weights and pilates. It sounds such an easy workout doesn't it? I could not have been more wrong. A 45 minute session at the kinetika gym in Eastleigh last week left me with sore knees for several days. I had my second session today and was mightily relieved that the recovery rate was much improved (in the sense that I did eventually recover...). For those who are unfamiliar, this combines cycling with an aerobic exercise. So whilst you may start off in the saddle, the speed and gears go up and down quite dramatically and you have to keep up with the beat of the music and the enthusiasm of a the instructor at the front of the room!
5th December 2007: Rainbow Dinner Dance
The dinner dance last Friday at HMS Collingwood was a great success for the Rainbow Centre, thanks in no small measure to the skills of comedian Mike Osman who expertly led the auction which included (ironically) a day trip for 10 on an ocean yacht! Somehow I managed to resist the temptation but would in any case have struggled to match the winning bid of over £1,000!
Other auctioned items included a four ball at golf, a signed Elton John CD, two directors box tickets for some football club I can't remember the name of and a signed print of Linvoy Primus who plays for said football team. All in all the auction alone raised nearly £3,000.
The venue was fantastic; pristine and spotless as you would expect from a naval establishment and the food was probably the best I have ever had on a function. The entertainment included singing from Steve Perry and Kate, daughter of co-founder Helen Somerset How. Special thanks to Nicky and Stephanie Banger - big supporters of the Rainbow Centre - who joined us for the evening and helped make it a night to remember.
28th November 2007: Training Update
Thought it was about time I gave a brief update on training.
Gym work has been going well and each week I seem to improve on at least one piece of equipment. You're going to ask me what I do now and I'm not sure I know the technical names for the various pieces of kit. But 10 minutes cross country cycling and 2000 metres on the rowing machine seems to set me up well for the weights. Most of the weights focus on the upper body and are complimentary. For example the chest press is followed by a corresponding back exercise. I've also found out (the hard way) the importance of proper warming up and cooling down. Throwing yourself straight into a really heavy lifting session can bring on what is commonly referred to as an exercise headache. I've never had one before but I'm told it is similar to a bad migraine. Imagine yourself being hit on the side of the head with a baseball bat. Then double it.
I'm also working, thanks to a work colleague, on stretching exercises (pilates). We had quite a laugh when we loaded the training DVD and the warm up exercise involved bending over and placing the hands flat on the floor. I wish! Even so, after just 2 weeks of practice I'm getting closer so there is hope for me yet. What this has told me is that fitness is more than just pumping weights and a more rounded programme is essential. Even so, I have no doubt that my true fitness will be painfully exposed when I start sea training in barely 3 months time.
The cooking is coming on very well though. Bread and flapjacks I can pretty well turn out with my eyes closed and pizzas are coming along nicely. I think I'm pretty confident of performing a mother watch although the challenge of feeding 8 or 9 hungry sailors coming off watch in a short timescale will undoubtedly test me. And that's in calm conditions!
I'm also spending a fair bit of time browsing the web and picking up bargain sail wear. There is a lot of kit I need to acquire before the race. Fortunately I have found that a lot of the technical clothing (base and mid layers particularly) are the same as for skiers and walkers so there is lots to choose from. Whether this comes under training is debatable but its all good preparation.
13th November 2007: Visit to Rainbow Centre
As reported on the main page, we have now selected The Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education as our nominated charity for the 09-10 race. Val and I went down to visit the centre last Monday (5th) and we were delighted by both the enthusiasm of the volunteers and by the education and support that they were providing for the youngsters.
We were greeted by Helen Somerset How and Julie Woodward who gave us a detailed background on how the centre came about and why the system of learning is so important to improving the quality of life for so many youngsters. An explanation of conductive education is covered in the sponsorship page but it was fascinating to hear how this technique, developed by András Petö in Hungary from 1945, was not readily available in the UK until 1990 when the Rainbow charity was established and secured the services of two professional Conductors who agreed to come across and work at the new centre.
The centre primarily provides for the care and education of young children but given that the techniques are equally relevant to stroke victims and people who suffer from Parkinson's disease and certain types of multiple sclerosis, there are numerous other opportunities to be explored.
There will be a number of different explanations as to why a child may experience difficulty with movements controlled by the central nervous system. It may be congenital or may be caused by some trauma that the child has experienced. Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term that describes the most common collection of causes.
Conductive education aims to reconnect those neural networks that control movement by breaking a single exercise down into a series of small tasks that the child can master over a period of time. Conductive education often starts with children as young as six months and will eventually provide a rounded development focusing on mobility, academic skills, social skills and communication. The Rainbow Centre has been given an 'outstanding' rating by OFSTED inspectors.
We were able to witness two groups at work from the observation room; one parent and child group and one nursery group working together on mobility and play. We were also shown around the new sensory garden that provides play equipment and other 'activity centres' designed to stimulate all the senses in a an environment that encourages interaction and social development.
The Bradbury Building only opened last year and provides purpose built facilities to provide the highest standard of conductive education. But this all comes at a cost and our role is to raise money to help with the running costs of the building. In addition, we hope that in doing so we will encourage others to contribute to phase two of the building that will accommodate their teaching project, provide new consulting rooms and add much needed administrative space.
31st October 2007: Training Dates Announced
I now know that my Part A training will take place from Sunday 23 March to Sunday 30 March departing from Gosport. This introduces me to big boat sailing and gives me a chance to experience the thrill of the watch system. It is an intensive seven-day training session covering basic seamanship and the skills needed to live and work afloat. A combination of day sailing and longer offshore passages will hopefully prepare me to take my place aboard an ocean racing yacht with confidence, competence and safety.
... and I don't even miss a Saints game!
There are four such modules for me to complete before the race starts in September 2009.
In 2007 Clipper Ventures launched a new division, Clipper Training, RYA-accredited and headed up by former round the world skipper, James Allen. They have been working hard to develop new and improved training courses that are available to the public, as well as to Clipper Race crew.
These world-class training courses now include Offshore Safety, teaching all the personal safety and survival techniques required to maximise the chances of survival in the event of an emergency at sea. It includes RYA/ISAF Basic Sea Survival, Offshore Emergency First Aid and the Marine Radio Short Range Certificate.
In addition they organise pre-race training courses in sail repair, rigging, electronic instrumentation, communications, media and engine maintenance. I am hoping to take advantage of several of these courses in the hope that I will be offered specific responsibilities with the team when the race starts.
Clipper Training aboard the company's 68-ft ocean racers will now be part of a foundation degree in Global Yacht Operations, thanks to a new collaboration between Clipper Ventures and Falmouth Marine School.
20th October 2007: Mother Watch Training
Life on board is based around a watch system. There are numerous systems that apply on different boats and depending on the temperature on deck but the norm is to have two watches each working 4 hours on deck followed by four hours sleep. Meals are grabbed in between.
Every day, one from each watch is pulled out to run the mother watch. That's cooking and cleaning for the whole crew. In return you get a full nights sleep and a shower! So part of my training is to work on my adequate but limited cooking skills. Today was my first attempt at bread. No mixer - I wanted to get as close to the conditions on board as possible (although I declined Val's offer to sway me back and forth and throw the occasional bucket of water on me) -and this was the result. Not bad for a first attempt. I thought the wave on top gave it a particularly good nautical touch...
19th October 2007: Fitness Training
For anyone wanting to build up their fitness - for whatever reason - I would thoroughly recommend the kinetika gym at Fleming Park Eastleigh. I'm into my third session now having been given a programme by my instructor, Glenn, to build up my upper body and stamina.
Actually I haven't seen Glenn since my first induction though he probably thought he had a real strange one on his hands after this surreal conversation about objectives -
'So what do you want to get out of your training?'
'Oh, I want to build up my strength for sailing..'
'Good. How often do you sail?
'I've never sailed before...'
'OK, how often do you intend to sail?'
'errmm... just the once - about 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 10 months...'
'OK... (!!!!)'
Question: If I've burnt off 700 calories on the rowing machine, does that entitle me to a pint of premium lager?
16th September 2007: The Start of the 07-08 Race
You have to feel sorry for the friends and families. For them, this was the last time they would see their loved ones for some 10 months so it is quite understandable that they want to make the most of these last few hours.
For the crew however, the story is quite different. They've spent months training and preparing for this event and with all the preparations now complete they just want to get going. You can see it in their faces. They are totally focused on the task in hand and now they just want to be off; enough of all this build up.
The morning must have been an agonising drag but there were still plenty of jobs to. Last minute repairs up the mast; taping the spreaders to minimise sail damage. Finally the boats were introduced to the Mersey crowd one by one accompanied by their team anthem - from 'Rocking all over the World', through ..Three Little Birds - Bob Marley (Jamaica, of course).. ... New York, New York (can't quite remember the name of the boat though)... ...to the Proclaimers (500 miles)for none other than Glasgow:Scotland with Style.
The race started with a good lead from Durban. But there would be many twists before Rochelle.
15th September 2007: The Interview
After leaving at 6am, we arrived at the outskirts of Liverpool around 10:30 but it took us another 90 minutes to get to the Albert Dock. There was a real buzz about the place with crews making last minute preparations whilst family and friends looked on. After a quick lunch I met up with Recruitment Director David Cosworth and I had my interview for a berth on the Clipper Race 09-10. Afterwards David showed me around Uniquely Singapore. It was the first time ever I have set foot on a sailing boat (although I had undertaken rib handling as part of my BSAC training). The boats definitely look their best above deck.
Below, everything is reduced to the bare minimum in the interests of maximum speed. And at the end of the day you are either on a four hour watch on deck or you are making the most of four hours sleep. There's really not much in between so there's really no need for luxuries.
Note to self: Make sure to avoid the bunks near the hatches where the sails are transported to deck. The bunks here are protected by shower curtains 'just in case there is water around'. With some sails weighing in excess of 500kg, it is unlikely that there will be much opportunity to control the drop.
After the tour, we walked back to the Clipper Venture stand and bumped into Val. David reassured her that they had not lost a crew member yet and had no intention of doing so in the future as it was bad for business. Although she did not show it, I think she was suitably reassured...
It was a pretty busy weekend recruitment wise and apparently some very impressive applications. One hopeful candidate was over from Italy for his interview. But for all of us it was a real opportunity to taste the excitement and tension just 24 hours before the big off.
Basingstoke and Deane Rotary Club presented me with another opportunity to publicise the race this evening and, more importantly, to promote the work of the Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education. The venue was the in the rather splendid setting of the Test Valley Golf Club near Overton in rural Hampshire. There was a good attendance including numerous guests from Rushmoor Rotary Club and one or two who had a great deal more sailing experience from me including one fascinating gentleman from South Africa (Mpumalanga Rotary) who had sailed from Cape Town to Rio - effectively leg 2 of the Round the World Race.
The Rainbow Pig Race took place at The Hilt in Chandler's Ford on Saturday and raised a massive £900 for the charity based at Fareham. Ham-Shire Pigs were our hosts for the evening and warmed the crowd up with a few table games before the main event of six races involving some often temperamental and unpredicatable pigs. Form seemed to have very little influence but it did not affect the tote nor the auction of the pigs for each race which saw bids in excess of £20 per pig in the final race. Many thanks to our race sponsors; Shana, Ken & Carole, Michael Weakley Associates, Sparks Ellison, The Mayor of Eastleigh and Hiltingbury Community Association. Also to everyone else who helped make sure the event ran smoothly and that everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks guys!
Quilley School of Engineering is one of several schools in the Eastleigh area that are following the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and raising the awareness of our nominated charity, The Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education. I returned to the school last Monday to talk once again to students who showed a real interest in the event. There are so many links to the school curriculum from languages to geography, maths, science, engineering and (marine) biology. There are other links to the international and citizenship curricula but it is also hoped that the race will inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and face their own challenges in the years ahead. 
We were delighted that Sherborne House School accepted the invitation to come down and look round the Clipper race yachts. The yachts are very busy at this time of year and we were particularly fortunate that our own boat, CV5, was in dock having just completed the Round the Island race the previous weekend. Clipper Ventures were absolutely brilliant, with Vikki Gillard, Will Little (RTW crew member on Liverpool in the last race) and Sophie organising the youngsters and ensuring their safety whilst on board the boat. The tour lasted about two hours and started off with a winching competition between the boys and girls. In the event it was a very narrow win for the boys but both teams demonstrated a good technique on the coffeee grinder and were very soon successful in raising a five gallon water canister almost up to the first forestsay of the mast. Clipper must have been wondering if they had recruited the best representative from Chandler's Ford after all!
We then took them below deck and gave them a good tour of the boat, showing them the heads (not impressed!), the saloon, galley, navigation room and the sleeping quarters. We showed them how the bunks can be angled to compensate for the heel of the boat when beating into the wind and the lee cloth that stops crew from falling out when the boat unexpectedly rocks the other way. We then returned to the saloon where refreshments were served. Our second competion saw them being tested on the information we had already given them about how many crew on each boat, how many tea bags consumed each week, how many miles are covered in the race and various other facts and figures. In the end every single student (and both teachers) got at least one question right and were able to leave with a Clipper Round the World T shirt. Without doubt, this was the highlight of the year so far!
Congratulations to the students, parents and staff of Netley Abbey Infants School for raising £63.63 towards the Rainbow Centre. They organised a non uniform day to promote the work of the charity and took the theme to a totally new level by wearing rainbow colours. So they not only succeeded in brightening up the school for a day but succeeded in brightening up the lives of the many children that benefit from conductive education at the Rainbow Centre in Fareham!
As part of my preparations and, in particular, to promote and raise the profile of the Rainbow Centre, I have been offering to speak to a variety of local groups and organisations about Clipper. Today I addressed a small group of Rotarians from Southampton, showing them the recruitment DVD and talking about my experiences through training. Its not at all difficult to get people interested in the race; the challenge speaks for itself and whilst I can make no great claims of being an accomplished speaker, I hope that my enhusiasm and the sheer excitement of being 150 days away from the challenge of a lifetime comes across. I certainly received a lot of good questions following the presentation, covering conditions at sea, the various jobs on board and, interestingly, how I was going to adapt to ordinary life on my return.
It seems I need three visas for my participation in the Clipper race. The Australian visa was relatively easy to secure through their web site and it turns out the Chinese visa can only be applied for within three months of arrival. So I cancelled my interview at their embassy and we will sort that out during the Singapore stopover. That just left the US visa and I went up to the embassy at Grosvenor Square earlier this week to finalise my application. As it happened, the actual process was less painful than the queuing prior to having my documentation checked and prior to the interview itself. In the end though, all went relatively smoothly and my passport was returned to me yesterday, by courier, complete with a visa that lasts for 10 years.
This time next year, I will be sailing from Qingdao in China to California on one of the longest races ever experienced by Clipper crews. The journey will involve some 35 days at sea without seeing land. Half way through that journey I will be celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary mid Pacific. Not the best bit of planning when the person you want to celebrate with is on the other side of the world! One of the toughest challenges of the Clipper Round the World Race is being away from friends and family for 10 months but that separation will be felt acutely on the occasion of special birthdays and anniversaries. 
Last Friday I attended Sherborne House School in Chandler’s Ford and spoke to a large group of students about my participation in the race. Sherborne House is part of the Gems Education Group which manages a growing network of over 100 high quality international schools around the world. Sherborne House joins a number of schools in the Eastleigh area including Thornden, Toynbee, Quilley, Crestwood and Netley Abbey Infants who will be following the Clipper Round the World Race 09-10 through the web site.
Around 120 Sherborne House students from years 2-6 sat attentively as we ran through the route and there then followed a full hour of questions about the race ranging from what we eat, what we do if we crash and how do we go to the toilet! They were all really good questions and showed a genuine interest in the race that will link well with geography, maths, science and other curricular. Sherborne House students proved once again that the work with Eastleigh schools is proving as rewarding for me as the training itself!
We did operate with a skeleton crew of 10 (including the skipper and first mate) which is less than 60% of a full crew. As a result we could not successfully operate a night watch so our week was restricted to day sailings with stopovers in Cowes, Weymouth and Poole. Naturally we were very tired at the end of the week - a sure taste of things to come - but what was encouraging was that whilst in the race we experience maximum shifts of 4 hours, most days we were sailing for 9 or 10 hours each day. On Tuesday, we survived a 14 hour day having set sail from East Cowes just after 5am and arriving at Weymouth after 7pm and 77 nautical miles at sea.
The Hiltingbury Extravaganza was the seventh event on Hiltingbury Recreation Ground and Val and I have been involved in all those events in one capacity or another. On Sunday 21st September, we combined our respective roles, promoting The Rainbow Centre, Eastleigh Council and the new Community Building that the local Community Association has been raising funds for. We managed to raise a small amount on the day, mainly through the 'higher or lower' card game but it was as much about raising the profile of the Rainbow Centre locally. The event was attended by around 5,000 local residents who were no doubt attracted by the glorious sunshine and a surprise appearance by the Red Arrows, the RAF Aerobatic Team.
Many of those who attended will no doubt also have met us at Waitrose, Chandler's Ford where we were promoting the Rainbow Centre as part of Waitrose's first Charity Week. In this new scheme, Waitrose shoppers are given tokens each time they shop and they use those tokens to vote for their preferred charity. In addition to securing the votes, Chandler's Ford customers donated generously in cash and on Friday 26th September we collected over £500 at the door. Then on Saturday 27th September, the Rainbow Centre opened its doors to the public so that they could see for themselves the wonderful work carried out at the Bradbury Building. Glorious sunshine once again brought out the crowds to see a number of stalls promoting a recycling theme. Sally Taylor from BBC's South Today made a guest appearance and officially opened the event that featured a working beehive, cakes, plants, recycling and a mini farm. 
Six months ago I was on my way down to Gosport for Part A training having never sailed on a yacht before in my life. Whilst this was undoubtedly a steep learning curve for me, it was clear that other more experienced sailors were also facing their own challenges transferring from smaller single handed yachts to the ocean racers. In essence we were all learning together. Our instructors were first class and very patient with us and by the end of the week we clearly understood what was expected of us. Part B took us all on to a different level. This was our first training session on a Clipper 68 racing yacht; this will be our home for 10 months starting in September 2009. The boat is longer, wider and lighter to steer than the 60. They are designed primarily for downwind sailing so they are not at their best beating into the wind but feel very solid and safe nonetheless.
We were very fortunate to have Ricky Chalmers and Gordon Reid as our skipper and first mate respectively. Ricky had just completed the 07-08 Round the World Race and this brought an extra dimension to his training whilst Gordon was familiar to many of us from Part A course and brought a welcome continuity to the process. With training comes knowledge, with knowledge comes confidence and with confidence comes competence. By the end of the week you sensed that competence not just in yourself but in all those around you on the deck. The whole crew worked well as a team, constantly discussing techniques, offering and receiving tips with equal enthusiasm. Occasionally we made mistakes but learned from them and when the course ended the high confidence in our own sailing ability more than compensated for the tired limbs, bruises, cuts, galley burns, sprains and memories of sea sickness!
Those who attended the charity golf day will have been very impressed by Eastleigh Golf Society's Nick Tustian who entered all the cards on the laptop computer and produced the results as a slide show. It is a tricky piece of software which (below) shows the overall placing, scores for front and back nine and countback. For the staticians, of the 486 holes played, there was only one birdie (12th). There were only 88 pars and an amazing 77 no returns. The hole that played the most difficult was the 7th (tell me about it) and the easiest was the 12th.
There was undoubtedly a brief moment when I felt a little low on this trip and I’m really not sure whether it was the hint of sea sickness or simply not having enough time to get used to the watch system. The experienced crew tell me it takes 3 days or so to get into it so as this was only a 4 day trip it could just as easily have been the effects of sleep deprivation. Either way it kills your appetite and then the discomfort of cold and wet gets to you a bit more. Funnily enough when I picked up 12 hours or so later and starting eating properly again the cold and wet ceased to be an issue. You just deal with it.
Rainbow is 18 years old this month and to celebrate the occasion they held a street party in Fareham on 12 July. Rainbow V-live featured dozens of stalls, sideshows, games and street entertainers, there was also a central staged area where the large crowds were well entertained by a number of acts including Shirin and Streetforce DC.
The weather was kind and hardly a drop of rain fell from the start at 10am until the stall holders started to pack away around 4pm. All in all it was a fantastic day out for the whole family and a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of the Rainbow Centre in Hampshire. Congratulations to Emma and Julie for organising a wonderful day.
Supported and compered by Ocean FM, the event was opened by the Mayor of Fareham Borough Council.
A special get together for 09-10 crews was organised and hosted by Clipper Ventures on the night preceding the finish to 07-08. The event was held at the fashionable Circo bar in the Albert Dock and enabled new friends and old to exchange stories on their preparations for next years big race. It was good to meet Paul again who I shared mother watch with on Part A training and to meet two RTWs (Round the Worlders) who are booked in to complete their Part B training next month at the same time as me. It still seems a long way off and there seems so much training that we still need to complete and absorb but we all agreed that would fly by. The whole event worked really well and ensured that all those who have signed up felt very much part of the Clipper family.
As soon as the current race finishes, there will be a deep clean of the boats at the Albert dock before they sail back to their home port in Gosport. I have ben fortunate to secure a place as crew on one of the boats for that return journey - with a provisional place on Clipper Durban (though that is subject to confirmation). Hopefully you will be able to follow the trip down through the Irish Sea, around Lands End at up the English Channel on this web site on the Clipper Blog page.
I had my first school visit today to Quilley School of Engineering in Eastleigh where I met year 7 and year 8 students at their afternoon assembly. I’ve seen others do these school visits before and it easy to see how teenagers can be impressed by people close to their own age who are achieving great things in sport. How they would react to someone in their 50’s who is currently an office worker was a different matter. In reality, though, I felt I did have a different angle to sell. 
My Part B training course has now been confirmed as taking place between 17th and 24th August this year; just six weeks after I crew on one of the clipper boats returning from Liverpool after the finish of the 07-08 race. Once again we will be sailing from Gosport.
The schools project, sponsored by BAA Communities Trust and Solent Skill Quest, aims to provide an on line, digitally rich, resource for teachers in both primary and secondary schools. It is hoped that by allowing students to develop a knowledge of sailing at the same pace as myself some will be inspired to take up the sport and participate in ocean sailing. For others it will hopefully be the trigger to develop an interest in specific parts of the school curriculum and help to further improve educational standards of achievement. There are so many links to existing subjects. Geography, Economics, Maths, Engineering and Science all touch aspects of race preparation. If you are interested in joining the schools project and are located in the Eastleigh BC area, please feel free to 
The partnership with Rainbow is now being made public through a number of press releases with the local media. Yesterday we spent the morning down at Royal Clarence Marina in Gosport taking a few pictures. It’s a position I am unfamiliar with since the day job dictates me making a sharp exit stage left whenever a camera is in view. Nevertheless, with heavy rain forecast we were grateful to get all the pictures we needed on a dry, albeit pretty chilly, Friday morning.
We were joined by Helen Somerset How and Julie Woodward from the Rainbow Centre and, despite the cold, we had a great time exploring the training boat and getting some good shots despite the cries of ‘that’s not how you operate a winch!’ I've obviously got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks on the very same boat that we used to get the shots. We’re very grateful to Clipper Ventures, especially David, Thea and Heather, for their support and allowing us to use the boat for the morning.
Then there are the three remaining Clipper 60s from the original fleet of eight yachts that completed four circumnavigations of the world between 1996 and 2004. Although the new 68s are four foot longer, they are more than two tonnes lighter. This is largely due to the foam sandwich construction which makes the hull strong yet lightweight. They are also very fast due in no small part to the taller rig and larger sail area.
On board, the yachts are similar in terms of facilities. Two heads (toilets), one shower, a rest area and a single open cabin accommodating individual bunks and storage areas for the crew. These are racing yachts so everything is incredibly basic. Managing the heads in a force 6 wind is a work of art and even crew members moving about the cabin can sustain injuries. As a result, crew members who are not on watch grab a quick meal and then they are off to the bunk with a book or an ipod! Although this is perceived to be the safest place when off watch, the boat movements can be so severe that crew members often need to employ lee sheets stop themselves flying across the cabin. 
The galley is quite compact but one of the most important areas of the boat. The quality and quantity of the meals served has a direct impact on the morale of the crew and the ‘mother watch’ – which changes daily - will always have to work hard. Whilst other crew members work a watch system of fours hours on deck and four hours off the mother watch are rewarded with a shower and a full nights sleep.
The navigation room is the other important area where strategy is planned, routes plotted, and race positions logged with HQ every six hours during the race itself. The navigation room also houses a PC with satellite links to enable blogs to be updated as well photos, videos and podcasts to be made available to the many thousands that follow the race from shore.
Why? Why am I doing it? Simple really. My career has always revolved around change and having now been in the same job for over 7 years, a move was definitely on the cards. With a love for South Hampshire the choices were always going to be limited. In 2006 I attended a Grahame Robb Associates seminar where the motivational speaker was Will Carnegie who circumnavigated the globe as skipper in the BT Global Challenge. Having listened to him recalling the highs and lows of the race I knew this was a fantastic challenge - the ultimate leadership and team building course. Neither Val nor I were really convinced we wanted to be apart for over 10 months (rumours of her offering an open cheque are totally unfounded!!) but after a year of talking about it we concluded that this was an opportunity not to be missed. So here I am hurtling toward Part A training in March.
What? What will I do on board? I think I’ve said before that as one of the smaller crew members I am resigned to climbing the mast to carry out repairs and as a scuba diver going under water when required. However, most crews operate on a healthy team ethos so everyone gives a hand at all the tasks, be it helming, bowman (the guy who gets soaked at the front), mother, sail trimming or sail repairs. There are also victuallers, engineers, watch leaders, photographers, navigators, medics and diarists. Navigation is definitely an ‘extra’ course I want to take on but whether I can secure that role on board is another matter. 
In the meantime, I've added 'spinning' to the weights and pilates. It sounds such an easy workout doesn't it? I could not have been more wrong. A 45 minute session at the kinetika gym in Eastleigh last week left me with sore knees for several days. I had my second session today and was mightily relieved that the recovery rate was much improved (in the sense that I did eventually recover...). For those who are unfamiliar, this combines cycling with an aerobic exercise. So whilst you may start off in the saddle, the speed and gears go up and down quite dramatically and you have to keep up with the beat of the music and the enthusiasm of a the instructor at the front of the room!
The dinner dance last Friday at HMS Collingwood was a great success for the Rainbow Centre, thanks in no small measure to the skills of comedian Mike Osman who expertly led the auction which included (ironically) a day trip for 10 on an ocean yacht! Somehow I managed to resist the temptation but would in any case have struggled to match the winning bid of over £1,000!
Gym work has been going well and each week I seem to improve on at least one piece of equipment. You're going to ask me what I do now and I'm not sure I know the technical names for the various pieces of kit. But 10 minutes cross country cycling and 2000 metres on the rowing machine seems to set me up well for the weights. Most of the weights focus on the upper body and are complimentary. For example the chest press is followed by a corresponding back exercise. I've also found out (the hard way) the importance of proper warming up and cooling down. Throwing yourself straight into a really heavy lifting session can bring on what is commonly referred to as an exercise headache. I've never had one before but I'm told it is similar to a bad migraine. Imagine yourself being hit on the side of the head with a baseball bat. Then double it.
I'm also working, thanks to a work colleague, on stretching exercises (pilates). We had quite a laugh when we loaded the training DVD and the warm up exercise involved bending over and placing the hands flat on the floor. I wish! Even so, after just 2 weeks of practice I'm getting closer so there is hope for me yet. What this has told me is that fitness is more than just pumping weights and a more rounded programme is essential. Even so, I have no doubt that my true fitness will be painfully exposed when I start sea training in barely 3 months time.
We were greeted by Helen Somerset How and Julie Woodward who gave us a detailed background on how the centre came about and why the system of learning is so important to improving the quality of life for so many youngsters. An explanation of conductive education is covered in the sponsorship page but it was fascinating to hear how this technique, developed by András Petö in Hungary from 1945, was not readily available in the UK until 1990 when the Rainbow charity was established and secured the services of two professional Conductors who agreed to come across and work at the new centre.
Conductive education aims to reconnect those neural networks that control movement by breaking a single exercise down into a series of small tasks that the child can master over a period of time. Conductive education often starts with children as young as six months and will eventually provide a rounded development focusing on mobility, academic skills, social skills and communication. The Rainbow Centre has been given an 'outstanding' rating by OFSTED inspectors.
Every day, one from each watch is pulled out to run the mother watch. That's cooking and cleaning for the whole crew. In return you get a full nights sleep and a shower! So part of my training is to work on my adequate but limited cooking skills. Today was my first attempt at bread. No mixer - I wanted to get as close to the conditions on board as possible (although I declined Val's offer to sway me back and forth and throw the occasional bucket of water on me) -and this was the result. Not bad for a first attempt. I thought the wave on top gave it a particularly good nautical touch...
The morning must have been an agonising drag but there were still plenty of jobs to. Last minute repairs up the mast; taping the spreaders to minimise sail damage. Finally the boats were introduced to the Mersey crowd one by one accompanied by their team anthem - from 'Rocking all over the World', through ..Three Little Birds - Bob Marley (Jamaica, of course).. ... New York, New York (can't quite remember the name of the boat though)... ...to the Proclaimers (500 miles)for none other than Glasgow:Scotland with Style.
Below, everything is reduced to the bare minimum in the interests of maximum speed. And at the end of the day you are either on a four hour watch on deck or you are making the most of four hours sleep. There's really not much in between so there's really no need for luxuries. 