RACED BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU HOW TO GET ON BOARD If you are excited by the prospect of getting on board and taking part in the only round the world yacht race that is available to everyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, then you are not alone. Berths are now available on the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race and are already filling up fast. Anyone over the age of 18 is welcome to apply and for those wishing to find out more Clipper Crew Recruitment Manager, David Cusworth will be in California for the stopover in April and is holding a number of no obligation presentations across the San Francisco Bay area.
Charles Willson on board California ON REFLECTION Guaranteed to be on the pontoon to see his boat arrive is California crew member, Charles Willson. Having recently returned from his leg of the race, from Western Australia to China, Charles has been avidly following his team on the Race Viewer and willing them to victory. Charles says, “I first learned about the Clipper Race in April 2008 when looking out my office window overlooking the entrance to the Santa Cruz Harbor. I saw a large racing yacht dropping its main and making preparations to enter the harbor. I punched the URL on the boom (www.clipperroundtheworld.com) into my web browser, and from that moment on, I was hooked.
Charles Willson and crew arrive in Qingdao “Now exactly two years later I will be scanning the horizon waiting for my team to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge a little over five weeks after I said goodbye to them in China, having spent two months aboard as a crewmember for Leg 4. “Leg 4 of Clipper consisted of two contrasting races. First we raced from Western Australia to Singapore.
Leaving Australia in the middle of their summer en route to the Equator meant scorching heat on deck and unbearable temperatures down below. I quickly learned to love helming at night. It was such a great feeling to be hundreds of miles from land concentrating on the faint silhouette of a tennis court sized spinnaker, lit only by the light of a star filled sky.
San Francisco Yacht Club, Belvedere - Wednesday 7 April at 7pm South Beach Yacht Club, The Embarcadero - Thursday 8 April at 6pm OCSC Sailing School, Berkeley – Monday 12 April at 7pm
The Equator also introduced me to night time squalls where the wind would go from six to 60 knots in the blink of an eye accompanied by torrential rain. We laughed a lot on those nights as we worked our way through reefs and headsail changes with our life jackets going off from the volume of water on the foredeck. “The race from Singapore to China began with the same searing heat but we all knew what awaited us once we reached the Luzon Straits at the bottom of Taiwan. Almost overnight the temperatures plummeted and the sea state picked up. Getting on and off deck now took 25 minutes to pull on and off endless layers of foul weather gear. Our seven person watches were reduced to a rotation of three as a result of the mercury heading well into negative territory. Then one bright, sunny morning as I came up on deck I was looking at the Olympic rings at the entrance to the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center. The crew’s tiredness was immediately replaced with elation. We had just sailed to China! “I can’t wait to greet my crew as they arrive from their Pacific crossing. I know they will have new stories to tell. I also know I will only have to say goodbye to them one more time before I rejoin them on board in Jamaica for the final leg back to Hull in the UK.”
California OPEN DAY The fleet will be berthed in San Francisco Marina, where the Golden Gate Yacht Club is situated, for the duration of the stopover. For those wishing to see the boats up close then a couple of the boats will be available for tours: Monday 5 April 10am to noon and 2pm to 4pm To find out more about the Clipper Race, the San Francisco stopover or to attend one of the presentations: Email: oceanracer@clipperroundtheworld.com Call: +44 (0) 2392 526000 Visit: www.clipperroundthworld.com April, 2010 •
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