SOPHIE OWLES
CLIPPER RACE —
Our correspondent, Mike Holmes, 35, normally sails out of Richmond. Here he uses a boat pole to hold the windseeker clew out while sailing in light winds in the Asian tropics.
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t the start of January, I headed off on an adventure, sailing as crew and assistant watch leader in the 2019-2020 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, an ocean yacht race for amateur sailors. I participated in Leg 5, with the original scheduled route from Australia to China. With the COVID-19 outbreak our plans would change, but more on that later. During Leg 5, 17 other crew and I spent 37 days at sea, sailed 6,000 miles in two separate races, crossed the equator, spent hours becalmed in the doldrums, and experienced the high of a race win and the low of a race loss. What an experience it has been! The 11 70-ft one-design yachts left London in September 2019 for the 40,000-plus-mile journey around the world, broken into eight separate legs and taking 11 months to complete. The yachts had left Fremantle, Western Australia, in December and were due to arrive in Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia, around the 11th of January. I had arrived at the Coral Sea Marina in Airlie Beach on the 8th of January. I was able to spend time exploring the area, including a few snorkeling trips Page
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Latitude 38
• June, 2020
to the Great Barrier Reef and a trip to Whitehaven Beach. Such a beautiful part of the world — outside of all the aquatic creatures that can kill you! Think sharks, saltwater crocodiles, irukandji jellyfish and box jellyfish. The race was originally scheduled to depart on January 18, but we were delayed by 48 hours due to two of the boats' not having operational watermakers. Heading out into the tropics on a water ration of two liters per person per day was doable, but not recommended. We departed the Coral Sea Marina on January 20, but it would be another two days before the actual start of the race. We were to motor through the Great Barrier Reef and start the race just offshore, but the lack of wind postponed the race start. Because of this, we continued motoring north of east, toward the Solomon Sea. This delay of 24 hours allowed the fleet to stop for an afternoon swim in 1,400 feet of water in the middle of the Coral Sea. What an amazing experience to jump off the yacht and try to 'cool off' in 86° Fahrenheit sea water. The next day, January 22, the wind had filled in and we were able to start the race. This would be a 'Le Mans' start, where all 11 boats lined up abreast of one another, with a full mainsail up, headsails rigged to hoist, and motoring at about 7 knots speed over ground.
Crew are required to stand behind the aft coffee grinder prior to the start. With one minute to go, the engine is shut off. A designated lead skipper conducts the countdown over VHF radio. At "Zero!" the crew rush to their predesignated positions. The crew who can hoist and trim their headsails the most quickly will lead the fleet off the line. We were the second boat to windward with all boats on starboard tack. I was one of the sweaters, so my role was at the mast, hoisting the large yankee headsail by pulling down on the attached halyard. The yankee 1 is only 1,255 square feet of sail that has to be hoisted to the top of the mast, some 95 feet above the waterline! The race start went smoothly, and within the first hour we were in the top half of the fleet — which isn't saying much in a 4,000-plus-mile race. We had a long way to go. It would be light-wind sailing for the next few weeks. After about a week at sea, we received notice from the race office of the coronavirus that was being reported as an outbreak in China. We didn't know the extent of it, but we were told it would most likely affect our race. About two more weeks went by before the official word came out that our race finish was being changed from Sanya, China, to Subic Bay, Philippines. This news disappointed us, but we understood the reasoning and it ultimately played in our favor. As we left the Coral Sea and entered the Solomon Sea, the doldrums motoring corridor lay just ahead. This section of the race course is aptly named due to the fact that teams can opt to turn on their engines. "I thought this was a sailboat race." Let me explain: In order to maintain an arrival window to the next port and keep the overall program on schedule, teams can motor through the doldrums. For this race, teams could motor between 12° South and 4° South. The caveat is, you have to motor for 36 consecutive hours or four degrees of latitude, whichever comes first. Those who timed their motoring start correctly within the corridor could have a tactical advantage over other teams. Our skipper, Rich Gould of the UK, reviewed the weather forecast and made the call to delay our motoring corridor start to maximize the amount of northerly latitude we could gain within the