The Final Countdown
As I write this, it has been 46 weeks, or 326 days exactly, since the Clipper 2023-24 Race began. We’re on our 14th race and yet, as we return to the white cliffs of the Isle of Wight, it feels like only yesterday that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was firing the cannon off Southsea Castle and 11 Clipper 70s were setting off from Portsmouth to sail around the world. I remember, vividly, watching a glorious sunset on the pulpit as we sailed away from the United Kingdom, and emotionally thinking :it’s going to be 11 months before I see home again.
Leg 8 saw six of the crew on Washington, DC cross all longitudes and, along with Vasi, Jono, Bob, Olly, and Liz, I can finally call myself a CIRCUMNAVIGATOR!!! This moment was lost in the everyday normality of sail evolutions, heads cleaning, emptying bilges, and helming. However, upon departing Oban, Scotland – our final stopover with a spectacular fleet following us out and colourful smoke flares from each Clipper Race boat – it hit me: this is it. The final goodbye. As the theme tunes of each team rang out, I watched as all the familiar faces from PSP Logistics, Yacht Club Punta del Este, Qingdao, Zhuhai, Perseverance, Our Isles and Oceans, Dare To Lead, UNICEF, Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, and Bekezela all slipped lines and waved goodbye to the friendly faces of the Clipper Race officials, staff and maintenance team on-shore. And what a team! I suddenly realised: that this hasn’t just been a race. This has been my family for the last year.
When we arrive in Portsmouth, to celebrate with friends and family, that classic question will arise: ‘So how was it?’
How do I summarise what we’ve all achieved by racing around the world? It’s too much even to put down in words. I’m feeling emotional already thinking of the end and all the moments I’ve shared with the 62 complete strangers who are all now competent sailors and established friends for life. I am super proud of my team – Washington, DC – as well as our Skipper, Hannah Brewis, and First Mate, Ella Hebron, who successfully managed to get us from A to B, safely and in one piece, whilst racing hard the whole time. We owe them every ounce of respect and gratitude for giving 100% day in and day out and putting up with us all for so long, and with their sanity intact! They should be so proud of themselves. And I’m proud of myself too. To have achieved such a challenge - to say “I’ve sailed around the world.” We may not have won the overall race but, in the end, we achieved two challenges that we set ourselves as a team: get a podium on one of the races; and sail 300+ nautical miles in a 24-hour period. And we did that, coming second into Airlie Beach, Australia, and the latter – sailing 303nm close to the location of where the Titanic sank.
'The Race of Your Life' ladies and gentlemen: it’s exactly what the label says on the tin. And I’m ready to come home, as Sir RKJ says, as ‘a blue water sailor.’