Future Crew Catch Up – Meet Lucy O’Connor

So you’ve signed up for the race, what’s next?

In order to become an ocean racing athlete and take on Mother Nature full throttle, crew members must complete our compulsory training programme in the UK or Australia.

From day one of the four-level course, crew members build teams and learn all they need to know to race around the world as part of a multi-disciplined, high performance team that will function in every condition and challenge that is thrown at them.

This week, we caught up with Lucy O’Connor, who was accepted on to the race earlier this month and recently completed her first level of race training.

Here’s how she got on…

Name: Lucy O’Connor
Age: 26
Occupation: Junior Doctor
Signed up for: 2015-16, Leg 1

What led you to sign up for the race?
When I saw a girl of a similar age to me on the Clipper Race London Underground poster, I was intrigued. There were a lot of women on the adverts. The ads also showed every type of profession, but the one I particularly noticed worked in the medical industry like me. I went on the website and read some more before attending a recruitment presentation. I loved the talk, meeting people and seeing the Clipper 70s and soon signed up.

Why did you choose Leg 1?
I am doing Leg 1, and am really looking forward to sailing into South America instead of arriving by plane, hopefully leaving from London where I live with a big send-off.

Everyone will be new and evolving within the team so it won’t be hard to slot in.

How have you found your first training lesson?
Level 1 training has been an exponential learning curve. I did reach a plateau towards the end after improving a lot.

What has been the highlight?
My Clipper Race experience has been fantastic so far and I’ll be reading more of the Crew Manual ahead of my Level 2 training to learn further. I met very interesting people on my training which was great.

What has been the most challenging?
It was cold and wet and I was nervous driving the boat in the windier conditions at first.

What would you say to those starting their Clipper Race experience?
Be prepared to get totally involved in every aspect during training. It is hard trying to take in the amount of information given, and remembering every sequence and evolution so make sure you revise!