​Meet the Clipper 2017-18 Race Crew: Nell Wyatt

Name: Nell Wyatt

Age: 58

Nationality: British

Occupation: Doctor

Legs: Full Circumnavigation

Team: Garmin

“I love feeling the wind and the waves on my face and trying to interpret how the boat is going to be. Trying to anticipate movements. I love being able to surf down waves when they're big enough, and hearing the sounds of the hull get louder and louder and louder so you can almost feel the boat loving every minute.”

It’s fair to say that Nell Wyatt loves helming. And the 58 year old Doctor from Wiltshire, UK, has become very proficient at the wheel, after taking a leading role during the opening three races on board Garmin.

“It’s all about trying to work as a team with your grinders and with your trimmers, so you can anticipate each other,” she says.

“As you get to know each other better, you can do it better. So, I suppose it's working very much as a team with everyone in the pit. It's not helm against pit, it's helm with pit very much.”

The 2017-18 edition is the second Clipper Race experience for Nell, who took part in Leg 3 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Albany, Australia, and Leg 6 from Qingdao, China, to San Francisco, USA, aboard Jamaica in 2013-14.

On her decision to return, Nell explains: “I have had an unfulfilled ambition to sail around the world for the last nine years, however this is the first time I can extricate myself from work for long enough to do so.

“This ambition has become all-consuming and can no longer be ignored. I am really looking forward to having different challenges, priorities, and goals (both physical and mental), and taking part in the whole Clipper Race, rather than just two legs I have done.”

Nell and the rest of the Clipper Race crew are due to arrive in Fremantle, Australia, between 21 and 25 November. You can follow their progress on the Race Viewer.