The crew of five Clipper 70's celebrated Summer Sailstice while working through their Level 3 training in Solent, United Kingdom for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. For those of us who don't know, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht, for which no previous sailing experience necessary!
This is a taste of what a some sailors in training experienced during the 2015 Summer Sailstice last weekend:
The importance of team work - "During the different Levels of training for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, there is a very high emphasis on crew work and coordinated timing of activity. In carrying out the normal evolutions of tacking, gybing, reefs in, reefs out etc, the crews learn that working together and coordinating their efforts not only makes the process much safer, but more efficient and less tiring.
Of course there is a lot more to racing a yacht around the world than simply executing sail manoeuvres. Virtually every activity of life ashore requires team work when undertaken on a yacht underway, making teas and coffees, passing them around the deck, preparing and serving meals, cleaning, maintenance, keeping the deck shipshape…the list goes on.
Thinking up and delivering the training for this is easier for some processes than others, with one of the most difficult being how to convince crew into taking their sea-sickness medication before they feel unwell. On Saturday 20 June 2015, after some time on the “choppiest" water available south of the Isle of Wight, this entire crew managed a spectacularly synchronised “2, 6, Heave”.
Crew member Mary Morrison had this to say, 'I know in rough weather getting the weight balance on the boat is critical, but frankly I thought this was a manoeuvre too far by the skipper, although I admit I was proud of our teamwork and co-ordination.' Needless to say, the day improved dramatically from here!"
While this next crew may not have demonstrated their team-work as clearly, they did pull together to win the day's challenge, as told by Kees Postma:
Hello World! For the crew of CV21, this year’s Summer Sailstice was also the final sailing day of Level 3 training. Despite having only docked at Gosport Marina in the early hours of the morning everyone had agreed to get up earlier than usual, have a quick breakfast, and get a good last day of sailing in. Sadly the weather wasn’t very summery at all as a passing warm front was bringing low-level clouds, drizzle and fog patches, but fortunately a whole lot more is needed to stop a motivated Clipper Race crew! That said, there were a few tired faces so while we motor sailed our way upwind we had some needed coffees, meanwhile covering important topics like the Racing Rules of Sailing and how to deal with a man overboard situation under spinnaker.
Approaching the Southern tip of the Isle of Wight the crew swiftly got the Code 3 spinnaker plugged in and we beared away. The kite hoist and subsequent yankee drop went very smoothly and you would have never guessed that 48 hours prior most of this crew had never seen a spinnaker before – certainly not on a 70-foot racing yacht. We had a session on spinnaker trim and then dropped the kite to have some lunch. It was awesome to see how professionally the crew dropped the kite. I’m not sure they always realize just how steep the Clipper Race Training learning curve is and how well they manage to stay on it.
Over lunch we made our way back towards the Solent were we linked up with CV20 who were also on the last day of their Level 3 training. They accepted our challenge to a reefing battle (full mainsail to reef 1, then reef 1 to reef 2) so we prepared everything, lined our boats up, and counted down over VHF. We had done quite a bit of training on fast reefing earlier in the week so we won both of them, resulting in a very happy skipper and crew!
As a final racing exercise we practiced a Le Mans start, where only the mainsail is up. Everything can be prepared, but all the crew have to stand back behind the aft coffee grinder. On the start signal they hoist and trim the headsails and get the boat powered up as fast as possible. They once again did an excellent job and we were fully powered up in just under two minutes. We then headed back into Gosport where – after everyone had a well-deserved shower – we had a delicious crew meal at the restaurant overlooking the marina. Even the sun decided to show its face so we managed to have a few drinks outside beforehand! All in all: a fantastic Summer Sailstice with a fantastic team of people. Out for now folks!
