Hello everyone! 

Writing this from the train on the way down to London; this weekend is Crew Allocation in Portsmouth – where I find out just who I’ll be spending 11 months with in very close proximity. We’ll also find out our skipper, plan the crew team-building event in June, volunteer for on-board roles and generally get to know each other. Expect another update this time tomorrow – or more likely on Sunday after I recover from the hangover.

If you want to watch on Saturday (from 10.30am) then there will be a livestream here. 

At the back end of April and the beginning of May, I attended the Clipper Race Coxswain Course. This was extremely useful in helping me identify what I need to work on during the race, for the easiest path to a Yachtmaster qualification when I get back. Primarily I need to be better at handling emergencies under pressure, which apparently I’m really bad at (to be fair I did know that already).
The CRCC is Clipper’s way of only having one paid and qualified skipper on board, instead of a skipper and mate (as the rules say they should, if they didn’t have a special exemption from the MCA) – 7 days of navigation, meteorology and ocean theory followed by 5 days of practical boat handling, boat systems and things like mooring and anchoring.

In other news I’ve recently signed up for Total Warrior in June – another 12km obstacle race in Bramham Park! Main aim: don’t damage anything…