Karen, The Assistant Clerk, has been preparing for some months now for her extended trip on the delayed 19/20 Round the World Clipper Challenge Race. The Clipper challenge is a circumnavigation of the globe with 11 identical yachts racing on a number of legs to sea who will return victorious!. The 19/20 was delayed, as so many other events were, due to the COVID Pandemic and the yachts were berthed in Subic Bay in the Philippines from the postponement of the race in March 2020.
The race was able to restart in March 2022 and the vessels are currently heading across the Mighty Pacific Ocean. The anticipate arriving in Seattle around the 21 April after just over 4 weeks at sea. Karen had initially signed up to participate in the 2023/24 race but was able to take a place on the delayed 19/20 race.
On Saturday 23 April, Karen flies to Seattle, USA and joins her 70’ yacht ‘Dare to Lead’ on Monday 25 April.
The Dare to Lead yacht is an excellent choice for Karen. Its ethos is focussed on engaging individuals to unlock potential to become a force for good and therefore take the lead in some way.
Dare to Lead is describe as follows – ‘When a team of people from varied backgrounds – privileged or not, experienced or novice, of any age, race or culture – grows together through this unique sailing adventure, we believe that each individual participant will unlock their own potential to become a leader and a force for good in their personal lives, at work and in their communities’
Having been an officer in the Sea Cadet Corps, working within London Area, for some considerable time, this is an ethos that fits really well!
After a few days of some additional familiarisation training, the yachts will set sail from Seattle on 30 April, heading out of the Bay, towards the Pacific.
The race will start once all yachts are out of the bay, as the boats turn south and head down the West coast of America, then passing the coast of Mexico towards Panama.
The race from Seattle to Panama is expected to take around 3 weeks with crews operating 24/7 in a 2 watch system. Crew can expect to spend 6 hours on watch during the daytime and 4 hours on watch during the night hours.
The yachts will assemble on the pacific side of the Panama Canal, before traveling through canal in groups of three. This is one of the aspects that Karen is most looking forward to, with the chance to go through the iconic Panama Canal.
Once all the boats are on the Atlantic side, a second race will start as the boats sail to Bermuda (avoiding the famous triangle!).
The adventure ends in Bermuda when Karen disembarks and flies home to the UK in Mid June.
This is an adventure of a life time with opportunities to tick of loads of bucket list activities
Sail on the Pacific
Sail on the Atlantic
Transfer through the Panama Canal
Visit Bermuda
The yachts can be followed on line with race standings updated hourly and if you are interested you can follow Karen’s progress via this link – https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/standings
Karen will be back just in time for the Royal Charter Banquet on Wednesday 22 June 2022 and looks forward to catching up with members then.