Training - Level Up

The preparation for the Clipper Round the World race is a humbling experience.

Over the course of 2 years I’ve spent 4 weeks in Portsmouth (UK), more specifically the port of Gosport, in preparation for the race of my life. Whether you’re a circumnavigator or you will just participate in one or a few legs, no effort is spared to prepare for a safe experience in which every person can bring their best to their crew.

Some people have sailed before others are up for their first steps on a sailing yacht. One thing is sure, sailing a 70-feet clipper yacht can be classified in a different category than what I’ve done before, sailing my dinghy (laser) or even the sailing yachts I’ve sailed with. Luckily the instructor skippers and AQP’s preparing up to 700 crew members are not only extremely well qualified sailors, they know how to get across the knowledge and instructions that are well documented by Clipper in their Training manual for a Level 1-2-3-4 training week that makes from anyone signing up competent sailors who’re ready to race.

Level 1 - Setting the stage

Friday 19 July 2024 - Thursday 25 July 2024

The first week of training is about getting to know the yacht and putting into practice the basic knowledge required to sail safely. By the end of this week everyone needs to pass comfortably on the crew assessment that will become the pre-requisite for any following training and start of each Leg of the race. Together with the mandatory knots it is about repetition and letting the obligatory reflexes sink in, so you can dream an evolution and tie a knot blindfolded, upside down or more realistically .. in heavy weather.

Gosport becomes the safe haven after a long day of training and the Castle the bar where you get to know your fellow sailors and where you get to listen to the stories from skippers and crew who took part in previous race editions. This is only the beginning of weeks signed off from work and a good practice to be completely disconnected for short periods of time.

Level 2 - Living on board

Saturday 14 September 2024 - Thursday 19 September 2024

While training goes on and any given moment can be a MOB practice, Level 2 Training meant going offshore and staying out on the English Channel overnight. A few memorable first experiences, going into a watch system of 6h on and 6h off during daytime, to then alternate into a 4h on and 4h off schedule (x3). You can do the math yourself, one night you’ll get 2 shifts from 8pm to midnight and get up early again at 4am, the other night you’ll get the 12am-4am watch.

While on deck, you get the most beautiful sceneries, the sunrise, the sunset or simply a full sky of stars and a clearly visible Milky Way. Fair enough, I’m leaving out the hard work, but it makes these rewards extra special. Meanwhile you learn how to cook, sleep and .. do anything else at an angle of over 40°.

One day of this Level 2 training week is dedicated to Sea Survival. Learning about principles of survival, equipment, medical aspects, recovery and a couple of hours in a pool practicing with a liferaft and getting a grasp of what it really means, to survive.

Level 3 - The Spinnaker

Friday 14 March 2025 – Wednesday 19 March 2025

So far a big amount of training has been spent on evolutions beating up the wind, spending hours tacking and changing the angle of attack for the main sail, the staysail and one of the three yankees onboard. This is where the Clipper 70 fleet is by far more ‘aggressive’ in the angle it will tilt than the Clipper 68 boats we practiced on at first. Nevertheless the best speeds will come at a broad reach and this when we can use the asymmetric spinnaker to power the boat and give it a massive boost thanks to the surface of the sail.

Those spinnakers comes with an extra set of evolutions to practice and especially the MOB maneuver left Bob (our practice doll) far behind us in no time. This was probably the first time we lost complete sight of the poor casualty and really needed the AIS Beacon and GPS to locate him and get to a smooth recovery. By the end of this training we had ran through some of the race aspects and learned all about sail trim to drive the performance. Shit is about to get real.

Level 4 - Our boat, our skipper, a mock race

Wednesday 23 July 2025 – Tuesday 29 July 2025

By this time we passed Crew Allocation, on which more in a post about our team. We have a skipper, first mate (or AQP) and a boat called CV27, which means we can focus on the real race. By now the Solent has become so familiar that it is nice to get our first Nautical Miles out further into The Channel. This week we (almost) sail non-stop, apart from a mechanical revision of one of our rudders.

I truly enjoyed how everything is coming together. From feeling away from work and home in level 1-3, to having a purpose and seeing how a team starts to build with a strong purpose and culture. Yes, there are still many things to improve on at this point, but you can tell by the way we’re working onboard and communicating with the crew onshore that something’s brewing. During the week we practiced a parade with the fleet, started our mock race with a 'Le Mans’ race start and discussed the strategies for our race across the channel to finish 2nd following the great results in previous Level 4 trainings.

Next time onboard the CV27 will be at Airlie Beach Australia!