Clipper 70

As promised... a boat picture, or more specifically... a photograph of the first fully kitted out Clipper 70 Ocean Racing Yacht of the 12 strong fleet.

Today I headed along to St Katherine Docks for this Clipper event; it was my first chance to see the brand new bigger style of the yacht, and to also meet my fellow crew. Seeing the boat for the first time really brought home how real this adventure is going to be, and also how much time I need to devote to the gym in the meantime in order to have any control over this monstrous machine. The crew however, were another matter entirely. These are people, some of whom have never sailed in their lives before, that I am going to be placed on a boat with in the middle of the ocean for over a month at a time. Our quirky habits will soon be seen as annoying flaws, and our ability to cope under pressure will soon be put to the test.

A little background to my Clipper Round the World Yacht Race adventure would possibly be handy at this point. The race is one in which any member of the general public can get involved in (sailor or not), and after undergoing rigorous training schemes we are allocated a boat (one of the twelve strong fleet). We can choose to be a RTW'er (Round the World'er) or a Legger (in which you choose one or a couple of the eight legs that the route is split into). Already having a background in dinghy sailing I decided that signing up to the race would be a brilliant idea (despite the obvious differences in the sizes of the boats), and so after signing my name on the dotted line, I am now a fully fledged member of the Clipper Crew and will be beginning my adventure in July 2015.

Sadly my adventure is only going to be the length of one of the legs, Leg 1 to be exact. This is due to the difficulty of saving up the funds as a student, and the ever growing challenge of securing sponsorship in this economic climate. That said, I am very excited to be completing any of the legs and Leg 1 is as good as any... crossing the trade winds to South America via the Atlantic Ocean, and in doing so, crossing the Equator - 5,630miles.

I did take a fair few photographs today, but I thought this one really showed the vast scale of the Clipper 70 in comparison to the smaller yachts moored nearby. Although the race I'm on isn't scheduled to start until 2015, there will be many boating blips in the meantime; starting with the London Boat Show next weekend and then my Level 1 training week in August. I promise to try to capture every up and down of my journey and share it with you.