Life after 'the Race'

Over three months ago The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race ended and since then I have been adjusting back to life on land. First there was my Mums wedding to attend and a holiday in Spain, this was followed by a trip to the Edinburgh Festival for four days where I met up with Mission Performance crew, Claire Carroll, Alan Sheppard and his wife Prue who had come over from Australia. I then headed back to The Mount School in York to give a talk on my ultimate gap year and maybe inspire others to challenge themselves. After that onto the Southampton boat show  for ten days to work for Clipper Ventures, showing visitors round the PSP Logistics boat and talking about my experiences during the race.

Now I have now been at the University of Warwick for a month where I am studying History of Art (along with doing some dinghy sailing and rowing), so life is very good. 

Last Wednesday I went up to London where I met up with Mike Gross and Rob Ford from Mission Performance and the following day went on to receive my Duke of Edinburgh Gold award at St James's Palace and I even had the chance to talk to Prince Philip!                                     

Watch the preview of the TV series coming out soon on BBC Worldwide

Preview of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race TV Series

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a nine half-hour sports TV show following the fierce competition around the world in the 2013-14 edition. Join the race...

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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Sir Ben Ainslie announce challenge of a lifetime for UK youth

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Sir Ben Ainslie announce challenge of a lifetime for UK youth. More at www.clipperroundtheworld.com/news

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Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

Following the culmination of the biggest ever edition of the Clipper Race, here is Race Director Justin Taylor’s review of the 2013-14 edition.

Clipper Race - Highlights Of The Clipper 13-14 Race

A collection of informative latest news articles about the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

CLIPPERROUNDTHEWORLD.COM

VIDEO : Sophie Hetherton and Craig Forsyth from York have joined the tiny number of people who can say they have circumnavigated the globe! They're live on Jon Cowap's show on Weds 23rd July. Round the World yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston pays tribute to their achievement

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Mission Performance credits team and aims to use crew lessons to inspire future crew generations

The founders of UK-based Learning and Development consultancy, Mission Performance personally understand the tough mental focus, stamina and team work that is required to compete in such challenging conditions. 

Defined as “practitioners, not professors,” founding partners Rob Lewis and Christiaan McLeod, both ex Royal Marine Officers, lead a consulting team which includes elite mountaineers and sports men and women and decorated soldiers and both men have personally led race winning expeditions to the North Pole.

During the past ten months, the company has acted as support network to the Mission Performance Clipper Race team, led by skipper Matt Mitchell as it strived to achieve its circumnavigation goal. An achievement less people in the world have completed than have climbed Everest. 

As well as being a team sponsor, Mission Performance is the learning and development partner for the Clipper Race. Just like its work with international corporations, the company has worked closely with officials, crew and skippers in ports during every stopover to analyse how individuals and teams learn and develop together and how they can best build and inspire positive team performance. 

Welcoming the team home to London’s St Katharine Docks, Rob Lewis stated proudly: “To sail around the world is an extraordinary accomplishment and one all our crew should feel so incredibly proud of.

“We at Mission Performance have lived and breathed their exciting journey at every step and have all been so impressed at the crew’s ability to overcome adversity and work as a team to achieve their goals. It has been incredibly exciting and rewarding for us to watch these fine individuals grow and develop together and return home as experienced explorers. Congratulations to all the crew on a fantastic team achievement.”

One person who is certainly taking some positive personal lessons from her experience is 19-year-old Sophie Hetherton, Mission Performance crew member, and the youngest ever person to complete the Clipper Race.

Commenting on the race experience, Sophie said: “I still find it hard to believe what we’ve just done. Last year when the race started, I was 18, just out of school and had never really done anything to challenge myself. I made myself an early promise to embrace every aspect of the experience and immerse myself fully.

“Sailing the world and interacting so much with a wide range of ages, backgrounds and personalities on board was an incredible life experience for me. We never had conflict on our boat, our skipper Matt taught us to communicate openly every day which helped us all develop great respect for each other and I always felt equal and valued.

“I would love to inspire more young people like myself to do the Clipper Race. Aside from being a huge adventure, it is an incredible life development experience that I highly recommend. I’ve learnt how to communicate with people of all ages and work with them as a team to cope with very challenging situations. My confidence has grown huge amounts and I know, going forward to University and beyond, that I will take these life lessons with me.”

Delivery back to Gosport

On Monday we readied Mission Performance for the motor sail back to Gosport. Having said more goodbyes we slipped lines at 3 pm out of St Katharine Docks and down the Thames. Ten of us were on board; Myself, Matt, Kate, Derek, Ben, Richard, Mike (leg 5), Ross (1), Jo (1-4) and Karen (who works for Mission Performance). We passed the White Cliffs of Dover and the Clipper training grounds in the Solent where it all began for me a year ago, arriving into Gosport marina to a small, but select band of people who work for Clipper to welcome home CV23  and all the other warriors who had done their jobs so well. One last trip to the pub and one last night on the boat, before the final full day of deep cleaning that was to be done.

On the Wednesday before I headed back to Yorkshire, I went round to say goodbye and thank some of the Clipper Ventures team who work in the offices, without their assistance I would not have been able to achieve any of this adventure! Then more tearful goodbyes, before the drive home. The fields were the same as a year ago with the corn being cut, nothing seemed to have changed, except as I got nearer to home there were lots of yellow bikes parked up along the village roadsides; Have I missed something in Yorkshire?

Our arrival back into Gosport

Justin Taylor, Race Director (far left) with some of the Team who make dreams come true!

Goodbye to the Skipper

Yorkshire

                           

One last ace to play.

We finished our last race in the early hours of Saturday morning at Southend, consistent right to the end in 12th place (at least we are a very reliable boat). The boats then got into a parade with us lying in 4th and proceeded up the Thames back to St Katharine Dock from where the race started nearly a year ago. At the Thames Barrier we were met by The Mission Performance support boat with friends from school and family waving and shouting, it was a great start to the homecoming. 

As the London skyline passed by and Tower Bridge came into view we all knew things on our little boat were never going to be the same again, but with Matt at the helm we had one last ace to play... Just as the parade reached the dock entrance, the leaders continued straight on under the now Raised Tower Bridge, Matt turned the wheel hard to starboard and we were through the lock and into St Katherine Dock 1st; We were the 1st boat home!!! The whole arena was packed out and cheering, an amazing sight to see. The other boats then each came in one by one to the same great welcome. Last in was Henri Lloyd, the overall winner of the whole race, arriving to the biggest cheer. There then followed presentations on stage for all the boats and crew as we were all winners, having sailed round the World. When the presentations were over it was the chance for all crews to meet their friends and families for very emotional reunions. Once I had met up with everyone, done a few interviews and had a celebratory drink or two, I then headed off to a party in the evening for all the crews at The Folly Bar in London. 

On Sunday I went down to the boat to start saying the 1st goodbyes, a part of me thinks this whole thing is just a dream and it never happened. Have I just sailed round the World? I don't want to wake up and find I never did it!

The Contented Dementia Trust

My Round the World sailing adventure is drawing to a close, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs and posts over the last year. Please can I tell you of the charity I am hoping to raise some money for. The Contented Dementia Trust is a small charity helping people cope with the effects of dementia and it's easy to donate through the following link:

     www.justgiving.com/seapupsophie .  Thank you.

Bouncing our way back home.

After arriving into Den Helder late at night we spent the next few hours being given a great welcome; we were presented with our own clogs and I tried some local Herring? 

The next day I went with some friends by train to Amsterdam and spent the night there. I visited Dam square, walked along the canals, visited the Rembrandt House museum and went on a canal cruise. It was nice having two days to relax and see the sights of a city which has a lot to do with history of art. We then went back to Den Helder on the train to do some work on the boats the next day. We finished the deep cleaning and other little jobs and had a big clean out of things we didn't need; when we arrive into Gosport there will be a lot of work to do on the boat.

So today it has been back to the race, all the Round the World crew had their photo taken with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and then we set off at lunch time. Initially we were in light winds and it was going to be a kite hoist start; strangely the last time we had one of these was when we left Southend on our first ever race, how times have changed! Unfortunately as the countdown ended we found ourselves pointing the wrong way and unable to turn around as the wind had died on us and everyone else made off at good speed. Eventually we turned round, but were well behind. Over the next hour we slowly crawled our way up the fleet and an embarrassing start had been overcome and we found ourselves in 2nd place! All was going well, the wind was building and we were flying along! But then suddenly there was a bang and the kite ripped all the way from the top to the bottom... it was none other than Bruce, our lightweight kite, we did a record recovery, which a few other boats commented on over VHF! and within minutes Bruce was out of the water and Bwian our medium weight kite was up, we had lost a couple of places but the team did a great job! Now Bwian is back down, the Yankee 2 and Staysail are up and we are bouncing over large waves toward Southend...... Not long now.

Me, 'No Likey' and 'Likey'

Here is a random list of some of the things I will not miss and also the things I will miss when I wave goodbye to my life on the Clipper Race;

Dislikes...

1) Saying goodbye to crew members who have had to leave through injury or because they have finished their race.

2) Slamming upwind; With the boat tilting over, trying to sleep, cook or go to the heads is very difficult!

3) Squalls; they bring wind and rain... And normally too much of it! They are unpredictable and make it hard to prepare a sail plan.

4) Cold weather makes the watches drag on, I really struggled with the cold in the Pacific, I could never get warm unless I was in my sleeping bag!

5) When the weather files sent to us tell us one thing and the actual weather does something else... Normally we find ourselves sailing into large wind holes!

6) Having to put on cold and wet clothing.

7) Corned beef.

8) Having no warm showers... Wet wipes only!

9) Not knowing what's going on back on land, I have emails but I miss out on all the latest news

10) Having other Clipper yachts over taking us!

Likes...

1) Making new friendships

2) Seeing sunrises and sunsets.

3) The hard, physical work is very rewarding.

4) The chance to see some amazing wildlife.

5) Getting into my warm Gauss sleeping bag after a cold and wet watch.

6) Mother days; making bread and cakes and having to whole day to make the crews meals... Then the reward of a full night off from watch duties.

7) Getting into a port and experiencing the different cultures.

8) Being on the helm and surfing down gigantic waves and getting some great speeds!

9) The banter and random conversation we have during our watches.

10) Over taking other Clipper yachts!

'Not all plain sailing'

So there was me thinking it would be 'all plain sailing' round the top of Scotland. However the past few days have been exciting and tough. We've had a few incidents on board, the other day the wind had started to build as a large low pressure system came over us, helming became increasingly difficult and when the other watch came back on, more pressure built up on the starboard wheel, then all of a sudden we heard a bang and saw that the cable that runs from the steering wheel to a drum that turns the rudder had completely snapped, the result... no steerage, but luckily the port helm was still working! The down side is that this wheel was on the low side and pushing on through the bad weather, we have been getting soaked as the low side is in the water a lot of the time! Another incident involved where the propeller shaft comes back inside the boat, this was leaking in a lot of water and consequently the water leaked into all the areas around the accommodation including where crew bags were kept and quite a few items of clothing got wet.  

I have really enjoyed this race, it has been a different experience as a Watch Leader, Claire has been my assistant and I have also had the help of Stephen, Jack, Paddy and Richard on my watch. I know how the boat runs and how to do sail changes, but the new aspects have been; I have to keep checking the boat is performing to its best, that it has the right sail plan up and if circumstances change like the wind direction or speed, I then have to inform Matt. It can be lot of pressure at times but I have enjoyed the challenge.

Now I have six days in Holland, before the last race to London and the finish, so I will have sometime to reflect on the whole race for me so far, I will let you know my thoughts in a day or two!

It really was a LegenDerry Week!

On Saturday we spent most of the day getting the boat ready to sail the following day. Then we went to the crew briefing for the next race to Den Helder and I was also told that I would be be a Watch Leader on this leg with Claire as my assistant. We will be racing with the minimum number of crew, so I thought it would be a good idea  to go and buy lots of chewing gum and mints to bribe my team with to get the best performance out of them! I then went to bed early for once in the week.

Wow! What an amazing send off from Derry-Londonderry. Early on Saturday morning I went down to the docks to stow my bags for sea, all crews then went off for a bacon bap and drink (tea and coffee!) before we set off on our parade of sail along The Foyle. Thousands of people lined the riverside to see us off. It was great weather and a great way to end a great week, but there was still more to come. After motoring towards the mouth of the River Foyle we reached an area close to Greencastle. With all boats lined up and in formation we watched an amazing display by the Red Arrows for about half an hour, let's just say their formations were a lot smarter than ours! Straight after they had finished we started the race. 

The parade of sail along the Foyle

                     In tight formation!                             

For the past 48 hours we have been sailing in light winds, but are now off Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and the Orkney's which is a 5 mile wide passage. We must make the tidal gate in time otherwise we could be stuck for hours, the tide will help us massively, the first boat through will most likely be the one to arrive into Holland first!

Sophie is a new convert to the game of Rugby.

Clipper Race Crew Touch Rugby Tournament in Derry-Londonderry

The crews of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race take a break from sailing and head to Derry Rugby Club to represent their team on the rugby pitch. More a...

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Mission Performance are a winning team!

Recovering from another late night, but no time to stop as I headed off on Friday morning to the Giant's Causeway with my Dad. Where it seems all the other Clipper crews had made same the same journey to see the amazing stone formations. 

After that it was back to the City of Derry airport to pick up my Auntie Susie who had flown in for the race start. Then we headed out to the City of Derry Rugby Club for inter-boat rugby 7's. After fighting off some fierce competition, guess what...? We beat all the other boats in a knock out and won the trophy (and I scored several of the winning Try's)! Which led to yet another late night celebrating at the Rugby Club.... (how much more can I take!).

'I Get Around'

It's nearly 10 months since I left London and I know I'm nearly home as I walk around Derry with all the familiar shop names using British money to buy things. Yesterday I did a short interview with BBC Radio Foyle, collected my washing and then went to see the Beach boys in the evening for some 'Good Vibrations!'

Having a Punt

After a great night out at the Prize Giving in the Guildhall, the following day was spent recovering and getting all my washing sorted after 3 weeks at sea.

In the evening, all the Clipper teams and spectators drove 5 miles along the shore of Lough Foyle to the yacht club where each of our teams had 2 representatives racing sailing punts on the Lough. Now with my knowledge of betting it was a good opportunity to make a few £'s and help pay for a good stopover. So my money went onto Patrick the skipper of Old Pulteney... and guess what, he won! This was then followed by another great night out in Derry... and now another day recovering!

Back on to UK soil.

This morning we made it into Derry-Londonderry, having spent the last week falling into wind holes along with the rest of the fleet. The race office then called the result early and we all motored towards Lough Foyle. We came into Derry-Londonderry with my Dad taking pictures from the Foyle Bridge as we sailed under it (after being asked by the police whether he was okay or was he thinking of jumping off!).

We received a great welcome from the Lord Mayor and after a bacon bap I spent the rest of the day repairing sails with Stephen. Later this evening we are all heading to prize giving at the Guild Hall.

360 Degrees

At 43 deg. 80. 890' W .... it's official... I am a circumnavigator! This is the line of longitude we crossed last Sunday, and is the line that passes through Rio de Janeiro, so I have now crossed every line of longitude in the world! However, this is perhaps only considered mathematically a circumnavigation as our real goal will be when we cross the finishing line and arrive into London in around 25 days time!

In terms of this leg of the race... it hasn't gone too well. The wind died 24 hours earlier than expected and it seems we lost our wind longer than the rest of the fleet, consequently we are back into 12th place, but we are hopeful with 1,200 miles to go we can crawl back up the leader board again. It has been an exciting few days, icebergs have been a potential issue, so an 'ice watch' was set up; News spread across the fleet that 'growlers' had been sited by other boats, these are icebergs that sit just below the surface, although they would be amazing to see, we thankfully didn't see any and have passed safely out of the danger zone, we also sailed not far from the site where the Titanic sank over 100 years ago. 

In other news- 'Thor' (our heavy weight kite) decided to go for a swim again! Unfortunately, he didn't fare too well and we hauled him back on board with some quite serious tears. I set to work on mending him, but due to ongoing problems with the sewing machine (surprise, surprise!) this has meant he has only been partially repaired; A job to do in Derry-Londonderry it seems!

The Labrador Current

After a good start out of New York we managed to make first place for awhile. We spent the day matching speeds and were insight of other boats, even overtaking a few, however this was short lived as we then entered a large fog bank with very little wind in it. I was on the helm and there was a sudden drop in temperature and an awful smell of fish, we checked the temperature of the sea and that had dropped 4 degrees, this meant we had entered 'The Labrador Current', this runs from The Arctic, heading south with large amounts of fish in it, hence the smell. For most of the night we traveled at slow speed while the other yachts avoided the fog and made off at good pace. The following lunchtime the wind picked up, but we had dropped to 11th place. On the plus side we saw lots of wildlife, dolphins were coming up to the boat, whales kept surfacing and amazingly we saw sharks, one swam up to the boat, seeing its tail and fin we estimated its length to be about 3 metres.

Since then we have been creeping back up the leader board and we are now into 6th place. The wind is increasing, everyone is working very hard and in 24 hours we did 9 head-sail changes, each one taking about an hour to do in these difficult, cold conditions; This is The North Atlantic we were expecting and with more low pressure systems passing over us bringing wind, the faster we will make it to Londonderry.

The Clipper Race Departs from New York for Race 14 (+playlist)

Homeward bound

This is not the end, but it is the beginning of the end, ... of my fantastic adventure! Four days in New York allowed me enough time to see some of the sights, get ready for the next race and do some corporate sailing.

On my first day there I had the whole day off from boat duties. My cousin Priscilla and her boyfriend Lloyd had come over to  see me, so we decided that it was the best day for sightseeing. We first went to have a look at 'Ground zero', then a trip all the way to the top of the Empire State building for some great views, after that a picnic in Central Park and a look round the famous Guggenheim Gallery where there was an Italian Futurists art exhibition. We also called in at Time's Square which was packed with people! We managed to do as much sightseeing as possible but still there is so much more of New York I would like to see... next time!

The following day I had a corporate sailing day with; Matt, Kate, Ben, Farmer and Jax, we took 15 guests out and taught them the basics of sailing Mission Performance. They were all incredibly enthusiastic helping out, so that made our day much easier and fun. Our last full day was spent prepping the boat for the next race and our last ocean crossing... The North Atlantic. With all jobs done (and thankfully no damage to sails) we set sail on the Saturday. Another 'Le Mans' start and this time we were one of the first to get our sails up.

Over the past 24 hours we have been surrounded by other Clipper yachts as we all gybe and head in the general direction of Ireland. Soon we will be watching out for Icebergs and we are expecting some strong winds on this crossing so hopefully we can do well. On my watch it's Kate as watch leader, with me as assistant, then we have Richard, Carl, Jax, Paddy, Stephen and Jack (our new crewmember) and on the other watch; Derek as watch leader, Orla as assistant, Claire, Ben, Chris (Farmer), Jon, David (leg 1 and 8) and Katherine (1, 4 and 8). So far we are doing just great and we even got into first place for awhile! I'm hoping we can keep up with this and have a fast crossing to Derry-Londonderry to be there for the 21st of June and a week of parties that are 'Legenderry'!

At the top of The Empire State Building

Central Park

The Guggenheim

The Free Range Happy Boat Company!

The good (and happy) ship Mission Performance got off to a great start from Jamaica, keeping pace with the leading pack over the next two days, it was exciting upwind sailing with the boat excessively heeled over. Working on the bow, spray coming over the deck and getting soaked to the skin, these are the best times! Unfortunately with inaccurate weather forecasts we began to lose ground and ended up in a huge wind hole. Being at the front of the pack must be over rated .....well that's what I'd like to think and I definitely wouldn't want to swap boats for any of it! 

The race up to New York was meant to be fast paced and take about a week, but with this lack of wind we have accepted 9th place and 4 points, So now the engine is turned on along with three other boats and we are trying to get to the Big Apple by Monday, where we have corporate days, maintenance, ...oh and a bit of sight seeing to do.

The Three Amigos

 
The three female round-the-world crew members remaining on Mission Performance made a pact to complete the circumnavigation together. As they return into the ‘home’ waters of the Atlantic, they are looking forward to completing their ambition. 

With a number of Mission Performance’s crew leaving the race due to injury, the three fearless females Sophie Hetherton (19), Kate Davidson (25) and Claire Carroll (37), have pledged to support each other through the tough conditions so they can complete their journey together.

Claire Carroll, a sound engineer from Dumfries, UK, said the trio made the commitment to keep going and keep each other motivated, within the depleted core team of round-the-world crew members remaining on board.  “Kate, Sophie and I all found we had similar motives - we wanted to race and push the boat as hard as we could. We are pretty tightly knit. I always say that the only way I'm going back into London is on the boat as a circumnavigator so I don't have an option to get off, serious injury permitting. Sophie and Kate feel the same, so it's really good to have that strength there. “We learnt that to feel a sense of achievement you just had to get stuck in. Losing some of our crew mates through injury has been tough but in some ways it has made us realise that we don't want to get off.” 

Kate Davidson, a bartender from Georgia, USA, said the three were too stubborn to quit and it was nice to know that they will have each other through to the end. It’s also tough coping with the fleeting relationships made with crew members who may only be participating for a single leg.  “It feels terrible to watch people you really like and get on with leave the boat when they have finished their leg, and I think any one of us would feel guilty about doing that to each other and Matt, our skipper. Ultimately we are the core of this boat.  “Time together tends to be either on deck during happy hour or while one of us is on Mother Watch. We'll always gravitate to each other to talk about silly things like crazy cheese-induced dreams or show off particularly spectacular bruises.  “The best thing about having Sophie and Claire around is just that we do really understand each other. If we're on deck I can count on them to be in the right place at exactly the right time for any sail evolution. Likewise, I know we can share frustrations and stresses and the occasional exhaustion-related cry,” Kate added. 

Sophie, a student from York, UK, is the youngest female crew member on this edition of the Clipper Race. She said: “I accepted this whole race was going to be tough physically and mentally but I was never sure how I was going to react to it. “What I have found is that I love the physical hard work, the hard days are what make part of the experience for me and when you return from the bow after getting thrown by waves and pulling down sails that are being difficult it gives me a sense of achievement that we did it and hopefully no one was hurt. “I always love the first evening in port. We arrive in after finishing a race and we can all sit down, talk and even laugh at the times when we were frustrated. It's only then that I can start to comprehend what we have just achieved. It was tough and relentless but we got through and I am that one bit closer to saying I have sailed round the world.”

See what our intrepid explorer got up to in Jamaica!

Watch out for Sophie's guest appearances with the Scouts and at the cricket!
Thank You Jamaica - Clipper Race enjoys welcome & starts Race 13

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Fun in the Sun.

Our relaxing stopover in Jamaica has come to an end. With barely any maintenance jobs to do on Mission Performance, having six days rest allowed me to see some of the great sights around Port Antonio. 

The day after the Prize Giving party I spent helping show a party of Jamaican Scouts round one of the Clipper 70's, then later on we had a cricket match with some of the other boats (as I said in my previous blog I had never played cricket, but I managed not to show myself up!) and in the end out of the 4 teams we came 2nd! I also visited the beautiful beach at Frenchman's Cove with some of the Qingdao crew and after some heavy rainfall we decided to go to up to Reach Falls, where we were allowed to swim and jump off the waterfall and even go through it into the caves underneath accompanied by local guides. The next day I went with Kate to The Blue Lagoon where we borrowed some kayaks and paddled along the coast to an empty beach, after swimming in the sea for a while we paddled back to the Lagoon and swam there as well (the depth of it being 70 metres!). The rest of the time was spent relaxing and then on the last full day we had to prep the boat to be ready for the next leg. 

So yesterday morning we said goodbye to Jamaica and after a really good race start we are still in the top group with all the leading boats around us, hopefully we can keep up with the pace and continue it all the way to New York in about a weeks time!