Clipper Race sustains a pasting

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 10 Mar 2016 While sailors in the northern hemisphere have been dealing with lingering end-of-winter temperatures, we all have one advantage over the sailors competing in the Clipper Round the World Race, namely a level horizon. The race, which is currently en route from Da Nang, Vietnam to Qingdao, China, has seen some morale-sapping weather this week, including a violent storm that the skippers are describing as some of the absolute worst weather that they’ve encountered since departing the UK last September…including their extensive Southern Ocean steeping en route to Sydney earlier in the race.

For readers who are just tuning in to our coverage of the Clipper Round the World Race, this event, which was founded by the legendary solo sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, places amateur sailors aboard identical, 70-foot Tony Castro-designed monohulls that are run by professional skippers. In order to compete in the race, paying sailors must complete several training courses before they step aboard for one or more legs, with the saltiest of the lot girdling the globe with their skippers.

While this creates a fantastic opportunity for amateurs to learn the ropes of high-stakes ocean racing, it also creates an interesting scenario for the skippers, who often find themselves setting out to sea with a mix of untested sailors and seasoned salts who have completed a leg or three, creating potentially challenging leadership and teamwork dynamics.

Layered on top of these complex onboard dynamics, of course, is the wild card known as the weather, with some legs delivering relatively little pain, while others have likely flattened their crews. The ongoing leg from Da Nang to Qingdao is notorious for its shallow soundings and strong headwinds, which often churn up to steep square waves that can break boats and flatten morale, and this year's race was no exception. The fleet reported winds peaking at 70-80 knots (or more) and sustained speeds between 55-60 knots as well as big, steep seas.

“There was spray everywhere, gallons of water being thrown over the bow and the deck as the boat crashed into a huge, steep sea,” reported Ash Skett, Skipper of Garmin. “If we had been cruising on almost any other type of boat, we would have been in survival mode. However, as the Clipper 70s are so robust, we were able to continue to race, albeit with a very limited sail plan.”

Skippers elsewhere in the fleet reported similar conditions-with Paul Atwood, the skipper of Unicef reporting a peak gust of a mighty 92 knots-and spoke of the importance of maintaining the right mood among his crew during the thrashing.

“The worse conditions we faced were beating into [16-foot] high waves with a gale force 8 on the nose, it made life pretty difficult, we also had some gear issues at this time which added to the excitement,” said Matt Mitchell, skipper of ClipperTelemed+, who reported seeing even worse conditions in the Southern Ocean.

“The sea state has definitely been toughest on crew morale as it makes everything that much harder to do,” continued Mitchell. “I always find keeping good humour on deck and making sure there is good food to be had works to keep up morale.”

Atwood agrees with Mitchell’s assessment of the importance of maintaining good crew morale. “I try to keep the mood light with humor or if that fails, public humiliation or floggings at our daily happy hour,” joked Atwood in an exclusive Sail-World.com interview. “Seriously though, keeping the routine going, ensuring adequate food and drink is had along with sleep. Fatigue management is key.”

Fortunately for the skippers, crews, and vessels competing in this year’s Clipper Race, the East China Sea beating has abated, with reported windspeeds now in the manageable mid-20s. Unfortunately for Trudi Bubb, a UK sailor from Crawley who is sailing with Attwood aboard Unicef, a likely broken arm is causing the team to divert to Shanghai to get Bubb to the hospital ASAP.

As for the rest of the fleet, Derry-Londonderry-Doire is currently leading the hunt to Qingdao, with (at the time of this writing) some 96 miles separating their bow from the finishing line, followed by Garmin, some eight miles astern, and LMAX Exchange, who are some 43 miles behind Derry-Londonderry-Doire.