Level 4 training is the crown of training. It is done with the race skipper, the AQP and with members of your team on the boat you will be racing. 4 dates were available during earl summer and before race start. And for a reason I was only able to book the last date. This always inherits a risk getting injured or catching a bad flew and being called off by Clipper. And in this case you would be doing L4 at a later date on the old goose Clipper 68 with a skipper, that has nothing to do with your race and most likely with crew that is not from your team. No, there was no option taking that risk and I began to be careful looking after myself not standing in windy places, not sweating without being properly dressed and not taking any exercise risks. I arrived in good old Portsmouth on Aug 2nd and since I had some time after check in at my hotel I took the ferry to Gosport. It was a warm summer evening at the British Riviera with a real sunset. I walked to the pier and here they were, the 11 Clipper 70, all lined up, tidy and well cleaned up. Our home for the week, our home for the race. All of them except two boats were wrapped with the main sponsor on. I walked by the pub that we had spent so many hours in. But I could not see anybody that I knew. Susie texted me later that she had arrived but I was already was on the other side. I walked the waterfront of Portsmouth enjoying the smell of algae and salt water. A mild land wind was blowing out to the Isle of Wight, a clear indication of the reversed thermal weather system in summer (local high pressure on land and local low pressure off the shore line due to temperature differences between land mass and water). It was a great feeling to stand here, watching the stars and feeling the excitement of another experience ahead.
I started early the next morning at 06:30. Traditional English breakfast, check out followed by a walk with the gear to the ferry. 07:10 Gosport ferry.
It was mild and humid. The sea was calm. We had outgoing tide. I enjoyed the smell of rope, paint, diesel and saltwater. I stepped on the upper deck and looked over to the marina. The rising sun threw its rose and orange light against the majestic boats. This was the right start of my day and I was really curious to see who would be with me on the boat this time and how this training would work out.
I was hoping we would do a bit more compared to all previous training session. But firstly we had only one administrative task today. Pick up our brand new foulies bringing them on board. We checked in at the race office. We picked up the foulies, obviously tested them and got our photo taken for our personal page. I was a bit disappointed. When trying on the foulies a few month ago I was talked into an XL smock. But I lost weight and felt L would do for sure. I changed the size by Email with Musto 5 weeks before the handout. I got written confirmation that I would be on L. When I opened my box it was XL. I was and I am still disappointed. Things don’t work sometimes. I took the smock with the result that even today it is the very last thing that I am putting on. Never mind.
We met Mark back at the training office and Dan and walked over to our boat. Yes home sweet home. But before we went below deck we had a briefing. Everything was different this time. Allocated bunks – hot bunks, which means you have a bunk buddy and the bunk is never empty. My bunk buddy was Paul, a round the worlder from Kiwi land. Allocated watches. Means our boat was split into two worlds that would change in 4 hours cycles. It is a bit like the tide that goes in and out in a 6-hour tact. Allocated mother watches for the next five days. It all meant that the next five day would be closer to reality, always out there, no pubs at night. The boat would become our one and only universe, all that mattered – as it is supposed to be in Ocean sailing. The only part that was missing was – the Ocean.
On deck we told who we were, safety brief, decks walk and life vest check. We prepared the boat to head out, put the stay on, prepped the main and dressed all lines needed. After that skip gave a brief. We head out to the Solent. We would go through three exercises, towing another Clipper, delivering fuel with a dinghy to another Clipper and finally man over board. We would start the watch system as soon as we finished the fuel delivery. We made a coin toss who would be on off watch first. The sea was calm, weather was mild, good enough for shorts and my beloved Dale of Norway sweater. When we headed out from Gosport the new “Hugo Boss” was pulled out of the hangar. It is Alex Thomson boat or to say more an UFO for the Vendee Globe Challenge 2020. He finally wants to win it after being second for two times now. Alex was once a Clipper skipper winning the race. It shows what career you can make if successful. He sits on a budget of a few 100 million pounds to deliver the ultimate excitement about sailing following his drive wanting to win the Vendee. I am wishing him all the best. He for sure is my second sailing hero after Ellen McArthur. Go beat the French this time!
Out there in the Solent we started to team up for the towing exercise but other than during our emergency during level 3 training, where we were towed side by side we prepared for a regular line tow. Our partner was Seattle. A try pod line was arranged in the back t the stern ensuring that the load will be spread evenly onto the two winches. And as the see was calm there were no issues. We were able to finish this part quickly end moved to the fuel delivery with a dinghy. And how surprising it took us a bit of time to inflate the rubber dingy because the pump was pretty inefficient. This is nothing for an emergency because it takes time. Prep time was needed. After that we knotted Susie onto a halyard and dumped her overboard to man the dingy in order to let he grab the freight. It was a bit of a wet exercise for her since we were steaming ahead and the dinghy took loads of water and was about to capsize. This still being an exercise was telling us how it would be like in the Southern Ocean in an emergency with building high waves. Anyway we all enjoyed ourselves.
Once we ticked off these safety topic it happened again. Bob could not stand us as a crew and jumped overboard, bloody bastard as we say. But the crew was on Level 4 and even us being on the boat at sea only for a few hours and therefore practicing the recovery with great oversight and in a very organized manner. 12 minutes. That was a great job. Mark and Dan were happy and now we could do what we were supposed to do. Watch system and heading out into the channel. Sailing – finally! The breeze picked up, „Crime Watch“ took over and we, „Baywatch“ crawled into our bunks for a quick nap. After the first four hours we changed watch. The wind picked up and we were heading from the channel back to the solent. 22 knots of wind, beam reach – so what had to happen? The kite had to go up and here it came. I perfect deployment by the watch and now we enjoyed Champaign sailing. 2.5m waves, the boat was heeling over at 40° and we were making 11-14 knots. Awesome. Just on the edge of the rudder effectiveness. I was on the helm and Dean was on the spinnaker sheet. We started to work as a team. Whenever I had pressure to go out of control I yelled „Eeeeeease“ or „Big Eeeeeeass“. And once the pressure was gone and I was able to dive 10° more leewards I yelled „grind, grind, grind“ and Susie and Stefano would throw the grinder round and round until the call cam „Hoooooold“. Pristine sailing, the best.
Dinner time came up and it was about time to get the kite down. We passed a channel ferry and had a bit room to the southeast to work out the maneuver. Mark took the helm and he tried to brief us. „Remember, letterbox! Grind the leeward sheet through the block to the windward side though the letter box. Pop the the kit. Than pull all loose ends through the boom. Do not let go. Once you have it all in your arms drop it into the „cave“. Got it?“ „Ready?“ Nothing. „I can’t hear you Baywatch, Ready?“ „Ready“. The breeze was about 25 knots. We were more on a fine reach when we winched the sheet and popped the kite. Chris and I tried to grab the kite pulling it through the letter box. But it was damn hard. „Get the kite through the box guys!!!! I am running out of water“ „Susie easy the halyard.“ Nothing happened. Chris, Dean and I clung on the kite. Nothing moved. I jumped down and eased the halyard for about a third. „Nooooooo, you idiot!!!!! Hooooooold the halyard. What the fuck are you guys doing. Look the kite launches again!!!! Nooooooo“ And the unmistaken had to happen. the kite flogged, lines flogged, the kite took off and seek for the right target. The sheet twisted around the bow sprit locking it tight. The kite flew forward end wrapped first around the forward stay coming back afterwards wrapping nicely around thinner stay. I tell you what, it was a mess and Mark put his had into his hand and shook his head. Oh now these green horns. Too much for me. „Start the engine!!“ „Daaaaaaaan“ „Come up here now“ And dan came up looking at the rig in disbelief. A „private“ discussion arose between him and skipper. „Waaaaayne, Shaaaaawn, get your asses up on deck“ Dan yelled. „We have to clean up the Baywatch mess“. And they came on deck and again disbelief. We started to pull lines and sail, tried to twist and turn the boat. No this wrap was perfect. Mark turned to Dan „Cut off the kite“ and the reply was immediate. „No I am not cutting off a kite, no chance. Let me go up there on the second spinnaker halyard. I will open the active halyard, untwist the kite from the inner stay and than Shane, Waye and Joe can pull and unwrap the kit from the outer stay“ „No, too dangerous, I don’t want you in the rigg, cut it off“ „no I go up“. And seconds later he was in his pants of power, helmet on. We put two halyards on him, and off he went. Marks face was like stone. And Dan like a squirrel went between mast, inner forestay and outer forestay. The whole crew on deck was in mega alert and in an coordinated effort we got everything clean and tidy. 45 minutes of hard team work – but the mess was cleaned up. Time to eat dinner. The mothers already prepped everything and we shoveled it in. Its of energy on this one. But we learned one more time – timing and control is everything.
And the journey continued with a new experience for most crew on board – night sailing. Yes it is not different from a physics perspective but the personal orientation is so different especially in a cloudy night. To feel safe is an issue for some of the crew. You just can’t see anything on deck and we still had to commence all the maneuvers. And we did. But especially helming was a big challenge for a lot of guys especially when clouds take sight of the moon, the stars or any other landmark. But with training all of this is manageable. We headed to France. I remember the sky was awesome. The Milky Way was clearly visible, we sighted the international space station and enjoyed the sparkling splash of water has we beat upwind towards France. Yes with the night the green monster appeared and took a few out even a few of those who were on a heavy dose of medicine. But this can be overcome and as we would stay out the next four days the green monster stood no chance to stay with us, Routine came up. It did not matter whether it was day or night. We crossed the channel 4 times and did all the training including heave too and MoB. Happy days for sailors, tough days for the one or other novice but all in all we developed the famous sea legs needed to conquer the Ocean.
The final stage was the race. In order to come together we anchored in lee of the Isle of Wight for an early morning start.
This was followed by some starting exercises and than the foot and film crews came out for photo shoots. The wind picked up quite a bit so that it would be an interesting start.
But before the start our Yankee sheets wrapped each other. No movement of the sheets possible. Only option was to send our squirrels Dan up. Great move under the eyes of Sir Robert
Our start was excellent but beating up to the first and second mark was a nightmare. We were not well coordinated and fell backwards. Aggressive sailing by others was contradicted by cautious moves from us. We fell to the end of the pack. In France we were completely becalmed. But in the morning hours we felt a tiny breeze from the East. It played with our ears. We all fired up, hoisted sales and started to push Black Betty with easy. We were able to fetch up some places. At the leeward mark we hoisted out largest kite and headed home all the way under kite on a fine reach. Awesome sailing for hours. On my watch I teamed with Nigel. It was his first long haul helming under kite. I was on the sheet. We tried to sail a straight line but it took a few hours. Anyway at the end it was great team work. We finished in the middle of the pack. And after the finish line we clearly looked back, put away the bad moments and preserved the memories of a great sailing week. And we reviewed all of it in the pub. Training done – now we are talking. Moving to leg 6 for me.
See you on leg 6, here and now
Joe Sails 