1st Clipper 70 undergoes sea trials in Portsmouth, UK

I can't say enough about the new Clipper 70 boats. The hull design is low profile, sleek and faster than the previous Clipper 68 fleet. The 13-14 crews are going to enjoy the speed and handling of these boats. They cut the water like a knife.

The gel coat is still plain white, and soon the boats will bear the vibrant colors of race sponsors and crew on deck wearing bright survival suits. I can assure you the faces on board will be smiling from ear to ear.

3 cheers for the new Clipper 70!!!

Fair winds,

Joseph

More info on the "Southern Ocean Sleigh Ride"

Here is a write-up from the Clipper site on Leg 3.

Southern Ocean Sleigh Ride

Wrapped up Level 2 training!

Being out at sea has made updating this blog a challenge! The good old iPhone notepad to the rescue! Here's a summary of my Level 1 & 2 training:

Blog notes:
Day 1: safety check, boat systems (engine, generator, water maker, galley stove & sinks, heads, nav stations & circuit breakers, lighting)

Day 2: 6am shower, 7am breakfast of porridge with brown sugar, banana & black tea. Safety flares, engine checks: water-raw&coolant; oil-engine, gearbox, fuel, belts, bilges, leaks & electrics.

Day 3-5: Passage to French coast...Normandy and further south. Moderate seas...hot galley & diesel odor = sea sick crew.

Day 6: Race Finland from French coast to Cowes. Great marina with 5 star showers!

Day 7: More maneuvers and return to Portsmouth.

Day 8: Hit level 2 hard. Sail changes all day! Crew exhausted. Stir fry veggies & beef for dinner. Delicious.

Day 9: More maneuvers, but fewer sail changes. Perfect sailing day! Launched a huge new sail we will be using on the Clipper 70ft boats: The Asymmetric. This sail is monstrous in size! Due to the unpredictable winds it was challenging to sail, but definitely increased our downwind speeds.

Day 10 - 12: Passage to Irish Sea. Sudden Force 7- 8 gale storm caused moderate to heavy seas. Needle fish landed on deck! Cut south through the shipping channel to French coast to dodge the storm. Visibility at one point reduced to 3 boat lengths! Seas eased and sun came out around noon & returned to the UK coast. Set anchor in Brixham harbor. What a beautiful seaside British town. A former fishing town. Google it! Very heavy winds while entering harbor. Shelter from the bay is nice! Delicious pasta dinner!

Day 13 & 14: Tacked back and forth through the Enlish Channel to the French coast and back. In total we sailed over 700 miles this week and encountered the full spectrum of sailing conditions: sunny, cloudy, drizzly, stormy, cold, hot, & comfortable temps that were just right!

In summary: UK weather is psychotic! You never know what kind if weather will blow over from Nova Scotia :-o) No better place to learn to sail! All in all over 2 weeks we sailed over 1000 miles!

Made a lot of good sailing & exploring friends. Level 2 skipper Jim Dobie & 1st Mate Darren Ladd were exceptional instructors for our crew. We could not have asked for two better individuals.

Below are a few pics. Will add more in the coming days & weeks as I get time.

Ahhhh...a bit of a nap. A crew does need to rest after working hard hauling & launching sails!!!

What a great Clipper Level 2 crew!!!
Row 1: Jim, Fran, Sharron, Chris
Row 2: James, Jean, Darren (1st Mate), Kym (yes we see your face), Liz, Wes, Peter

Row 3: Kris, Joseph

Our Level 2 skipper: Jim Dobie (Sharron at helm, Kym in foreground)

Meet Larry, the new man over board (MOB) dummy for Clipper training. We saved his sorry butt a few times. Toss him in the water and he gets really heavy. He also doesn't like to move his arms to wear the rescue sling!

Launching the massive "assymetric" sail. What a monstrous beast of a sail. It will help Clipper yachts achieve improved speeds in lighter winds.

I do believe that's Fran at the helm! 1st Mate Darren Ladd looking over. Level 2 crew chilling out in some beautiful weather (for a change). The English Channel presented us with a variety of sailing conditions. My fellow British sailors called the weather the usual "psychotic" UK stuff they're used to.

Me on the aft deck enjoying a bit of sun.

A man and the sea. All hair-dos on board morph into Donald Trump wigs when the ocean spray has its way :)

The beautiful Brixham harbor. We anchored here after dodging a storm with strong winds & rain.

Fran saved my scalp! After seeking shelter in Brixham harbor, she broke out a bottle of salt water shampoo! Just wet your hair in the sea, shampoo & rinse! My scalp felt like a million $ after that!

It's a mast. No. It's Kris Slezak of Poland. He towered over our entire crew at 6ft 6in. Need to release a hailyard at 10ft or haul up a sail in 2 minutes? Kris is your man!

Great start on Level 2 training.

Completed sea survival training. Excellent sailing conditions in the Solent near Portsmouth. Will do a passage later this week. Skipper Jim is keeping us very busy!0

Passage to French coast.

Days 4 & 5 were spent on a passage to the coast of France. Great trip today the least. Our Skipper Flavio & First Mate Simon are top notch and have shared a lot of their sailing knowledge.

Highlight of the passage: surfing some very nice waves through the night.

Tomorrow it's off to sea survival training. Will wrap up later on when U get some time on shore.

Pics: View of Portsmouth tower across the harbor. Flavio describes the chart/nav room & main circuit panels. View across the deck. Myself after returning from the passage. View of crew list. Great bunch! Off to bed! Cheers - Joe

Training...very busy learning all about these boats!

Day 1: safety check, boat systems (engine, generator, water maker, galley stove & sinks, heads, nav stations & circuit breakers, lighting, etc.)

Day 2: 6am shower, 7am breakfast of porridge with brown sugar, banana & black tea. Safety flares, engine checks: water-raw&coolant; oil-engine, gearbox,fuel;belts;bilges;leaks;electrics.went sailing and practiced various maneuvers (tack, jibe, raising a few if the many cutter rigged sails. Boat cruises very well!

Day 3: Breakfast of toast
/jam & & black tea. Lots of action on the water today. Hoisted a monster sized Yankee 1 sail. Performed man overboard drill. Lunch was a stuffed chicken pastry of some sort... Yummy! More maneuvers (tacks, jibes, downwind runs). English channel very busy with huge cargo vessels, ferry ships & hovercraft. Lots of challenging currents & tricky spots. Beautiful area...sailing bliss.

Below is a pic of the boats from the end of the dock at the marina. Sorry too busy for additional pics & vids...will get some early this week :)

How does a sailboat move?

Over the last several months wuite a few people have asked me how sailboats move forward. I wspelled robe this early on. Forward motion is achieved using a few methods:

1. Running: This method catches wind from behind the boat. In the old days this is the only way square rigged ships could sail. Reaching America from England, for example, required a smart navigator to follow the trade winds to get a "push" from east winds.

2. Tacking: Modern sailboat & yacht designs leverage Bernoulli's principle. Using this method, sailboats for thr first time could adjust their course and sail upwind, but not directly upwind. As air rushes over the forward curved edge of a sail, which is a longer distance than the shorter path on the aft side, lift is generated. The lift translates into a suction that pulls the boat! How cool is that? The same principle applies to aircraft airfoils/wings. Air rushing over the top curved section of the wing generates reduced pressure/suction and causes lift.

Below is a chart that shows the various angles a modern sailboat can sail. Note the 45 degree cone in the front. This is referred to as the "no sail zone". If you sail in this direction you are "in irons" or shackled in a sense, from achieving lift. To propel forward you need to "tack" or steer at the edges of this cone to achieve Bernoulli's lift. The benefit of which sucks you forward. It's a COOL feeling to tack upwind. Racing boats have a large inventory of sails (20+ sails) to maximize this ability to tack upwind.

3. Engine power: No brainer here. Obviously a sailboat can move forward if it has an engine. When entering/exiting a crowded harbor, for example, it is quite risky to sail. To ensure precise control of the boat, all sails remain lowered while in or near a crowded harbor and the boat direction controlled by engine thrust & steering alone.

Signing out,

Joe

Very warm welcome in Britain!

Earlier today after learning of my lost luggage (found thank goodness), I rode the train and explored southern UK near Portsmouth. No pictures, just absorbing the local life and interacting with people. I am pleased to say the people in the greater Portsmouth area are very warm and friendly. A few people went out of their way to be helpful after hearing my American accent. It is a level of care I have not experienced in too many places. Three cheers to the Brits!

BTW the train system is very nice! Clean, comfy, quiet seats & great value for the traveler!

Luggage delayed/lost in Amsterdam

Pretty smooth flights into Amsterdam & Southampton, UK. Bummer my large suitcase was delayed or lost. Dina and I are trying to track it down. I have a minimum set of sailing gear in my carry on with me...so I will survive. Really sucks though :-o)

Below is a harbor view pic of Portsmouth UK. Huge Royal Navy museum here along with their present fleet of modern ships and their naval academy.

Tomorrow it will probably be more luggage chasing and then I'll check in at 5pm to a 68ft yacht for Level 1 training.

Update: Bag arrived! Taxi bringing it to my hotel :-o)

What's this about learning to sail?

This is my first post for my upcoming sailing adventure in the Southern Ocean. Where is this place? Most have heard of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans, but where is the Southern Ocean? Simply put: It is down south! We're talking the water that resides north of Antarctica, but south of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

The seas in this region of the world are notoriously large, and the winds are very fast (30mph+). Your typical cruising sailboat would not be able to sail this ocean without the risk of structural failure. One must sail in a well designed boat, and sailors must be equipped with not only survival suits, but a lot of training too!


Have a look at the picture below to examine the race route.

Many things influenced me to take on this adventurous challenge. After my global deployment with the US Marines back in 1987 I have been in what I refer to as "adventure withdrawal" ever since. Imagine sailing the world and returning to a Midwestern city. Each visit to the ocean on vacation teases me as I gaze out over it and ponder returning to sea some day. Yet, I have a desire to sail the Southern Ocean? Why? I will get right to the main reasons:

1. I have never been there and I want to experience it's raw power first hand. I have sailed in rough seas before, but nothing like the Southern Ocean.

2. I strongly relish the challenge of enduring over 3 weeks of rough seas and high winds. It will be one wild ride :-o)

3. It will rapidly prepare me to become an expert sailor. My long term plans are to obtain all my American Sailing Association (ASA) certifications so that I can skipper my own yachts while on vacation. You see where I'm going with this? Vacations with family & friends are soon to be a lot more exciting.

Below is a preview of "Leg 3" of the Clipper race, also referred to as the "roller coaster ride" to Australia.

 

My training starts this week in Portsmouth, UK and I will update this blog if I can find a computer there or WiFi access for my iPhone. If not, I'll upload the content when I get back.

Fair winds,

Joseph