Ok so I’m NOT sailing around the world. But for me, the 4 big west to east ocean crossings; The South Atlantic, The Southern Ocean, The North Pacific and The North Atlantic are my circumnavigation, my Everest, my out-of-the-comfort zone physical and psychological challenge. There will be about 8 amateurs in each yacht completing the ENTIRE 40,000 mile, 11 month, 15 or so ports round the world race. Here are the thoughts of a few of them who have gone before …………
UNICEF is the official charity of the 2019-2020 Clipper Round The World Yacht Race, as they were for the previous edition of the Race, in which the UNICEF yacht also raced. Like many of my fellow Race Crew I am raising money for charities close to my heart. I’ve written previously about my personal connection with the National Autistic Society (See Blog 35: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ….. and The Reason I Jump, published 26 Nov 18) and I’ll write more about my other chose charity, Diabetes UK, in subsequent blogs. But, again like many of my fellow racers, I will also be joining in Fleet-wide fund raising efforts for the Race chosen charity – UNICEF – and will have the opportunity to visit UNICEF projects.
Before my involvement with Clipper I was aware of some of the work undertaken by UNICEF but now I already know so much more and it has been good to listen to speakers from UNICEF at the Little Ships Club in London back in January 2018 and Kate Cotton, the Senior Programme Management Specialist for UNICEF UK, at the Clipper Race Crew and Supporters event at Lord’s cricket ground last month.
UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) was formed on 11 December 1946 to meet the emergency needs of children in post-war Europe, China and the Middle East. Soon they were feeding 5 million children in 12 countries. In 1950 their task was broadened to address the long-term needs of children everywhere. In 1965 UNICEF received the Nobel Peace Prize for work in “liberating hundreds of millions of children from ignorance, disease, malnutrition and starvation.”
Still today too many children are in danger because they don’t have the food they need to live and grow. Every 12 seconds, a child somewhere in the world dies because of malnutrition. That’s 25 children in the 5 minutes its going to take you to read this blog to the end. Of those that survive, millions have to live with the effects for the rest of their lives because their bodies and brains haven’t developed the way they should. UNICEF provides 80% of the world’s supply of life-saving food for malnourished children. They help mothers and communities keep their children healthy and well nourished. UNICEF has helped reduce the number of children affected by malnutrition by nearly 100 million since 1990.
In the 1970s UNICEF pioneered training volunteers in local communities to help meet children’s basic needs. In the 1980s, they led the child survival revolution that focused on preventing the deaths of some 15 million children each year from easily preventable illnesses such as measles or diarrhoea.
Too many children are in danger from deadly, yet preventable, diseases. Measles, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis, diphtheria and whooping cough – the killer six – are all easily and cheaply preventable by immunisation. UNICEF is the world’s leading supplier of vaccines for children, providing vaccines for one in three of the world’s children. But millions more are still in danger. Every day 16,000 children under 5 die, usually because they don’t gert the health care and life-saving vaccines they need.
In 1989 governments worldwide promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention is the basis for all of UNICEF’s work. Every 5 minutes a child dies because of violence. Across the world, in war zones, on the streets of violent cities, in their own homes and schools, children are facing an epidemic of violence. UNICEF helps to provide psychosocial support for children. They also work with governments to strengthen national child protection systems and with communities to make sure that violence against children is considered unacceptable.
In the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, UNICEF again found itself protecting children affected by poverty, disease and war in Europe. From Syria and Iraq to South Sudan and Central African Republic, war and conflict turn millions of children’s lives upside down. Torn from everything they know, they are left vulnerable to dangers, from disease and malnutrition to violence and exploitation. UNICEF provide life-saving food, clean water, medicines, protection and psychosocial support to children whose lives have been devastated by the effects of war and conflict.
When disaster strikes, children are hardest hit. Whether it’s a flood, an earthquake or a typhoon, so many lose everything – their homes, their families, even their lives. In an emergency situation, UNICEF is there to provide everything from life-saving supplies to clean water and sanitation, schooling, nutrition and emotional support. In 2016 UNICEF provided 2.3 million children with psychosocial support to help them overcome trauma.
In the 21st century, UNICEF continues to help protect children in danger and transforms their lives. Whether it is natural disaster, war or poverty, UNICEF works tirelessly to keep every child safe. UNICEF UK raises vital funds for UNICEF’s work to protect children around the world, and works to change government policies and practices that restrict child rights. Their three programmes in the UK work to protect and promote the rights of 
children and young people. The UK Baby Friendly Initiative http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk works to ensure mothers have the best possible support to breastfeed, and families are supported to develop loving and nurturing relationships with their babies. UNICEF UK’s Child Rights Partners programme http://www.unicef.org.uk/crp works with local government to put children’s rights at the heart of public service. The Rights Respecting Schools Award http://www.unicef.org.uk/rrsa works with thousands of schools across the UK to improve well-being and help all children realise their rights.
There will be an opportunity in just about every stopover for Clipper Race Crew to work to support UNICEF and UNICEF activities. Clipper race crew have raised over £700,000 over the past two editions of the Race and we hope to break the £1M barrier in the 2019-2020 edition. So how can you help?
For every £1 given to UNICEF, 70p is spent on programmes for children, 29p is spent to raise another £1 and 1p (only 1p) is spent on governance. UNICEF UK relies entirely on gifts from individuals:
and their fundraising work with more than 20 leading companies http://www.unicef.org.uk/corporate. UNICEF receives no money from the UN budget.
Many readers will be aware that my No1 fan and supporter, Ruth, is planning her own “Clipper-Round-The-World-esque” non-waterborne adventure to tie in, to some extent, with my own travels to and from port calls either as I join or leave the race or, as in the case of South Africa, during the stopover between legs. South America, South Africa, China, West and East coasts of North America and Northern Europe are all on her list.
Knowing how much of an adventurer and explorer she is, I suspect this will only be the tip of the iceberg. Maybe iceberg references are not the best maritime analogy to use but you get the idea.
Some other supporters are already talking about joining Ruth in coming out from the UK to New York to coincide with the end of Leg 7/beginning of Leg 8 .
and at least one more friend has already let me know she and her daughter will be in South Africa at the same time as the Clipper Fleet will be in port between Legs 2 and 3.
For those of you who would rather follow and support from the comfort of your own home (some would add the word “sensibly” to this sentence) then there are plenty of other options.
To paraphrase from the Race Director’s latest missive to Race Crew,
“Now is also a great time for those of your nearest and dearest, family, friends and work colleagues, who are following and support your race experience to sign up to become a Race Crew Supporter.”
Race Crew Supporter and Junior Race Crew Supporters Groups are open to anyone who has a family or personal connection to a Clipper 2019-20 Race crew member. You can request to join the Race Crew Supporters network to be linked to other crew supporters and find all the answers to your questions about stopovers, ETAs into ports and much more. Signing up is simple – just visit: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/racecrewsupporters
Junior Crew Supporters is aimed at those aged 5 to 12 but is also applicable to all under 16s. Challenges and asctivities will be set for each leg of the race to teach about life on the Clipper Race yachts, the countries and cities the race will visit, and sailing in general. Parents can sign up under 16s via the following link: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/juniorcrewsupporters
I’ll write more in a later blog about how to follow the Race when its actually underway via The Clipper Race Viewer and about daily blogs written by each Skipper and one crew member from each yacht and I will be endeavoring to keep Pretty Much All At Sea going throughout, even when I am at sea!
So don’t just sit there! Get signed up!!
Regular readers (or at least those who are quick off the mark accessing this blog) will have spotted the deliberate mistake on Thursday of the Blog Post title that appeared ……….. with NO supporting text ………. and then almost just as quickly ……. disappeared. This was actually less “deliberate” and more “mistake” to be honest and removal wasn’t quite quick enough to stop one US reader commenting that it was a quick read to say the least and not quick enough to stop the CEO at Harwich asking how I had published whilst also simultaneously attending a Board meeting. Again, for regular readers, I WAS sitting facing away from the view (see Blog 37: Bravo Zulu Tian Fu ….. and another “This time next year” blog post …..” published 9 Dec 18).
The truth of the matter is, having used the facility to pre-programme a date and time to publish this blog, the rest of my life got in the way (two nights at home in the last 2 weeks) and I got no further than the title. Normal service is hereby resumed 🙂
240 race crew for the 2019-2020 edition of the race plus 150 race crew supporters gathered in the Nursery End pavilion at Lords Cricket ground in London last Saturday, 19 Jan, for the first major Clipper event of 2019 – the January Crew Briefing.
And if you are particularly quick you can spot me and/or Ruth four times in the following short video:
Official photo were taken – ultimately for the 2019-2020 clipperroundtheworld.com website when it goes live – those of us who visited the Musto store after Level 1 training were able to collect our Race Crew soft shell jackets (see Blog 24: Does/Will My Bum Look Big In This?” published 28 Sep 18), – Ruth completed a chop-stick challenge!!!! –
and there was a great opportunity to catch up with “old” friends from Level 1 and Level 2 training (Smita, Janine, Guido, Rob, Jo) and to make new friends/connections. I think I missed Meta in the crowds and, having read their subsequent blogs, I know that regular fellow-bloggers Heather Broadbent (www.dreamitnowdoit.com) and Sam at Farncombe (www.farncombeadventure.blog) were also present. Heather is a “circumnavigator” and right now is in Gibraltar completing her RYA Day Skipper practical course. Sam writes under the sub-heading of “George and John’s Boating Trip – A Land-lubbers Guide to the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race” as her husband, John, and son, George, are BOTH circumnavigating in the next edition. Apparently George signed up first! Oh, and for the record, Jo and Smita are also both blogging at http://www.jojosclipperjourney.com and http://www.sadmummy.com respectively. Not surprisingly I follow them all.
We had a whole series of useful presentations. Sir Robin Knox-Johnson spoke twice to 
kick things off and round things up – and threatened to test us on our knots! Laura Ayres, the Head of Partnerships, spoke about Clipper Race Partnerships – primarily team partners (essentially the name on the side of the boat) and Team Supporters (Seattle Yacht Club supporting the yacht Visit Seattle in the last edition for example) and Host Port Partners (essentially the 15 or so ports the Clipper fleet will visit). As part of my crew contract, I will be asked to support some of the partner activities and there are also Ambassador Opportunities whereby crew members can sign up to represent a “brand” during the race. It strikes me that all I have to do now is drop Hendricks Gin or Jaguar-Land rover a line (or maybe even both!) and all of a sudden phenomenal seas in the North Pacific in March/April 2020 could become rather more tollerable. Dinner guests at home last night who joked about Ann Summers or Victoria Secrets Ambassador Opportunities will, I hope, be sorely disappointed! Watch this space; more about Ambassador Opportunities at Crew Allocation in May.
The Senior Programme Management Specialist for UNICEF, Kate Cotton, spoke about the 
work of UNICEF – The Official Charity Partner for Clipper 2019-20. I’ll write more about UNICEF in future blogs but, in addition to my own charity fundraising efforts for the National Autistic Society and Diabetes UK (see http://www.justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure), I will be joining my fellow Clipperees aiming to reach a target figure of £400K for Unicef in 2019-2020. Sarah Hoare, the Clipper Race Manager took us all through what happens in port, Julia Fry, the Head of Global Communications spoke about the official website, skipper and crew blogs and TV coverage. She also showed a short clip about the previous crossing of the North Pacific – cue some gasps and somewhat nervous laughter from some in the audience who had not previously seen it. I had originally scheduled it to appear on these pages as part of my “One Year From Now/This time next Year” blogs in April of this year but what the heck ……….. here it is!!!!
Deputy Race Director (and skipper of Dare To Lead in the last Race) Dale Smyth talked us through the race scoring system, the “joker”, scoring gates, ocean sprints, stealth mode and penalty points all of which will become much more familiar as the race draws near and all designed to provide a little “tactical edge” to decisions made by skippers and crew during the race itself. Ruth Charles, the Race Crew Supporters Coordinator spoke to us all about the huge role played by Race Crew Supporters and it was fantastic that so many were present. In brief, Race Crew Supporters is a network for the family and friends of anyone taking part in the race to follow and support their particular Clipperee. Ruth, who was a circumnavigator in the 2015-16 edition, coordinates all this for all who wish to follow the race more closely from shore. I will write more about this – maybe in the very next blog!
The meat of the presentation came from the Race Director, Mark Light, particularly in what he was able to say about the route and timings for 2019-2020. In fairness most race crew were eager for more news on dates and ports in order to take our personal planning forward. Understandably, there is much still being negotiated and Mark’s entirely reasonable line is that he would prefer to give information that is 100% accurate (or as near to) rather than 70% or so and still subject to commercial (and potentially sensitive) discussions. All that said here’s what it looks like so far:
UK Race Start – Start date will be between mid-August and very early September and this will be determined by the Race Route as a whole.
Leg 1 – will be made up of two races (last edition was only one) down and across the North and South Atlantic Oceans to South America. This may be two stops in South America OR one pitstop in Europe and then onto South America. OK so that’s the party line; what does this mean to me? Firstly I think this points to Uruguay in South America and possibly Punta del Este (used for the first time in the last race). Not really much more than a guess on my part but personally significant in that this South American port (wherever it is) is where I will start Leg 2.
Leg 2 – will be one race across the South Atlantic Ocean to South Africa and highly likely to be into Cape Town. This is pretty much as expected (see Blog 25: This time next year. Video … Leg 2, Race 2, Across the South Atlantic, published 4 Oct 18). My plan will be to stay in Cape Town during the stopover ready for Leg 3.
Leg 3 – will be one race across the Indian and Southern Oceans to Western Australia and the briefing confirmed that this will be into the port of Freemantle. Again, as expected (see Blog 30: This time next year ….. Leg 3, Race 3, The Southern Ocean Sleigh Ride, a 2 video taster, published 31 Oct 18). After a short period I will return to the UK from Freemantle.
Leg 4 – will be one race (changed from the last edition) from Freemantle into the Southern Ocean heading south of Tasmania, before north across the Bass Strait and then up to Eastern Australia with the port tbc. Mark confirmed that the 2019-2020 edition of the Race will NOT be taking part in the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.
Leg 5 – more changes this time around. This leg will consist of 3 races. Firstly Eastern Australia up through the Doldrums and across the Equator back into the Northern Hemisphere to Sanya in China. This will be followed by a short sprint race to a port in South East Asia. After a pit-stop, there will be a further sprint race to the Clipper Race’s newest Host Port of Zhuhai in China. This will be a crew changeover port and, significantly for me, this is where I will rejoin the race for Leg 6.
Leg 6 – Having “confidently” predicted Zhuhai would not feature in Leg 6 (see Blog 18: First 2019-2020 stopover announced ….. Zhuhai ….. yes I had to look it up too, published 26 Aug 18) leg 6 will begin in Zhuhai and then consist of two races – the tough beat east of Taiwan and north up to Qingdao in China before the BIG ONE crossing the mighty North Pacific Ocean across to the West Coast of America. This port is yet to be confirmed but, wherever it is, once more I will disembark.
Leg 7 – will be two races (as per last time) from the West Coast US down to Panama. After gathering the fleet in Panama, the yachts transit the Panama Canal and then start the second race north to East Coast US. This has tended to be into New York and this (wherever it is) will be where I will rejoin the race for the final leg.
Leg 8 – will consist or either two OR three races (last edition was two) and includes the final ocean crossing, across the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst heading back to Europe and potentially Ireland (tbc). The final race will be the homecoming stage, seeing the fleet back into the Race Finish port in the UK.
The refitting of the current fleet continues and Level 4 training dates have been published. Subject to final confirmation after crew allocation, I am programmed to complete Level 4 training, hopefully in my race yacht with my race skipper and race crew, 9-15 July. Over 200 professional skippers from all over the world have applied to skipper a yacht in the 2019-2020 edition. Tough and pressurised interviews and on-water trials will soon reduce this number to 15 and the final 11 will be confirmed in March and announced later that month. There then follows a formal contract of employment with Clipper Venture plc and a 22 week in-house Clipper training before race start.
For them, and for all of us Race Crew, the official countdown for Clipper 2019-2020 has now begun. Can’t wait!
Together we are making a huge difference to the lives of autistic people and their families across the UK. Watch the NAS special video below to see how your amazing support is helping to build new schools, create new employment opportunities, fairer laws and ultimately a better world for autistic people. Together we have come so far but we know there’s so much more to do. I look forward to seeing what we can build together this year!
I am off down to Torquay again next week to visit Rebekah and to take part in her annual review with her care team. See also blog 34: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night … and The Reason I Jump, published 26 Nov 2018. Level 3 training draws ever closer (13-18 March) with Level 4 training sometime after crew allocation on 11 May. I hope to have some more details of my Leg 2 (across the South Atlantic) and Leg 3 (across the Southern Ocean) BOTH approaching later this year, very soon.
In the meantime, THANK YOU to all who have donated so far via my JustGiving pages: http://justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure
This is how it turned out last time:
and as of today I have …….
16 days to go before the next crew briefing
69 days to go before Level 3 training
128 days to go before Crew Allocation Day
183 days to go before the first crew team-building event
200 days to go (approx) to Level 4 training
235 days to go (approx) before Race Start day
274 days to go (approx) before my start on Leg 2 across the South Atlantic from South America 🇺🇾 🇧🇷 to South Africa 🇿🇦
289 days to go (approx) before the South Africa 🇿🇦 “arrival window” opens and the Leg 2 winner arrives.
301 days to go (approx) before my start on Leg 3 across the Southern Ocean from South Africa 🇿🇦 to Western Australia 🇦🇺
325 days to go (approx) before the Western Australia 🇦🇺 “arrival window” opens and the Leg 3 winner arrives
(Leg 6 across the North Pacific and Leg 8 across the North Atlantic are 2020 legs)
http://www.justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure
With every best wish to every one for a peaceful and prosperous 2019.
As 2018 draws to a close here are the (Blog) scores on the door so far.
Blogs posted: 40
On which days Sundays: 8
Mondays: 5
Tuesdays: 3
Wednesdays: 8
Thursdays: 3
Fridays: 3
Saturdays: 10
Top visited date: 31 July 2018 – 263 views
Total Words: 29,466 words
Average words per post: 750 words
Total number of pictures/diagrams posted: 319
Total number of videos posted: 19
Most popular day to read: Monday’s
Most popular time to read: 5.00pm
Most visited (non Home page) blog: Blog 20: Masterbaking … posted 10.30am 4 Sept.
Top 6 viewed Blogs: Blog 20: Masterbaking … posted 10.30am 4 Sept.
Blog 12: Famous Bearded Sailors(1) … posted 11.41pm 21 Jul.
Blog 10: You know you are “hanging on too tight” when … posted 9.03am 11 Jul.
Blog 9: Have you heard the one about the Englishman … posted 1.51am 9 Jul.
Blog 8: So How Did it all start(2) … posted 8.10pm 1 Jul.
Blog 14: Girl Power! … posted 8.39am 2 Aug.
Least viewed Blog: Blog 39: 20+ Clipper Facts … posted 5.46pm 15 Dec.
Most visited Month: November 2018 – 625 views
Total numbers of different countries viewing this blog: 43
Top six countries who visit: UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Canada.
Other countries in double figures for visits: France, Norway, Spain, Mauritius, UAE, Ireland, Hong Kong, China, Sweden, Denmark.
Other countries with multiple visits: Barbados, Montenegro, Croatia, Pakistan, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, South Korea, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Cyprus, Singapore, Israel, Germany.
‘Countries that have read the blog only once: Belgium, Indonesia, Qatar, Turkey, Oman, Malaysia, Greece, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam and ……… Jersey!
Happy Christmas from everyone and everything Clipper 😉
Pretty Much All At Sea 