Taking the Leap







I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied”
                                     ~ John Masefield




All my bags are packed and I’m raring to go. Round the world on a sailboat. Or at least as far as I can stretch my monies. 

https://youtu.be/nlWmJYMcnjMI’ve signed up for the Clipper Round the World Race 2017-18; a race that takes novices like me, trains them intensively, then puts 20 of us and a capable skipper on a 68 foot long boat to race against 11 other similar boats, all around the world.

It all started when Dilip, the first Indian to sail solo around the world, nonchalantly said that anyone can sail around the world.  I was like, really!? Anyone!?

Then he told me about Clipper. So, I promptly applied for this year’s race. A friendly chat with the race officials followed and I was offered a place in the Race.

The way this works, Clipper puts everyone through a grueling four weeks of training before allowing them to race. Training takes place in the UK or Australia. You can choose either and space out the training with gaps between each session. But, if you’re time crunched or like me, racing on borrowed funds, you can plan all 4 sessions consecutively.

The race starts in August this year and it will take the better part of a year for the 12 boats and their load of novice sailors to complete the race around the world. I would have loved to be an RTWer (Round the World racer) but decided that for a start, a trans-Atlantic race between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town would suit me just fine. That’s a stretch of about 3,300 nautical miles. And the shortest leg of this race!

Crew allocation on the 12 boats is scheduled for next week. My training commences the following month and my race leg is in October. 

Want more? Follow this blog as I chase my dream.

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