Oh boy! What a weekend!

A few of us 15/16'ers arranged a private charter of one of the retired Clipper 68s - CV7 Uniquely Singapore as it happens. We did this for various reasons; some because they have never actually sailed before and others like me, because waiting until October to do the Level 1 training is just too far away.

What a machine! Previously, the biggest boat I've sailed on was 46'. Initially that was a bit daunting, but after a few hours it felt no different than my lovely little Westerly Centaur. However, the Clipper boats are in another league. Being cutter rigged (two sails in front of the mast) adds to the complexity. The size of the boat also means that the loads on all the rigging, sheets and halyards are really big.

Tacking in my Centaur involves zero drama, thinking and very little effort and can quite easily be carried out single handed. To tack a Clipper requires, well an orchestra of people all operating in perfect harmony.

How did we do? Well, not bad really. We shown how to rig the boat on Saturday morning, had a quick lunch and headed out into the Solent. Dawn had broken gloriously on Saturday morning, but by the time we got out, it was blowing F8 with rain and fog. We had a blast!

On Sunday, having over nighted in E Cowes, we were left unguided to re rig the boat. We did this really rather well with only one minor error. The wind had eased on Sunday and the sun broke through the clouds and all too soon we were back in Gosport.

What a great weekend and two days later we are still posting pictures and videos on our Facebook group. I've suggested to Clipper that they might want to offer this to people that are interested, but unsure. Having tasted it, you will be signing on the dotted line!

The next event to look forward to, is meeting up again at the 13/14 start, wherever that is going to be?

I'm going to visit a relative in hospital today. At the beginning of January, he tripped whilst out shopping and hurt his leg. Five weeks later and his leg has been amputated above the knee.

So many times have you or others talk about doing something "because you never know what might happen tomorrow". I'm glad I'm doing something, because if something does happen tomorrow, there is only one thing worse than talking about doing something and that's not it.

"If I had..." is the sadest phrase you could ever say, so do something. Step 1, buy Against The Tide 2 the story of the Clipper 12-13 race.

Clipper 70 Launch

13th January 2013 myself and a number of the Clipper 15-16 crew gather at St Katherine's dock, London at the invite of Clipper. Though the new Clipper 70 was at St Kat's for publicity, we were to get exculsive access as well as information on our Level 1 training dates.

Clipper 70

Previously, the biggest yatch I'd been on was a 46 foot cruiser, so this was something else. These are serious out-and-out racers, a V8 muscle car of the sailing world. Down below there are no home comforts, not one splinter of Cherry wood. This is designed for one thing and that is speed!

A bunch of met in the Dickins Inn. Some of us had meet before, some were just names on Facebook and some were completely unknown before we met in Dickins. What struck me during that afternoon was the social aspect that was developing. When signing up for Clipper it never occured to me that there would be this whole network of people opening up from all walks of life and from all parts of the globe.

With the public locked out, our reception began. More freinds made, two of which are second time Clippers. Snack were provided washed down with a drop of beer and our first set of training dates were provided. So next thing is to choose which week to book and then spend the whole summer in excited anticipation!

Three days after the interview and I receive an email confirming my place on the 2015 Clipper Round The World race! I sent an email to all my friends along with a picture of the new Clipper 70s attached and asking who wants to meet me in Rio 3 years time?

I even posted it on my LinkedIn profile - very bad form, but I don't care.

Then came an invite to join the 2015 Facebook group. I previously never had any intention or inclination to join Facebook for two reasons; to me it looked like most people used it to tell they were bored and had just made a cheese sandwich - face, bothered?; Facebook, the company, is a little be sinister.

As this is really the only way to communicate with other Clipper participants, then I really had no choice, so in I went. It has actually turned out to be quite a bit of fun virtually getting to know a whole group of new people. A group of us then arranged to meet at the Southampton Boat Show, which was a great idea. We had breakfast whilst doing the "why are you doing this" and "which legs" etc. We then wondered around see if we could bag an deals. Ali had turned up in a short covered in Clipper badges, so it was quite obvious why we were asking and I have to say that quite a few suppliers were very sympathetic.

We had such a good time that even more of us are meeting up at the London Boat Show as well - which wi be nice!

May 2012 and I'm at Gosport to attend the first Clipper 15-16 interviews. I arrived a little early, so I had a coffee over looking Portsmouth harbour. I sent a text to my wife "Sun shining and drinking a coffee whilst looking at boats, beats working!".

I made my way down to Clipper HQ and joined 15 or so other people on this first session. In the corner of the room was a large black steering wheel. "That's for the new Clipper 70 fleet" said David, "Cost £5,000 each". A collective ooohhh filled the room, can't wait to be standing behind one of those.

We did the usual introductions that you do in these kind of situations; what's your name, personal background and why you were there. We ranged in age from a lad who would only just be 18 for the 2015 race, to some more mature people around the 50 mark. It was a 50/50 split between male and female. A couple of people were looking to the whole RTW, but most of us were Leggers.

We saw a video and were given loads of information about the format of the whole process. This covered how the training programme worked, how the boats operated, how the event was managed, insurance, paying for it, getting to and from start points for Leggers and family etc.

The day finally finished with a 1:1 interview to make sure you were still interested and for them to understand more about why you wanted to do it. It was also a chance to see if you had some major personality issues that my not be welcome on a TransAt crossing!

We'd been married for over 20 years, so I knew what the answer would be, but I couldn't and didn't want to just assume, so I asked my wife seriously about doing Clipper in a few years time. I knew that doing the whole Round The World (RTW) was not on the cards, even though I still didn't know how much it would cost, but no salary for a year as well as being away for a year was not a serious option.

Of course she said yes, if that's what I really wanted to do - though she still thought I was mad. My children thought it was cool and I should definitely do it.

That was that then, in January 2011 I submitted an application for the 2015-16. As Clipper hadn't really started to recruit for the 15-16 race, 13-14 being their next priority, I had to wait until May 2012 before I got the call to attend the first interview session for the 15-16 race.

I became aware of Clipper several years ago, not really sure when exactly. I think it must of been the power of subliminal advertising from those posters at the train station when I used to work in London.

Why do they advertise at commuter stations? Is it just because there are a lot of people to see them, or is it because so many people that commute to work have so little to look forward to each day?

Then a couple of years ago I saw "Against The Tide" the story of the 2009-10 race. My family thought I was mad when I said "I want to do that." Soon after this had been on the TV, I enrolled on the RYA Coastal / Yachtmaster Theory (having done the "Dazed Kipper" practical 2 years earlier). A fellow student lent me Ian Dicken's book "Sea Change".

That was it, I was hooked, but was I being selfish wanting to do this? Not just for the cost, but also for abandoning my family. And then what about work?