Crew Allocation

So here I am again on the train to Portsmouth but this time there is no training. I am with Lizzy Grim my sailing buddy, It’s Not Flat Eric my travelling sidekick and Darren, my fiancé!!!! there is a whole side story to follow about how THAT came to pass. We are all heading down to The Guildhall, Portsmouth for the biggest event so far. CREW ALLOCATION, this is the event where all of us who have signed up for this crazy adventure will find out who we will spend the next 12 months with. Who we will be living in cramped, uncomfortable conditions with. Who we will be working an unrelenting shift pattern with. There will be no privacy, no home comforts, nowhere to retreat to but undoubtedly we will be having the time of our lives.

There are 11 professional Skippers and 11 professional Mates to lead us ‘the rabble’ that the powers that be have divided up into 11 teams. It’s exciting and quite nerve wracking this waiting. Our departure and arrival port, the departure date and route will be revealed. The team sponsors and stopover ports will be revealed. So its going to be full on. It is also the first opportunity I have had to show Darren the actual boat that I will be calling home.

Skip forward 24 hours and it’s over all those months of waiting to find out who my team will be and I am delighted to say my crew is Team David. David Immelman otherwise know as Wavy will be our skipper and Fabian Fisahn our mate. Both have a huge amount of experience and I am absolutely thrilled to be part of the gang. Crew Allocation was an incredible event with all 11 skippers up on stage reading out the team names to a packed Portsmouth Guildhall. Over 700 eager faces listening out for their names to be read out. Below is a picture of our team during our briefing. We wait to hear who are team partner will be.

We also found out our race details, which is all very exciting. Any one who would like to follow my race please follow the link to the official crew supporters page.

https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/crew-supporters

Race details

Race Start, London Depart St. Katharine Docks, parade of sail 1 September Race will start early on 2 September off Southend Leg 1, the Atlantic Trade Winds Leg Ports: London, a stopover – location TBC and Punta del Este Two races Race 1 Start London, UK 1 September 2019 Race 2 Start TBC Total distance approximately 6,300nm Total duration approximately 30-36 days at sea Arrival Window into Punta del Este, Uruguay 14-16 October 2019 Leg 2, the South Atlantic Challenge Leg Ports: Punta del Este and Cape Town One race Race 3 Start Punta del Este, Uruguay 23 October 2019 Distance 3,600nm Duration 15-19 days at sea Arrival Window into Cape Town, South Africa 7-11 November 2019 Leg 3, the Southern Ocean Leg Ports: Cape Town and Fremantle One race Race 4 Start Cape Town, South Africa 17 November 2019 Distance 4,750nm Duration 22-27 days at sea Arrival Window into Fremantle, Australia 9-14 December 2019 Leg 4, the Australian Coast-to-Coast Leg Ports: Fremantle and the Whitsundays One race Race 5 Start Fremantle, Australia 22 December 2019 Distance 3,400nm Duration 18-21 days at sea Arrival Window into the Whitsundays, Australia 9-12 January 2020 Leg 5, the Asia-Pacific Challenge Leg Ports: The Whitsundays, Sanya, SE Asia and Zhuhai Three races Race 6 Start Whitsundays, Australia 18 January 2020 Arrival window Sanya, China 10-15 February 2020 Race 7 Start Sanya, China 21 February 2020 Arrival window SE Asia 25-26 February 2020 Race 8 Start SE Asia 28 February 2020 Arrival Window into Zhuhai, China 2-3 March 2020 Total distance approximately 5,600nm Total duration approximately 30-37 days at sea Leg 6, The Mighty Pacific LegPorts: Zhuhai, Qingdao and Seattle Two racesRace 9 Start Zhuhai, China 9 March 2020 Arrival window 17-19 March 2020 Race 10 Start Qingdao, China 26 March 2020 Arrival Window into Seattle, USA 19-24 April 2020 Total distance 6,950nm Total duration 32-39 days at sea Leg 7, the USA Coast-to-Coast Leg Ports: Seattle, Panama and East Coast USA Two racesRace 11 Start from Seattle, USA 2 May 2020 Arrival window Panama 27 May – 1 June 2020 Race 12 Start from Panama 5 June 2020 Arrival Window into East Coast USA, estimated mid-June 2020 Total distance approximately 6,200nm Total duration approximately 36-44 days at sea Leg 8, the Atlantic Homecoming Leg East Coast USA, Northern Europe and Race Finish London exact destination TBC Two or three races Race Start from East Coast USA, estimated late June 2020 Race Finish early August 2020 Race Finish, the Clipper 2019-20 Race will finish in London exact destination and date are currently being finalised and will be confirmed in the coming weeks.