In May 2019 Clipper held an open door day in Portsmouth Harbour and that was the day that I first got to step into one of these mighty ships. They are huge!! The mast is incredibly high. They are also quite spartan on the inside. It was a great opportunity which I enjoyed a lot
Then finally, the day that I was waiting for arrived. They opened the inscription for the 2021-2022 race. I quickly submitted my application (I must have been one of the first persons to do so) and arranged an interview on a Friday at the end of June. So, there I went, a little nervous and not really sure what to expect. They made me really welcome and Della was amazing, she made us feel at home from the very first minute. Thanks Della!!
It started with a general introduction about the Clipper race, what to expect from it, including a generous disclosure of everything that could be not so exciting or glamorous about it. I guess that the idea was to trim anyone who did not really understand the challenges involved in this adventure.
It started with a general introduction about the Clipper race, what to expect from it, including a generous disclosure of everything that could be not so exciting or glamorous about it. I guess that the idea was to trim anyone who did not really understand the challenges involved in this adventure.
After that we did a one on one interview with Della and it all went really, really well. She asked a lot of questions about my experience and background but she also poked a lot about my attitude towards life, team work and relationships with other people. She also told me a bit about her personal experience with Clipper, which was really interesting.
When the interview finished I asked Della when I would get the news of whether I would be accepted or not and she told me that sometimes they would wait until they had discussed this a bit but that in my case she could tell me right there that I would be accepted. I had not expected that but I was so happy!! I wanted to dance!! I called Puri immediately and told her the big news. Then I posted it in my Facebook page and everyone seemed as excited as I was. So the adventure could finally begin!!
Now was the time to start with the paperwork: get the contract, read it carefully, sign it, pay the initial deposit, arrange for the instalments to pay the race fees, start looking into insurance, join the crew hub, join the crew Facebook group, get the medical report, start looking for adequate training dates, etc... but the important part was that I was in so I needed to start preparing mentally and physically :-)
