The first day of training for Level 1 starts quite late, we were supposed to be in the Clipper offices by 17:00. In the morning I checked the weather forecast for the week and it was quite disheartening, we were supposed to have rain every day! Well, that shouldn't be too different from what I can expect in Leg 3 so it is time to start getting used to it. I took an early train as I did not want to get there very late. I was feeling nervous and excited, really looking forward to the experience.
In the ferry from Gosport I met Keith, you could easily tell that he was joining the Clipper training by his (as he himself described) "biggest sleeping bag in the world". It is one of these Ocean Sleepwear sleeping bags and the people who brought one (Keith and Andy) recommend them, so I'll probably look into getting one myself as I was able to confirm that my current sleeping bag is not good enough for the Clipper race.
We met in the Clipper office and slowly my training sailing mates arrived one by one. They seemed a nice bunch. We had Nicola, Keith, Andy and John from the UK, Jenifer from Brazil, Enrico from Italy, Maxim from Russia and myself, with a mix of experience and sailing knowledge. We had three persons who had never sailed before, four with some sailing experience and I was the one with more experience. A pleasant surprise was that the Clipper Race guys provided each of us with a very nice metallic water bottle with the Clipper Race logo. This was great as I had forgotten to bring mine.
We went to the boat and left our stuff in our chosen bunks (I was lucky to be able to pick a lower bunk, which I much prefer, in the quietest part of the boat) and met in the main cabin for our first talk. Our skipper was Stefano, Italian (very Italian!!), a really nice guy, outspoken, very funny, food lover and a very good teacher. He would be a great skipper for the race but he said that even though the Clipper Race have asked him several times, he is not really interested (I guess he does not want to spend too long far from his loved Italy). The first mate was Kym, an almost opposite personality, quiet, relaxed, with a great attention to detail. But she was also a great teacher and I think she complemented Stefano perfectly and they made a great team. She is looking forward to being able to be an Additionally Qualified Person (AQP) for the race and I think she would make a brilliant job in that role.
This first talk was about security below decks, we learned about all the things that could go wrong and what to do in each case. I was feeling a bit tired after all the excitement of the day and my mind disconnected a little bit. We also had our first opportunity to practice knots, I knew how to do most of them except the rolling hitch which I had never used. We had dinner, some pasta that Kym had been cooking while Stefano gave his talk, it was really nice. We finished the day by taking apart all the life jackets and inflating them to leave them overnight and check if any of them was punctured or had any air losses.
We walked to a nearby pub but there was a lot of noise and it was difficult to speak to each other, so rather than stay there looking at my beer I decided to go back to the boat and call it an early night, really looking forward for the real training to start the next day.
We met in the Clipper office and slowly my training sailing mates arrived one by one. They seemed a nice bunch. We had Nicola, Keith, Andy and John from the UK, Jenifer from Brazil, Enrico from Italy, Maxim from Russia and myself, with a mix of experience and sailing knowledge. We had three persons who had never sailed before, four with some sailing experience and I was the one with more experience. A pleasant surprise was that the Clipper Race guys provided each of us with a very nice metallic water bottle with the Clipper Race logo. This was great as I had forgotten to bring mine.
We went to the boat and left our stuff in our chosen bunks (I was lucky to be able to pick a lower bunk, which I much prefer, in the quietest part of the boat) and met in the main cabin for our first talk. Our skipper was Stefano, Italian (very Italian!!), a really nice guy, outspoken, very funny, food lover and a very good teacher. He would be a great skipper for the race but he said that even though the Clipper Race have asked him several times, he is not really interested (I guess he does not want to spend too long far from his loved Italy). The first mate was Kym, an almost opposite personality, quiet, relaxed, with a great attention to detail. But she was also a great teacher and I think she complemented Stefano perfectly and they made a great team. She is looking forward to being able to be an Additionally Qualified Person (AQP) for the race and I think she would make a brilliant job in that role.
This first talk was about security below decks, we learned about all the things that could go wrong and what to do in each case. I was feeling a bit tired after all the excitement of the day and my mind disconnected a little bit. We also had our first opportunity to practice knots, I knew how to do most of them except the rolling hitch which I had never used. We had dinner, some pasta that Kym had been cooking while Stefano gave his talk, it was really nice. We finished the day by taking apart all the life jackets and inflating them to leave them overnight and check if any of them was punctured or had any air losses.
We walked to a nearby pub but there was a lot of noise and it was difficult to speak to each other, so rather than stay there looking at my beer I decided to go back to the boat and call it an early night, really looking forward for the real training to start the next day.
