One year ago I watched the Clipper fleet sail under the London Bridge on their way to circumnavigate the world. Everything was so exciting, people were leaving for the race of their lives and I was anxious to start my training to be able to be in their shoes in two years' time. Nobody could have suspected that a bloody virus was going to disrupt everything.
It was really disappointing to see how things unfurled this spring, how the race had to be suspended, how our training was put on hold and how our race was delayed for a whole year. So frustrating! But at least it seemed that we just needed to wait things out and that in a few months we would be back to normal, that the current race would pick up next year and we would be able to resume our training. The problem is that I am not so sure of this any more.
The 2019-2020 race is expected to start again next spring, continuing with their journey from the Philippines to the United States. But given how grim the virus situation is in the USA I am not sure I can see this happening. Things would need to improve a lot in a few months but it currently does not look very promising.
And also next spring we are supposed to resume our training. Again I am not sure that this can happen. Europe seems going full ahead into a second wave of the virus and we are only seeing the isolation measures increase in every country. Again I am not sure we will be able to safely continue our training at the beginning of next year.
I am sure that the Clipper Race organisation is going to have to face some tough decisions in the following months. I would hate to see the current race (and subsequently our race) delayed any further but I guess we won't be able to know until next year.
Also I am hoping that all of this is not going to be a financial disaster for the Clipper Race organisation that might put our race in danger. We are all still paying our fees so there should still be cash flowing into the organisation but I am not sure if they have been able to reduce their costs appropriately. And the rate of people joining the race must have gone down considerably, given the uncertainties that show in our future.
So some big questions and tough decisions ahead, I can just hope that it all ends up well in the end.
