Angelasails.com

I am so sorry for not writing a blog for over a year! The Clipper Race was such an extreme experience that blogging on my own website was pushed far down the ‘to-do-list’. During the race I wrote quite a bit but obviously those blogs landed on the Clipper website..

In February 2022 after a little run in with Covid-19 I arrived in Subic Bay (Philippines) about one week behind the rest of the professional race team. We had 7 weeks to prepare the 11 boats for race start on March 20. You can imagine the state of the boats after being in the marina for about 2,5 years in extreme heat and a lot of dust. We had our work cut out for us but at the same time it was an amazing experience to take the steering cables apart, clean out and replace parts of the X-box and be part of a team working their asses off in 40+ degrees temperatures.

The crew arrived about 10 days before race start and after sea trials and a refresher week we were all set to leave on March 20. The leg from Subic Bay to Seattle was going the be the longest leg yet for Clipper and we were expecting to be out at sea for 35-40 days. But first we had to motor out for 3 days in no wind and excruciating temperatures, after which we did a Le Mans start in the ‘middle of nowhere’.

One week later we passed Japan and the temperatures finally started to drop. Since I get cold easily I was the first person to start wearing thermos and layering up my sleeping bag.

Since the wind was more favorable close to the ice-limit (a virtual limit set by the Clipper Race) all 11 boats pushed rather far North. And wow, cold it got. One morning I got up on deck and we had a layer of snow on deck! I promise you, even my USB charged bodywarmer and socks could not provide me with enough heat to keep me warm. Sometimes I would get into my sleeping bag and simply not warm up before my next watch. It was really challenging and at the same time my job was never over.

I was first mate and during my watch I was basically in charge so the skipper could sleep. We had people seasick, people who (apart from the 4×1 week training in the UK) never had been on a boat before, people who could not see at night (and thus could not helm) and people who found out during the (longest!!) leg that ‘sailing may not be their thing’..

After 6.753nm 36 days we finished fourth in Seattle and I can tell you that the hot shower at the hotel almost made me cry.

A week later we left for the leg to the Panama canal (which we won!!), then to Bermuda, New York, Derry-Londonderry and on 31 July we finally finished in London. It was an amazing experience during which I learnt so much. I rushed back to the Netherlands to do some dinghy sailing (yes really) and Mid-September I went to Palma. The moment I received a phone call to do a couple of weeks teaching in Greece I couldn’t say no.

In October I was approached to do the ARC in the racing division as a skipper with paying crew onboard. A little bit like the Clipper Race but then on a much smaller boat (40.7ft in stead of 70ft). I had 8 crew and a mate onboard which really was a full house. But it was great, we made the right tactical decisions, team spirit was high, we made the boat go fast.. and we WON!

After that I had to rush back to Europe for the most important event of the year: The Christmas skiing holiday with my family. Life really has to throw a curve ball for me to miss that week. I love being in the mountains and I am lucky enough to always be able to extent that holiday and work as a ski/snowboard instructor for a couple of weeks until duty calls again..

And next?
I am back in Palma and I just passed my AEC1 (Diesel Engine Course). I will be doing my GMDSS in February. All courses to prepare myself for a step towards the superyacht industry (yes really!). In the meantime I am back doing deliveries, but I would love to land a job as a Chief Officer/First Mate on a 80ft+ Sailing Yacht, preferably with a racing itenary, somewhere in 2023.

A girl has to dream..

To be continued.