I started hearing about the Clipper Race Round the World last September. Event when I heard about it, I found it hard to believe that people actually raced boats SAIL BOATS AROUND THE WORLD! A few months ago, I heard that the fleet would be making a stop at the Washington DC Wharf and I knew we had to go. I am all about new experiences with the family so we decided to take a trip down to the DC Wharf to see what it was all about. All 11 clipper yachts where there and several were open for public tours which we took full advantage of. We were lucky enough tour the yacht that was currently in first place which is sponsored by Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. One of the crew explained to us that they moved into first place as they were reaching Seattle Washington as they sailed from China. That led me to ask how long did it take to get from Chine to Seattle Washington his answer, “One month”.
When racing, it’s a 24/7 job with the crew working and sleeping in shifts. The interesting part is to be selected for the crews, you only have to take the trainings. You can literally have no experience BUT if you pass the trainings, you have the opportunity to be selected. There are 8 race legs to this journey and the crews will travel over 40,760 nautical miles. I asked our guide what is like to to just be as sea for weeks and she said that there are some points in the journey where the only other closest humans to you are at the international space station…. Hats off to everyone involved and to the many humanitarian efforts that are addressed along the way.
One of the crew uploading photos on the laptop. At sea the really only have a satellite phone to communicate and emails can only be up to 500 characters.
One of the crew showing us how they steer the bot and use the 45 degree foot board when the ship is pitched over on its side
Our tour guide taking us below deck to see how they eat, sleep and relax
The kitchen/gallery on the boat below deck. Even when the boad is pitched over at 45 degrees, the stove will stay level.
Everyone gets an access badge to tour the yachts…. but we had to give them back 🙂
A quick photo with our tour guide.
A few of the clipper yachts docked near the EventsDC performance stage
A quick photo with the family next to the EventsDC sponsored boat
The navy band performing on the floating stage