LEONIE'S CLIPPER CHALLENGE

As you may or may not know, in the 2009-2010 Clipper Race we lost one of the ten strong fleet to the seas after the yacht came aground.

As a result of this, a new Yacht has been built to replace the boat lost to the seas. Its specification and look completely identical.

The ten-strong ocean racing fleet of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race will start their circumnavigation this August and the replacement Clipper 68 is right on schedule to join the rest of the fleet in April.

Rob McInally, Clipper Construction Manager, who is overseeing the build in China, has sent this report.

The last week has seen the keel going on, the antifouling being finished, the rudder and radial drive being aligned and the negotiations with the shipping agents finalised.

Once the keel had been through its 14-day process of being epoxy primed painted and faired the anti foul was its final coat. The cradle was the extended in height to allow the yacht to sit on the cradle with the keel in place.

Before the supports that will hold the yacht during its 28-day voyage from Shanghai to Rotterdam were put in place the yacht was lowered onto the immaculately prepared keel bolts and the iron surface that fits snugly into the recess of the monolithic area of the hull. The 21 keel nuts are then torqued onto the 25m backing plates that will hold the keel in place.

Once the joining compound has gone off we are then ready to put the yacht into the water and start the system checks. Each system is checked, including the operation of the engine and generator, the fuel system that supports it and the fresh and salt water systems.

The bilge system is then checked for both the electric and manual system. Next the navigation system is checked, including the radar and GPS, before the last of the interior furnishings like bunk covers will be put in place. The yacht will  be wrapped up and secured to its shipping cradle and the yacht and cradle lifted from the Double Happiness Shipyard onto a barge which will take it  up the river to the waiting ship where yacht and cradle will be lifted from the barge onto the ship where the cradle will be welded to the deck.

Once it has arrived in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the boat will be delivered to Clipper’s Gosport HQ to be commissioned and join the other nine identical yachts that will take part in Clipper 11-12 later this year. The massive winter refit programme to ready the fleet for the rigours of the race ahead is very nearly complete and the last of the nine yachts will go back in the water in the middle of April.

Last night I took part in a one-off live event at Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds.

Lacey Turner, David Harewood and Andrew Gower starred in a spectacular live drama and music event - a contemporary interpretation of Mary Shelley's gothic horror story.

Victor Frankenstein married his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth Lavenza, all the while knowing that the creature he created and rejected has vowed to return on his wedding night.

There were 12,000 people gathered at Kirkstall Abbey to share the big day and join the couple in a unique mass flash mob dance.

Previous to the live event I had attended the dance workshop with my sister in law so that we could lead the audience in an en-mass synchronised dance - which took a few rehersals to say the least!

The whole audience was asked to arrive in full wedding dress - literally everybody did!

This is me (below) waiting to commence the first rehersal at about 5pm...

This is me and my sister in law just before the start...

This is the tank where the 'creature' - Frankenstein's creation - was brought to life...

The event was a fantastic experience, if a little cold, but was made even better by the fact that last night was the largest the moon has ever looked for almost two decades. This added to the drama that was Frankenstein's wedding.

I had to share this fantastic shot of the Hull and Humber boat from the previous race on it's approach to New York....wow!

The yacht sponsored by Singapore has it's sponsorship colours!

Haribo tangtastics. One to be taken every 20 mins while at sea. 

Whilst testing this new seasickness 'tactic' the fellow Clipperite confirmed that she was 'only sick twice...and that was probably anxiety...But all my teeth fell out!'.

At this hard time encountered by those resident in Japan, my thoughts lie with you. The mind cannot even imagine the suffered and devastation caused. Something that this tragedy has brought home is the importance of teamwork and how working together we can achieve so much. It is inspiring to watch international rescue teams come together to help find survivors and recover victims.

Whilst the disaster has effectively temporarily frozen the world's third largest economy, I have no doubt that this incredibly vibrant country will rebuild itself in no time and achieve a recovery at an admirable rate.

It is no secret that the Japanese economy shrank at the end of last year and had been expected to return to growth in the second quarter of 2011. It is now expected that the economy will take longer than initially expected due to the devastating effect of the earthquake and tsunami.
 
There is absoluted a silver lining in the horrific events of the past few days. There is of course the worry that the tragedy could lead the economy down one of two paths. The first which will push the economy out of the downwards spiral allowing the economy to get back on track. The second pushing the economy down.

I myself, without doubt, see a silver lining to this and believe that the Japanese economy will recover.

Throughout the Clipper Race and including our training, crew members are lucky enough to experience sights rarely seen: perhaps dolphins in the Atlantic or an albatross in the Southern Ocean, but a nuclear submarine in the Solent must be a first!

Crew members on their Level 2 training were heading out for a regular day of rigorous exercises when they were passed by an American nuclear submarine.

USS Scranton arrived in Portsmouth for a nine-day visit just as one of the many Clipper Training courses was making their way out of the busy Portsmouth Harbour.

“I think I may have been told off because I was staring at it and perhaps not concentrating on my job at the time!” admits crew member, Chris Pateman-Jones.

“It was pretty spectacular seeing it; they’re much bigger than I thought they were. I’ve seen some of the Tridents before but only from a distance, then that one comes past and it’s huge! Obviously you can only see the top and not the full body, it’s massive,” continues Chris, who will race across the Pacific when he takes part in Leg 6 of Clipper 11-12.

The Scranton is 330 feet long currently carries a 110-strong crew and left Portsmouth earlier this week. The sight of a nuclear submarine is a rare sight even in Portsmouth Harbour with its rich naval history; a visit of a vessel of this type is only expected once every two years. So Chris and the rest of his training crew were very fortunate indeed.