Nine of the ten Clippers competing in the Clipper Round the World Race have now tied up at Fremantle Sailing Club at the conclusion of the Cape Town-Freo leg of the race.
After weeks of braving the Southern Ocean, nine of the ten boats have now arrived at Fremantle Sailing Club. Freezing temperatures and 40-foot waves create some of the toughest endurance challenges for the Clipper sailors with ice-cold waves breaking over the bows. Crews are now enjoying Fremantle sunshine and finding their land legs on solid ground.
The boats must be dried out, offshore sailing gear washed and left to dry, food lockers emptied and scrubbed out, food sorted and restocked. Boat maintenance and repairs never cease.
I got chatting to Grant Porteous, a Kiwi crew member aboard Power of Seattle Sports – it arrived in yesterday. Grant enjoyed the Roaring Forties; he says he lives down that way and is used to sailing in harsh conditions.
He introduced me to Josh Pettitt, a Perth sailor. Josh currently lives in Frankfurt, Germany and is fulfilling a lifetime dream by sailing in the race.
They told me about 85 days at sea, the highs and the lows, and the brutal conditions from Portsmouth across the Bay of Biscay on the first 11-day leg. Spain to Uruguay was tough at times and, over the 31-day leg, they enjoyed lots of down wind sailing. Uruguay to Cape Town took 16 days of mostly beam-reaching. Their maximum speed was about 24.8 knots.
I met their Dutch skipper, Angela Brandsma. Angela told me that ‘she treated herself to a hotel room last night, but sinking into real bed and sleeping all night takes a while after weeks of watches.’
The Clipper yachts will be here in Freo for a week and set sail again on 21 December, next stop Queensland.
The 10th yacht Team Warrant is currently motoring into Fremantle due to equipment issues.
To find out more about the race look here.
Watch this space for further news about Clipper events next week!
*Story and photographs by Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey
Jean Hudson is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.
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