On the Bay
Challenge of a lifetime
farewell to S.F.
PHOTO: J. Maxwell
Ever daydream about leaving your work, your life, all your worries behind … maybe just sail around the world? Recently, the Marina and the Golden Gate Yacht Club played host to 160 sailors from all over the world competing in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race who have done just that.
What distinguishes this race from others is that the international crews are comprised of people from all walks of life, and nearly 40 percent of them have no previous sailing experience. Like Penelope Rance, 33-year-old journalist and writer from the U.K., who was walking home from work one day and spied a poster advertising “the challenge of a lifetime – raced by people like you,” and thought, “How can I pass that up?” With zero sailing experience, she is now one of the full-round-the-world crew aboard Spirit of Australia, which is leading the race at this time.
Nine other teams representing cities, states and countries from around the world are competing aboard 68-foot, stripped-down racing yachts on a circumnavigation of the globe that departed from the Humber on the east coast of England on Sept. 13, 2009 and are scheduled to return there on July 17, 2010. Each yacht is skippered by an experienced sailor and about half of each crew will complete the entire race, but many crewmembers are only doing a leg or two of the race.
Like Shana Bagley from Walnut Creek, 40, who in real life is in the professional enforcement unit of the California Attorney General’s Office in Oakland. She is currently sailing the next two legs of the race on the California.
Simon McKee, also 40 and from the U.K., is a former banker who just got married and has decided to change his career. He’ll be leaving his crew behind in Jamaica, where he’ll enjoy a brief honeymoon before returning home to start a new business.
One of Simon’s full-round-the-world mates aboard the Qingdao is Chris Connell, a 49-year-old builder-developer from the U.K., who planned on leaving his career to pursue a life in his passion of sailing – he’ll be teaching sailing when he returns home in late July and hopes to compete in future races as well.
In all, there are over 400 “ordinary” people that have embarked on this adventure, which will take 10 months to complete and cover over 35,000 miles of open ocean racing. The crews hail from 40 countries, range in age from 18 to 65, and come from every walk of life – there are homemakers, taxi drivers, chief executives, lawyers, doctors, carpenters, truck drivers, I.T. specialists, marketing executives, and even members of the clergy – over 230 professions are represented.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was founded in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who was the first man to sail solo nonstop around the world in 1969. He completed his second solo circumnavigation in 2007 at the age of 68. Sir Robin serves as the chairman of the race, as well as the inspirational figurehead for all who rise to accept this challenge of a lifetime. Addressing the crews at the start of this seventh edition of the race, Sir Robin said, “It’s not easy to sail around the world. It is tough. But then, why do it if it’s easy? Where’s the satisfaction? It’s doing the tough things in life that gives you satisfaction – take the hard route and afterwards look back on it and say, ‘I did something pretty special.’” He concluded with, “When you come back I want to hear you say two things. One: ‘That’s the best thing I’ve done with my life.’ And the next thing, because then I know you really have benefited, is when you turn around and say, ‘So far.’ Go on and live your lives, it’s what it’s all about.”
The next Clipper race is scheduled for 2011–2012, but already places are going fast. Lisa Perkins of San Francisco, a 40-year-old who does sales and marketing for boutique wineries, has already signed up to do two legs of the race from South America to South Africa and then the East Coast of Australia to Singapore, finishing in Qingdao, China. She’ll be combining her love of sailing and travel, and maybe even get in a little research on wine while she’s at it.
Crew that sign on to the race receive weeks of extensive sailing training prior to final selection of the teams, as everyone on board is expected to work in every position. To learn more about the Clipper 2011–2012 race, visit www.clipperroundtheworld.com. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to shrug off the shackles of everyday life – for a full year or even just a few weeks – to take on this “challenge of a lifetime” and perhaps transform yourself in the process. As Shana Bagley said after completing Leg 1 of the race, “The hardest part of this race is not the weather, it’s not the lack of sleep, it’s not diaper rash for two months. It’s more like, what am I going to do when this is over, because it has become my life.”
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