bitbaltic
Well-known member
Clipper is not for me, but a few years ago I sailed variously with an ex-clipper skipper and then (independently) with a couple of RTW clipper crew. The ex-skipper was the best guy I ever sailed with; professional, cheerful and across every skill set in sailing. The crew (whom I did a full RORC programme with including Fastnet) were two of the most limited sailors I ever went to sea with. One could cook, and had cooked around the world; the other could trim sails, and had done the same. When called upon to navigate, read weather, tie knots, helm or berth the boat, and other things, those guys were individually and collectively a total liability and could contribute nothing to the safe management of the yacht, which in the RORC series fell to the skipper and me. Opinion is a consequence of experience and as a non-participant my experience may be limited but it is what it is.
I can’t think tens of thousands of miles racked up on a clipper necessarily makes you a conservative, thoughtful or competent sailor. There are other, perhaps shorter ways to get there. A decade in the Bristol Channel, maybe?
I can’t think tens of thousands of miles racked up on a clipper necessarily makes you a conservative, thoughtful or competent sailor. There are other, perhaps shorter ways to get there. A decade in the Bristol Channel, maybe?
