Home!
I’m back!! The past few months have been so much more than I expected. Physically harder than I expected, emotionally harder than I expected, and rewarding in ways I never anticipated.
It’s easy to focus on the physical accomplishment of racing across an ocean, but don’t underestimate the challenge and reward of dedicating yourself to 6 months of focused training and then basically going on a 2 month retreat with no connection to the outside world and only text based email to 1 or 2 friends/family. I expect it will take me a few more weeks/months to fully process everything, but right now my biggest takeaway is to live more simply.
On a race yacht, you’re forced to only take what’s absolutely necessary. The limit is both for weight restrictions (light boats go faster) and honestly because the more you bring, the more you have to sort through exhausted in the dark to find what you’re looking for. So you quickly learn what you actually need.
Thinking about what I actually need, not just “could use” or “would like” or “should have”, is something that I didn’t fully appreciated before this trip. I thought I was cognizant of what I actually needed (i.e. asking myself if I really needed another dress before buying one), but I wasn’t doing it at the big picture level and I think the distinction between “need” and “could use” was especially blurry.
The huge difference between what we “need” and what we “can use” is on full display when you come home right before the holidays where everything is 50% off and tradition states we should consume as much as possible. The whole world is buying things, more things, upgraded things, nice to have things, like to have things… and we’re encouraged to do this not only for ourselves, but multiplied by everyone we love.
A conversation I had with our skipper, Seumas, one day has really stuck with me. We were somewhere near the equator and it was desperately hot. The conversation went like this:
MARY: Do we we have a thermometer? Do you know how hot it is outside?
SEUMAS: Do we need to know the outside temperature in order to sail?
MARY: No.
SEUMAS: Then we don’t have one.
A thermometer is a pretty basic, lightweight, small, innocuous piece of equipment, yet because it wasn’t relevant to racing, we didn’t have one.
A Clipper racing yacht is completely stripped of everything that isn’t absolutely needed for the race. It provides a space to focus on personal growth as whatever that means for you. Teamwork, commitment, physical strength, interpersonal skills, sailing skill, leadership, confidence, communication, freedom to try new things, freedom to fail, freedom to let go, freedom to be quiet, etc..
I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in the Clipper Race and highly recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest. I met some exceptional people and would 100% like to go back for another leg either in this year’s race, or one in the future.
Thank you for following along, for your encouragement, enthusiasm and friendship. Special thanks to Steve for posting my blog updates and for whose love, belief, patience and support gave me the foundation to take this journey.
Photos and video coming soon!!
Mary
Aboard “Visit Sanya, China” two days before London Race Start.
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