On Wednesday 17th October, pupils in Years 5 and 6 enjoyed another instalment from their Boumphrey Lecture Series and this time, they heard from Seniors biology teacher, Mrs Parry-Jones, all about her thrilling ocean adventures, as she took part in this year’s Round the World Clipper Yacht Race.
The Clipper Race sees people of all yachting abilities, from complete novice to Yachtsman, take part in this incredible 11-month journey, racing 70ft yachts for 40,000 nautical miles.
Mrs Parry-Jones sailed on Leg 8 of the journey, from New York to Liverpool, and has always been passionate about sailing. When she was younger, she crewed a 12ft dinghy with her father, taught her own children to sail and still sails today in Anglesey, around Trearddur Bay and Rhosneigr.
Following four weeks of training in Portsmouth, Mrs Parry-Jones joined her crew in July 2018 in New York and the 22 members set to work on getting their Visit Seattle boat ready for crossing across the Atlantic. The crew had to ensure the sails were prepared, there was enough food on board and enough diesel to last them their 13-day race.
The 22-member crew raced constantly aboard Visit Seattle and had a watch system, meaning that there would be 11 people doing three hours on and three hours off on their duties. To give a taste of what life was like on the yacht, Mrs Parry-Jones played three videos to show the pupils what life on the ocean was like, both under the deck, as well as all the action on deck.
The pupils were interested to hear about life at sea and they discovered how you could only have a few personal possessions, there was just a toilet bowl behind a curtain, no change of clothes – just dungarees and a florescent overall and big boots, there were no showers and you had to be clipped on to the boat at all times, to ensure you were safe; all of this, on top of the exhausting job of using mechanics to move things on the boat, as it was impossible to move things by hand.
Visit Seattle did incredibly well, with their skipper, 24-year-old Nicky Henderson; an inspirational woman who chose to become a professional skipper instead of going to university and skippered 60 different crew members during the race, half of which had never sailed before and all of whom were older than her. Nicky did a fantastic job and secured Visit Seattle the first place position when coming into Derry/Londonderry.
The pupils were on the edge of their seats, listening to the stories and watching the incredible footage, so when it came to questions at the end of the talk, there were many raised hands. Pupils wanted to know about what had inspired Mrs Parry-Jones (she had wanted to have a go at a challenge and this was the ideal big challenge for her), what food was cooked on board (pasta, lentils, stews, beans and porridge) and how old you had to be to take part in the race (minimum, 18 but no age limit).
Overall, Visit Seattle came second in the race and Mrs Parry-Jones spoke to the pupils about this amazing achievement and about how they should always follow their dreams and their passions in life to see all that they can achieve.