Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

Why would I pay GBP10,000 to crew on a sailing boat? Many times, when I was asked this question, I lied, so that I don't have to explain myself. Hopefully none of my future bosses read this because I'm going to lie again at the job interviews in the future. 'Expand my horizons', I might say.

For me, it's because I had been thinking about my life, I was ready to change. I'm bored. Simple as that. I might be a little crazy too. And I get to shout at fellow crew who may be company directors, high fliers and so on. I get a secret 'feel-good' rush when the company director type screws up the directions given by the skipper. Life on a racing sailboat is a great leveller.

It is also without many creature comforts. There's no seat on the toilet because too many people had messed it up without cleaning up after themselves. So the skipper threw out the seat. The fun is in feeling the power of the wind and waves. Too little power and the boat slows to a crawl. Too much power and the boat lurches over precariously while we hang on for our lives. The boat and crew are at nature's mercy. Life becomes a simple routine. Every skipper runs his boat differently, but mostly, the crew would be broken up into teams called watches. Each watch works for 4 hours, rests for 4 hours. The system runs 24 by 7. There are no weekends or public holidays. You wake, you eat, you shit and hope that it's not raining when your watch comes on.

Life is uncomplicated. Life is good.

Guest Author: Miao Chuin Boo, part of the Uniquely Singapore crew in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Want to know more about the Race, check out this link. For the Race main site, click here.