...DODDSY'S PLEASURE BOAT JOLLY...

The Clipper Race 07/08.

Alrighty all,

To anyone out there who does not know me, my name is Michael Dodd, and I've been a player at GRFC for a number of years now. I have applied to either do something which will be a life changing or a life ending experience(!), and hope I can borrow a minute of your time to explain what I am up to.

The Clipper Race is a bi-annual yacht race circumnavigating the globe. It is unique in that it is the only “round the world” yacht race for non-professional crew. At over 35,000 miles, it is the world’s longest race as well as being one of the toughest. The race comprises of a fleet of ten large racing yachts (with crewed by amateurs with a professional skipper and is held over a number of legs (crew can do the entire race or a number of legs).

I applied and have been selected to do one of the toughest legs of this year’s race. The leg races 3500 miles across the North Pacific from Qingdao in China to Santa Cruz, USA (via Hawaii). The leg is one of the toughest due to the considerable and highly unpredictable variations in weather as well as the distances involved. I leave China in early February and will arrive in Santa Cruz in mid April.

Each of the ten boats in the fleet is sponsored by, and takes the name, of a world city. I am lucky to have been selected on my home boat and will be part of the “Glasgow: Scotland with Style” crew. Further details of the race, as well as progress of my boat are available at http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/

Basically it will involve around 8 weeks of hard work (like an 8 week long Melrose run), little sleep (8 weeks of Cardiff trips), numerous soakings (your average mid-winter training session or night out with McFarlane) and hopefully a win at the end!

Charity

As well as the personal challenge (and to get out of Tuesday night training for a couple of months) I am doing the race to raise money for charity. My chosen charity is the Wooden Spoon. It is the high profile charity of British and Irish rugby and works to improve the life and offer opportunities to socially, physically and mentally disadvantaged children and young people. Since its establishment in 1983 it has helped to raise over £11milllion for such causes and has helped improve the lives of thousands of youngsters.

Please help me raise as much as I can for youngsters that Wooden Spoon gives support to by logging on to my donation website and giving as much as you can spare (details can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/doddsy_goes_sailing).

I am going to try and liase with the GRFC web master as much as is possible while I am on the journey to update you all on how I am doing and whether I am alive or not! So please, watch this space and again, any support that you could offer (emotionally, but preferrably financially!) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance to everyone,

Doddsy

Editors note: Sorry Doddsy, this is the only photo I had on file!!