Big Stupid Adventure: Clipper Round the World

Adventure is improved only by competition. 

Q: What could be more awesome than sailing around the world?
A: Racing nine other boats around world!

Clipper Round the World is a 40,000 mile ocean race that takes 11 months to complete. Ten identical boats with novice crews compete in 15 individual races to see who can circumnavigate the globe the quickest.

"It's the only race in the world where taxi drivers rub shoulders with chief executives, vicars mix with housewives, students work alongside bankers, nurses work with vets and doctors team up with rugby players. It's an experience that will change people's lives and while the crew members may be amateur, no one has told the ocean that. The sea does not distinguish between Olympians or novices and if the Southern Ocean, the Pacific or the South Atlantic decides to throw down its gauntlet, the Clipper crews need to be ready to face exactly the same challenges as those experienced by the professional racer."

I want to do this SO MUCH! I'd love to do the whole thing but 11 months is a big chunk of your life to set aside. On the up-side, you can sign up to do just one leg of the race which takes just about a month. Recruitment for the 2012/13 race is now on and I seriously looked into doing it. On the down-side, the cheapest possible option was about £10k. That's a lot of money that I simply do not have. One day. It has been bucket-listed. One day I will go on this Big Stupid Adventure!

But hey, maybe you have ten grand lying around? If you're keen to sign up for this amazing race you can get more information on their website. OR just click here to see their very cool promotional video that they won't let me post on my blog. Silly copyright!

Sunday Serenade

A little romantic jingle meets a very effective advert meets some motivation for me to put back on those shoes and get to training!

This also kind of makes me want to be ginger again.

Daddy's team

I grew up in a family of girls. I have two sisters and our closest family (physically) were four girl cousins. And we are GIRLY-girls! Nail varnish and lipstick, dresses and high-heels, handbags, cute boys, celebrity gossip -- all eternally common topics of conversation. So it's no surprise that in my youth, "Who's your favourite Spice Girl?" was infinitely more important than "Who's your favourite football team?".

But I've recently become fascinated by this whole palava of choosing a team. Or, do you really get to choose? As I've said, for me, picking a team, be it football (the real kind or the american variety), baseball, rugby, or anything else... it was just never an issue for me. The only team I can say I "support" in any sense of that word is West Indies cricket, which yes, my Dad also supports. But it's our national team and there is NO choice!

Supporting Windies

Last week I read this: How We Become Sports Fans: the Tyranny of Fathers by Robert Krulwich on the NPR website. The video below accompanies the article and sums up, in both a funny and sad way, how the majority of little boys and girls learn which team to support: Dad!

The article discusses statistics that show that most people choose to support the team their Dad supports. A lot of the time, as we see in the video, there is immense pressure to go with your Dad's team. I think this is in large part because being a fan, a real fan, means having such a great emotional connection to your team. Being a real fan involves such an insane sense of loyalty; you're team becomes, in a way, your family. So who would want to create a conflict of interest between your real family and your sport family? Krulwich also argues that sharing in Dad's emotional reaction to the triumphs and defeat of his team is important bonding opportunities for kids. It's a fair point.

But there are people who choose not to support Daddy's team. It is rare, but it happens. What about you? Did you pick your Dad's team?

Being a West Indian

Yesterday I traveled all the way home to my lovely little island in the Caribbean. It is a long journey but one that is totally worth it! I love my island and I love the feeling of coming home.

On the plane on of the films they showed was Fire in Babylon. I've been meaning to see it since I first saw the trailer a few months ago. But it did a really stingy tour of UK cinemas and I hadn't had the opportunity. So obviously I was really excited that they were playing it on the flight. I've got to say, it definitely lived up to all the expectation. It is a fantastic film! If you have any interest at all in the West Indies, cricket, sport, racial tension, regional identity, or team dynamics, you should definitely give it a go. Watching this film made me so proud to be a West Indian. It reminded my what the spirit of our region is about. It is about working hard, defying prejudice, exceeding expectations. It is about forging a culture out of a complex history but not conforming to colonial pressures. We may be small islands but we are not insignificant and we will not be ignored. I'm not going to give a summary of the film because you can find a better one here and here. And you should just watch it yourself anyway. One of my favourite quotes was this (and I'm paraphrasing a bit because I can't remember exact wording): Babylon is not a place. It is a condition. It is a state of being in which unjust actions are cast upon a people who do not deserve it.

from here