Joanne Currie and Sue Smith raced across the Atlantic to a piper's welcome in Oban

For about five days in the middle of the Atlantic, it rained without stopping, and Sue Smith, 67, a former massage therapist from Helensburgh, was wet the whole time.

She was crew on Team Scotland’s 70ft yacht in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, on the 3,115 nautical mile (about 5,770 km, or 3,585 miles) stage from Washington DC to Oban. Her boat crossed in just under 16 days.

Joanne Currie, 56, who grew up in Campbeltown and now lives in Falkirk, made the same crossing on Power of Seattle Sports, which took 16 days and 15 hours, according to Sky News. Both joined the race in Washington.

A race for people who are not professionals

The Clipper Race puts ten identical 70ft yachts around the world, about 40,000 nautical miles in all. The 2025-26 edition left Portsmouth on 31 August 2025. The crews are not professional sailors. Some join for a single leg, as Currie and Smith did; others sail the whole way round.

None of them needs to have sailed before. The race’s training page says every crew member does four levels, 26 days in all, at its base in Gosport, Hampshire: basics and safety, living at sea, sail handling for speed, and a full race simulation. Each ends in an assessment of competence, safety awareness and physical mobility.

Smith had done it before: she sailed three legs of the previous race.

“It’s just the kind of relentlessness. When it’s a bit rough, well, everything is just so hard to do.” — Sue Smith, speaking to Sky News

Currie told The Scotsman she learned on board to make bread and to use a sewing machine to repair sails. What she had come for arrived early.

“Within the first week I had seen the big wide open skies that I wanted to see.” — Joanne Currie, speaking to Sky News

Into Oban

The fleet reached Oban, in Argyll, in mid-July, only the second time the race had stopped in Scotland. Smith told Sky News that boats came out to sound their horns, dolphins met them on the way in, and people lined the dock. Currie said one boat had a piper aboard.

“For me, when I hear the bagpipes, it’s quite emotional sometimes.” — Sue Smith, speaking to Sky News

From Oban the yachts sailed on to Portsmouth. One crew member who went the whole way, Heidi Brown, from Astoria, Oregon, began learning to sail in 2018. She was away 329 days, 235 of them at sea, The Astorian reported.

Why this matters

Crewing is physical work: pulling on ropes, handling sails, holding on while the deck moves, and doing it again on the next watch, day and night. The Clipper Race’s own assessments test physical mobility as well as skill, and its FAQ mentions the strength and flexibility the work needs.

The NHS (the UK health service) asks adults to build strength, balance and flexibility on at least two days a week, alongside 150 minutes of moderate activity. Crewing is one way to enjoy getting there.

The other lesson is the structure: training in stages, each with a test at the end. Smaller versions of that ladder exist almost everywhere there is water.

How to start crewing

• Try a taster first. Many clubs run trial sails. Go out once before you commit to a course.
• Take a beginner’s course with a recognised school. In the UK, the RYA Competent Crew course needs no experience: you live aboard a yacht for five days, or over a few weekends, and learn ropework, sail handling, helming and man overboard drills. In the US, ASA 101 Basic Keelboat is designed for complete beginners and usually runs over two full days.
• Check with your GP (family doctor) first if you have a heart, joint or balance problem. At the coast in the UK, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard in an emergency; in the US, call 911.

For a gentler trip built around the water, read about Fiona Govan’s swimming holiday in Greece. For another climb up a ladder of training, read how Barbara O’Donnell qualified as a mountain leader.