Welsh Sailor Leads Team of Ocean Adventurers to Home Port Win
Haverfordwest Sailor Lou Boorman leads team to top spot in Korea.
A team of sailors racing around the world, led by Haverfordwest born Skipper Lou Boorman and representing the city of Tongyeong, has won the stage into its home Korean port.
This week (16 March) the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race teams arrived into Tongyeong. Team Tongyeong, which is led by Welsh Skipper Lou Boorman, took the top of the podium making history as this is the first time a round the world yacht race has ever stopped in Korea, and it was won by a Korean Team Entry.
Speaking from on board her team’s yacht at the close of Stage 8: Sprint to Gyeongnam, Lou said: “We did it, we performed under the pressure! To get a win, into our Home Port, I can die happy!”
The Clipper Race is the only event of its kind to train people from all walks of life to become ocean racers. A true test of physical and mental endurance, this challenge sees ten teams make six ocean crossings, facing everything Mother Nature throws at them from sub-zero temperatures in the North Pacific Ocean to blistering heat at the Equator. Over 40% of crew had never sailed before signing up, with each participant undergoing four stages of intensive training before choosing to compete in one or multiple stages, with 90 out of the 600 plus crew taking on the full circumnavigation.
The winner of each stage receives ten race points – with every team having an opportunity to double its points by playing a Joker. Team Tongyeong took a gamble on Stage 8: Sprint to Gyeongnam and played its Joker – and this paid off big time for the team.
At just 23 years of age, competitive sailing is well and truly in Lou’s blood, having clinched the British, Ireland and Welsh Female Champion title before taking on the role of Clipper Race skipper. After a taste of success on Stage 7 of the race, where the team took the top spot and its first podium of the edition, Lou and her First Mate, Brian Uniacke were eager for more.
Surrounded by her team, Lou said as she sailed into port: “I could not have wished for anything better; I am over the moon. We’ve worked really hard and put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Going into our home port there is a lot of pressure to perform, and we added to that pressure by playing our Joker – and we got twenty points, so I’m very proud of the team.”
For Lou, becoming a Clipper Race Skipper was both a personal and professional goal realised, citing it as the ultimate challenge for any sailor. Now halfway through the circumnavigation, she reflects on how this role has developed for her, and how this has helped grow her team. She said: “The crew have developed so much that I am beginning to give a lot of responsibility to them, and that’s really empowering for them to be stepping into those roles. It means we are progressing as a team, and we have such a great crew on board for Leg 6. Now with two wins behind us it’s the best feeling ever to move forward, everyone is so happy to be here.
“All skippers have this idea of what the race will look like, but you really don’t know until you do it. I knew that the people management aspect would be a huge part of it alongside the sailing. And sometimes the sailing does come second to the people because they are the important ones, they’re the ones that sail the boat, that suffer, and that go through these massive ranges of emotions. To lead them through that is one of the toughest things I’ve ever done, but it’s one of the most rewarding things too.”
Talking about life at sea, Lou added: “My favourite thing about sailing is the magic of the sea, the stars, the storms and mostly the remoteness and the environment it provides for the most profound realisations and conversations. I feel free and at my happiest at sea."
The event, which takes eleven months and 40,000 nautical miles to complete in its entirety, will stop in Tongyeong for the next week.
One of the sailors on board for this winning stage was Korean sailor, Han Kim, who returned to the Clipper Race to compete on the Tongyeong team – ten years after himself sailing around the world.
After just crossing the Finish Line, sailor Han Kim said: ‘’I’ve been working on getting the Clipper Race to come to Korea for over ten years and I finally got it, but this moment, with the whole Tongyeong team that’s even better, so cheers! We made it, number one!’
A packed week of cultural activities and tours has been laid on for the crew by the city of Tongyeong and Province of Gyeongnam, with a race village offering food, drink and entertainment for crew and locals alike. The Clipper Race and its Korean Race Partners (Gyeongnam Sailing Federation, Gyeongnam Province and Tongyeong City) are also collaborating with the British Embassy in Korea and its GREAT campaign to showcase British brands during the stopover.
On this edition, the race has so far stopped in Puerto Sherry (Spain), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and Airlie Beach (Australia), Subic Bay (Philippines), Qingdao (China), and has now arrived into Tongyeong City (Korea). It will then cross the North Pacific Ocean bound for Seattle (USA), Panama, Washington, DC (USA) and Oban (UK) before returning to Portsmouth (UK) this July, having completed the 40,000nm lap of the globe.
