A windscreen repair engineer celebrates equator crossing and King Neptune ceremony of Clipper Race
by Clipper Race 6 Oct 14:53 BST
Equator crossing ceremony on board Team Qingdao © Clipper Race
Alastair Golding, a windscreen repair engineer from Sandy, Cambridgeshire, has celebrated crossing the Equator while racing across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
As Alastair and his team, Team Qingdao, sail from the Spanish port of Puerto Sherry to Punta del Este, Uruguay, this milestone marks the first Equator crossing of the circumnavigation.
Founded by sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1995, the Clipper Race is a 40,000-nautical mile circumnavigation of the globe, open to anyone regardless of previous sailing experience. Formed of ten teams racing identical stripped-back ocean-going yachts, non-professional Race Crew are led by a professional Skipper and First Mate.
Alastair will take on the full circumnavigation, meaning that he will be at sea for over 250 days of the eleven-month adventure. Before signing up, Alastair said: "This is an adventure that I have dreamed of doing for a long time and I want to test myself at the start of my retirement."
Having already ticked off 26 days at sea, sailing 4,000 miles south, Alastair has now crossed into the Southern Hemisphere and celebrated with the traditional King Neptune ceremony. A long-standing maritime tradition, the ceremony turns all Pollywogs into Shellbacks as crew mark their first-ever Equator crossing - one of the many highlights of the circumnavigation.
Reflecting on the journey so far, Alastair said: "This ocean crossing is everything I expected it to be. It's been very challenging, but lovely scenery! Which has been the biggest surprise considering we are surrounded by water all the time. The sky at the end of the day and into the night has been unbelievable. It's fulfilling a lot of the promises that I thought it would.
"Crossing the Equator is definitely one of those life boxes to tick, not many people have done it, especially not in the way that we have done it!"
This is the second stage of the Atlantic Trade Winds Leg, which saw Alastair depart Portsmouth, UK, on 31 August, and race over 1,000 nautical miles through strong winds and big sea states across the Bay of Biscay to Spain. Teams have since navigated around the Canary Islands, honed their light-wind sailing skills in the doldrums, and now move south on course for South America.
Looking ahead to the rest of the race, Alastair added: "I'm looking forward to a lot of things - that's the beauty of doing a circumnavigation, there will be different challenges, and different opportunities to see different things. I'm particularly looking forward to going to China.
"We're one big family, and all families have teething problems, but we all have one common goal and I'm looking forward to going around the world with these people. This yacht is my home, and I have to treat it that way."
Clear of the doldrums, the fleet is expected to enjoy a steadier race across the South Atlantic before arriving into Punta del Este. By the time Alastair reaches Uruguay, he will have raced approximately 6,250 nautical miles (12,000 km) and completed the first of eight legs that form the global route.
Race Crew representing more than 40 nationalities will take part in the Clipper 2025-26 Race, from professions including teachers, chefs, plumbers, students, accountants, firefighters, retirees, geographers, lawyers, software developers and doctors.
After a stopover in Uruguay, the Clipper Race fleet heads to Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and Airlie Beach (Australia), Subic Bay (Philippines), Qingdao (China), Tongyeong City (South Korea), Seattle (USA), Panama, Washington, DC (USA) and Oban (Scotland) before returning to Portsmouth.
Applications are still open for crew to sign up to participate in the Clipper 2025-26 Race, and applications for the 2027-28 edition are now open. To find out more, visit www.clipperroundtheworld.com