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Estelle's Clipper Race adventure

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Published 20:31 on 29 Apr 2022

Ullswater Yacht Club member Estelle Mutum, who learned to sail a dinghy at Ullswater Sailing School last year, has swapped sailing on the lake for an 11,000 mile adventure in a 70 foot yacht.
On April 30, Estelle set off from Seattle in the Clipper Round the World Race as a crew member on the Halong Bay Vietnam, one of 11 boats in the epic race. The 52-year-old business consultant who has just moved to Armathwaite, will be on board for the 'USA Coast-to-Coast' leg to Bermuda. And again when it leaves Bermuda in June for the final leg to New York, Northern Ireland and on to the finish in London in July.
The mum of two and grandmother to five had never sailed before when in 2019 she signed up for the race and found herself on a four-week intensive ocean racing training course on the Solent. She fell in love with sailing, signed up for a leg from Seattle in 2020 and was prepared to tick 'learn to sail and travel the world' on her bucket list. The pandemic struck and the round the world race was halted with the yachts stuck in the Philippines.
By then she had caught the sailing bug so last year she joined Ullswater Yacht Club and with the help of the club's Ullswater Sailing School, learned to sail a dinghy.
Estelle explained: "I may have missed the conventional route of learning to sail by jumping straight into ocean racing, but I love sailing, it's my new-found passion, hobby and way of life.
"I joined Ullswater Yacht Club, primarily to keep my skills up, but also there is a difference between sailing a 70ft racing yacht with a 100ft mast and 11 different types of sails which take full crews to man and change, and a dinghy. With dinghy sailing you can really hone your skills and become more in tune with the wind, sails and weather conditions."
Last year she completed RYA Level 1 & 2 so she could safely sail on the lake. She now owns her own dinghy, an Omega Topaz, and has become part of club life, volunteering on safety duty.
Now the race is on again and Estelle has had to say goodbye to lake sailing and is embarking on her ocean racing adventure.~
Clipper are major fundraisers for UNICEF with a target of £400,000, Estelle's team boat Halong Bay Vietnam with skipper Josh Stickland has a target of £33,000. To find out more and to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/estellegirlpowerrocks Follow the Clipper Race at https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/race/standings
Estelle will be posting about her adventures in her blog - https://girlpowerrocks.com/blog-news-updates/

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Last updated 19:02 on 13 November 2023

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