Ealing Woman Completes Round the World Sailing Challenge
Sue Melly participated in The Clipper Race for 11 months
Sue Melly at the helm of UNICEF
August 1, 2024
A 57-year-old finance director from West Ealing is celebrating the completion of a gruelling 11 month journey around the world.
Susan ‘Sue’ Melly was a crew member on UNICEF which was competing in the Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race. The boat finished on a high coming first in the final stage from Oban to Portsmouth to finish fourth overall.
On arrival in Portsmouth after completing the circumnavigation she said, “I have done it, we have done it.”
“The best team, the best people, every leg has been something new. I can’t even tell you it’s very emotional to be back. So much has happened yet when you get home it’s still the same. I am proud of us as I wouldn't have done it on my own, I thought I could do it but you never know until you are in the thick of it.”
When asked about her favourite memories from the last 11 months she said, “There are so many moments, but in the Southern Ocean, hitting 24 knots of speed in big big seas with the kite up [spinnaker sail] is something I never thought I would ever be able to do. It was hard and I was scared witless but I did it. Even just now coming into the Solent, with dolphins playing around our boat and thinking this is amazing we are so lucky - I will never get this experience again.
“I knew I wanted to do this when I first sailed in my twenties, I had to wait a long time to wait for my life to be ready for this.”
By completing the 40,000 nautical mile-long race, Sue has joined a small group of people who can call themselves circumnavigators, crossing all meridians of longitude and passing the equator twice. Putting it into perspective, more people have climbed Mount Everest than have sailed around the world.
Founded by Sir Robin-Knox Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop, round the world, the Clipper Race is a global sailing event which is open to anyone over 18 regardless of previous sailing experience. Many race crew have no previous sailing experience before the four weeks of mandatory training and now they will have more miles in their sailing log books than many professional sailors.
Having set sail from Portsmouth on 3 September 2023, the eleven teams have sailed to Puerto Sherry, Spain, Punta del Este, Uruguay, Cape Town, South Africa, Fremantle, Newcastle and Airlie Beach, Australia, Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, Zhuhai and Qingdao, China, Seattle, USA, Panama, Washington DC, USA, Oban, Scotland before arriving back in Portsmouth after crossing all lines of longitude to complete the Clipper 2023-24 Race circumnavigation.
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