As skipper of Team Washington DC on the 2025–2026 Clipper Round the World Race, I have the privilege and responsibility of leading Team Washington DC, a crew of mostly of novice sailors, through some of the most demanding oceans through an eleven-month global circumnavigation. My role is part coach, part navigator, part mediator, and always a student of leadership under pressure. Every day on board offers another lesson in teamwork, resilience, and human behaviour.
While our supporters back home follow our progress on the tracker, I write regular updates to give a deeper insight into what life at sea truly looks like. These reflections are not just about our position on the ocean, but about the team we are becoming: how we communicate, how we lead and follow, how we manage adversity, and how we choose to show up for one another under pressure.
My aim is to offer a window into the reality behind the race, the challenges, the hard lessons, and the moments of connection that define our culture on board. These updates are as much about leadership and human behaviour as they are about sailing. The tracker may show our course, but these stories reveal our character, our purpose, and the values that carry us through every high and low of an eleven-month circumnavigation.
Here is the first update I shared.
6th September 2025.
Dear DC supporters
For those of you glued to the race tracker you’ll have noticed the fleet are slowly sailing past us. Unfortunately, our mast track is damaged, and we’ve been sitting in light winds with a postage stamp for our main sail. Despite having folk with great skills on board, who have made some sterling efforts to mediate the damage, it’s an issue we can’t resolve completely until Cádiz. We’ll need to sail conservatively until then.
You should all be amazingly proud of your crew members, I certainly am. They remained buoyant (albeit a little green) in big waves and winds. That’s easier when you are doing well. The greater test for us now and one that will be the measure of us as a team is how we come together when things aren’t going our way. This gives us the opportunity to embed our purpose and values…..acting with kindness, bringing our best selves to the boat and working in unity.
We have only just begun this marathon, and this will guide us through many more ups and downs to come along the way. It’s heartening to know you are all following our progress and rooting for us.
Ella, out.
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