About Me

I am Russell Hallett, 50 years old, 5’10″ tall and weight in at 14st 9lbs (or 93 kilos if you are of the new school).
Engineering is my trade serving my apprenticeship at Westland Helicopters in Yeovil, Somerset, finishing in 1979 as a toolmaker.

After 5 years in and around Leicester, and a 2 year second innings at Westland I went self employed in 1986 running a metal heat treatment business.

Due to circumstances I ceased trading in 2006 and in 2007 became a business development manager for one of the countries biggest heat treatment companies. That lasted 2 years to January 2009.

Now what am I going to do? A newly qualified marketeer but with no experience. To get a reasonable income you have to stick with what you know. Engineering – but thats taken another battering in recent times! Get into marketing engineering? That would work – but sales and marketing is one of the first departments to get hit in a business downturn. No, lets do something completely different.

As you can see in my very brief resume there is NO mention of sailing!!

So here I am on the eve of a life changing adventure. Sail round the world. See some fantastic sights. Meet a whole load of different people. Take myself well out of my comfort zone. Where is this going to lead in the next chapter of my life……………………

The Race

The Clipper 09-10 Race is a ten-month event during which the fleet of ten identical racing yachts will cross all the world’s major oceans and visit ports on six continents during the 35,000-mile race around the planet.

Ten months, 35,000 miles of ocean racing and around 400 people facing the challenge of a lifetime. When the starting gun goes off for the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race on 13 September 2009 the fleet of ten sleek, stripped down 68-foot yachts will embark on a full circumnavigation of the globe.

Setting off from the Humber on the north east coast of England, it will be almost a year before they return.

Their jubilant arrival home in July 2010 will mark the end of an epic challenge: taking on the elements and becoming one of the world’s elite – a global ocean racer.

From clipperroundtheworld.com