‘A sense of adventure and travel’: Retired firefighter to set sail around the world

Jimmy Johnson will join hundreds of sailors to embark on a nautical adventure in the 14th Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which begins Aug. 31.

The journey is expected to take nearly 11 months. It consists of eight legs spanning 46,000 miles, beginning and ending in Portsmouth, England. The 10 participating racing yacht teams will sail across five oceans and stop at 14 ports, from Uruguay and Cape Town to South Korea and Seattle.

While the race is incredibly physically and mentally taxing, the 58-year-old Las Vegas native is no stranger to extreme adventures.

Johnson said he has completed 28 marathons — including one along the Great Wall of China — and four triathlons since he began training in his 40s. He also has earned his pilot certification and has run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

When he retired from the fire department in 2019 after 30 years of service, Johnson said he “sold everything” he owned to travel the world. Photos on his Instagram show him skydiving in Dubai, posing at the Parthenon and jaunting through Jerusalem. He said he has backpacked along a 500-mile stretch of the Camino de Santiago through the Pyrenees mountains and has lived in Mexico, Morocco, Croatia and Italy.

In his quest to push his own boundaries, Johnson said he sees competing in the yacht race as ticking another item off his lengthy bucket list.

“I’ve always had a sense of adventure and travel,” he said. “I just want to see and feel and touch and taste everything there is in this life.”

Johnson said he first learned of the Clipper Race in 2018 when a friend — knowing Johnson as an adrenaline junkie — sent him a promotional video of the race. From that day, Johnson said, he knew he’d have to take on the challenge.

“I grew up in the desert, and oceans weren’t, you know, readily available,” he said. “I thought to myself, this is the most out-of-my-comfort-zone place I could go.”

Given his nomadic tendencies, Johnson said his choice to compete in the Clipper Race did not come as a surprise to his 25- and 29-year-old sons. Johnson’s fiancée, Marcella Brous, said she’s supportive of her partner’s decision to sail the world.

“He is a little nuts,” she joked, “but that’s what I love about him. He never sits in one place.”

Strenuous training

Participating as a crew member in the full global circumnavigation this year costs around $79,000, a hefty price Johnson said he paid with money he made from cryptocurrency investments. The yacht race is designed so sailors at all levels — even those with limited experience like Johnson — can participate in the global race.

All racers spend 26 days taking four levels of training courses. Sailors learn everything from basic boat anatomy and safety drills to strategies for sailing faster, including test runs in the English Channel.

The training came with a steep physical and mental learning curve, Johnson said. Despite his physical fitness, he found working the yacht’s heavy winches at sea difficult. “Man, it was so hard,” he said. “Every joint and bone in my body hurt.”

Learning to manage daily life at sea with 20 other people comes with its own struggles. Crew members must cook the day’s meals and sleep on narrow bunks all while the boat is tilted to catch the wind for days on end. Turbulent waves can rock the yacht, causing seasickness. And when the sun sets, a crew of racers has to keep the boat sailing through the pitch-black night as salty seawater soaks the deck.

Johnson likened the high-pressure, close-quarters experience of sailing to working in a fire station. He said skills like quickly developing teamwork, keeping others safe on the job and feeding a team all felt second nature to him while at sea.

“Personal safety and knowing the job, you know, those are key principles that both the fire department and the Clipper people put into place,” Johnson said.

Dangers

Circumnavigating the globe by sailboat is not without its risks. Since the race was established in 1996, three novice sailors have died at sea — two were swept overboard, one was struck by the ship’s boom — and two yachts were shipwrecked after teams sailed in too-shallow water.

Natalie Hill, a senior communications officer at Clipper Ventures, said in an email that safety is a “core principle” of the race that is enforced by “a culture of safety and constant vigilance amongst Clipper Race organisers and crew.” She cited high standards for training and equipment, as well as each yacht having a professional skipper and first mate, as examples of that culture.

“There are numerous occasions of decisions taken and safety developments made by the Clipper Race that are far and away above ‘what is required’ by the industry,” Hill said. “With over 30 years of experience and knowing firsthand what it takes to not only sail, but race, around the world, the Clipper Race ensures the safety, security and well-being of all crew and staff.”

Johnson acknowledged the level of risk he is putting himself in, but said the emphasis placed on safety during training makes him feel confident that he has what it takes to succeed at sea. “There’s always a backup to a backup,” he said.

Sitting beside Brous at their dining room table about a month from the race’s start, Johnson said he felt the same emotions as those he felt leading up to a marathon: a mixture of calmness and anxiety.

He said he frets over how he’ll handle the harsh weather and extended time away from loved ones and wonders what it’ll feel like to reach the race’s end next July. But he finds solace in knowing he’s prepared to manage his responsibilities on the boat and ready to take on the challenge.

“Eventually, I will settle down … and then I think at that point I’ll be able to reflect back and say, ‘Wow, you know, I really accomplished quite a bit in this lifetime,’ ” Johnson said.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.