A woman from Barrow has taken on 'The Big One’ as she raced 5,500nm across the North Pacific from Qingdao, China to Seattle, USA on the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.   

Megan Allpress, 26, took on one of the most inhospitable environments on earth with the North Pacific leg of the global race known as 'The Big One’.

It has earned this title due to the extreme weather, which includes freezing temperatures and waves almost as high as the Hollywood Sign.

It also the most remote ocean crossing on the Clipper Race circuit and is devoid of land mass.

The Mail: The North specific leg is one of the most inhospitable environments on earthAt certain points, the closest humans that can be found are the astronauts on the International Space Station.

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, and the only event of its kind which trains everyday people to become ocean racers.

Each participant must pass four weeks of intense training before taking part of one of the eight stages of the circumnavigation.

The Mail: Dare To Lead team yacht crossing the North PacificDoctors race alongside teachers, tattoo artists and farmers from all kinds of nationalities in this true test of human determination and endurance.  

On arrival in Seattle, after spending over 28 days at sea, Megan said: "After the Crew Brief and before we set off it was this big scary monster, and then we set off and there was no turning back.

"The challenge really was the length of it; mentally keeping going. We are really proud to have done it, achieved what we have done and all very happy to be in Seattle. 

The Mail: Megan Allpress at the helm of the Dare To Lead yacht"It just seemed to go on forever, never ending ocean but we all picked each other up and pulled together as a team and never gave up."

Megan, a materials engineer, is sailing around the world on a stripped out 70 ft racing yacht named Dare To Lead, with a team of around 20 other non-professional sailors from all walks of life - including her mum Amanda Shehab who hails from Wrexham.

The Mail: Megan's mum Amanda who is from WrexhamLed by skipper Ryan Gibson, Dare To Lead is one of the eleven teams competing in the Clipper Race and currently sits in fourth place on the overall leaderboard. 

This, the thirteenth edition of the Clipper Race, started in Portsmouth UK on September 3 2023 and it has so far visited, Puerto Sherry, Punta del Este, Cape Town, Fremantle, Newcastle, Whitsundays, Ha Long Bay, Zhuhai and Qingdao and has now arrived in Seattle.

From here teams will sail onto Panama, Washington, DC and Oban before finishing back in Portsmouth in July 2024.   

"It’s now 93 days till we get back to Portsmouth, not that I’m counting, as I don’t really want it to end.

"But, yeah, it's a strange feeling, now that we have done the Pacific it feels like the last big ocean is done and won't be long till we are back home."