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Why Volvo Ocean Race skipper Dee Caffari left a career in teaching and never looked back

The Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper left the teaching profession after five years to pursue a life on the open seas

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Dee Caffari completed the Vendee Globe in 2009 to become the first woman to sail solo non-stop both ways around the world. Photo: AFP

Dee Caffari is living proof it is never too late to change the direction your life is taking you.

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The British sailor only headed off-shore at 27 and is now on her sixth trip around the world as skipper of Turn the Tide on Plastic, docked out at Kai Tak as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet takes a rest in the very heart of Hong Kong.

After five years as a teacher she wanted to expand her horizons.

“It’s not the most orthodox of backgrounds,” laughs the now 45-year-old. “I loved teaching but it was almost like it was the right job but too soon. I still wanted to travel and have adventures and I believed that water sports were the way forward.

“I’d sailed at university but nothing proper until aged 27 when I changed careers. I wasn’t one of those who was always in an Oppy [dinghy] growing up. I went to ballet lessons.”
Caffari of Turn the Tide on Plastic (L) attends a media conference with the other skippers ahead of the beginning of the race. Photo: Reuters
Caffari of Turn the Tide on Plastic (L) attends a media conference with the other skippers ahead of the beginning of the race. Photo: Reuters
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Caffari changed her skills set and started off-shore sailing.

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