Well here we go again! Exactly 2years and one day since being escorted by the military out of Subic Bay to Manila airport… we are back and Betty is prepped and ready to sail in less than 2 hours time.
It’s been a mission to get here and the Clipper Team deserve a well earned cold beer for pulling it off so far, there’s been literal blood (couple of thumbs in the way of onion slicing), sweat (by the bucketloads, whoever said women glow, men perspire and horses sweat clearly hasn’t sat upside down in a bilge in 34 degrees 100% humidity) and tears (mostly from chopping those pesky onions tho).
Since arriving in the Philippines to a very grubby, slightly unloved Betty, the team, especially Dan and Ineke (skipper and 1st mate) have worked tirelessly to get her fit to cross the worlds largest ocean. The clipper maintenance team came out in Jan, shortly followed by the skippers and they managed an almost complete refit, putting the boats through rigorous testing and survey inspection to make sure they’re safe to go.
All lines had to be run, some sails had holes made by local rodent population to fix and general tidying, servicing winches, grinders, heads pumps and LOTS of cleaning. The onerous task of victualling had been passed on, so we helped pack and stow the various goodies into bags and then find them all hidey holes on the boat somewhere!
Level 4 training was next on the agenda, a VERY hot week in the sun with plenty of skills, drills, sail changes and some more unusual drills such as towing and boat to boat transfers of kit and people. In the next leg we are so far from land and regular shipping routes that the other boats in the fleet are not only race competitors but part of a bigger team to help each other safely reach Seattle.
Yesterday we had our safety brief and Dan took us through the passage plan…
So what’s in store? There’s going to be a potential beat up the east coast of Taiwan and past Japan, potentially a rude awakening for seasickness monster as there’s a strong current creating short choppy seas with the wind against it!
After leaving Japan for the North Pacific, continuing to head north, there’s a scoring gate (extra points for the first 3 boats) then a northern limit to keep us safe from icebergs, you know, the ones that sunk the Titanic… sounds like a good idea to me!
The closest land at this point will be the icy Aleutian Islands, where a large low pressure usually hangs around and will be one of the dominant weather features that will effect our race. If it stays further south, we will likely have one large low pressure for the crossing. If he moves north, the “smaller” lows that start out near Japan will cross the pacific with us, giving constantly changing wind and a confused sea state!
We won’t know what’s in store until we get a bit closer to Japan- keep an eye on the tracker and on windy- look out for the anticlockwise purple areas!
After crossing the international date line and Groundhog Day, there’s an ocean sprint – again more points for the fastest 3 boats- do you give up fleet position to get a faster line? Some tactics coming into play here.
Finally there could be fog coming towards Seattle, the race will finish outside the channels leading to Puget Sound and we will sail/motor into Elliot Bay abs to Bell harbour Marina. Arrival window is 16-20th April, we’re hoping to be in for Easter!
Anyway I’m sat on the deck writing this about to slip lines in less than 2 hours so stay safe, Black Betty out ⛵️
Rachel's Race around the World 
So excited for you!! Good luck to everyone.
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