Race day 10

Well it’s been an interesting few days! A day of boring upwind in 20knots.

Then a day in the galley – soup for lunch then sausages and mash for tea- massive clear up job.

Halyard sheath went- Dan up rig and was ragdolled and hit head- bruised and sore but ok otherwise – Just trying to top the bruise I got falling out of the bunk trying to get at the med kit!

Left feeling very drained and despite looking forward to a decent all night sleep woke up with dizziness and nausea several times. Several other crew also completely fatigued – poss virus going around. Next day a total slog!

Had an early morning watch where we went from Y2-Y1-code1-wind seeker- saw virtually every sail on the boat in a 12 hour period!

Two hour time changes to keep sunrise at breakfast and sunset at dinner- had been rising at 4.30am

Managed to get some downwind in- hoisted the code 2 in a massive sea state, managed to hold it with difficulty to sail away from the others- as the sea state dropped we had some and lovely kiting.

Had a weird pregnant night shift waiting for a wind veer and increase signifying the time to drop the kite and back to the upwind beating. Managed to time this perfectly and executed a super kite drop and staysail hoist just as the wind swung and hit 25 knots within 30s of the kite going below.

This was the start of some serious upwind beating, increasing over several hours to a morning watch with 4-5m seas and 40-45 knots true wind- equivalent to 50 knots apparent- the most I saw was 54knots! We were lucky, by lunchtime the worst was over and by the time we got to 28knots true the wind get positively light and it was time for more sail!

We got through unscathed- boat and humans all intact and to add to our joy came out well in the next position report putting miles between us and qingdao our closest rivals behind, whilst taking miles from Bermuda in front 🙂

Both above and below deck was tough, the boat sometimes being knocked flat on her side with the acceleration down the back of the waves. The noise of 50 knots is something to behold- whistling in the rig, sea spray blown off your face lik hallestones – time for the ski goggles on the helm as the only way to face the wind. Below deck was warmer- sheltered from the wind but unable to see the big waves coming it wasn’t possible to prepare for dropping off the back of the waves as the bow becomes temporarily airborne followed by burying into the water the other side and creating huge bow waves rushing down the low side of the boat. Got pretty wet getting the y3 back on board after a wave washed it overboard- took 4 on the bow and hoisting it by the sail tie on a halyard to get her back on board!

Some boats not so lucky- Korea had to medivac someone with dislocated shoulder and sanya had to bear off and go the wrong way downwind whilst fixing an issue.

Within 12 hours we were approaching the southern Japanese islands, the wind getting lighter and very flukey as we approached the edge of the high. Initially the plan was to go over the top and get to the downwind section:

A few tacks between the islands and some nice gentle easing upwind. Curry for dinner, Overnight some very light, very flukey winds meant difficult helming, lots of concentration but off watch the boat was flat and meant everyone started to catch up on missed sleep. Fatigue is starting to set in now. The nature of the upwind means lots of water ends up in the bilges- this means emptying with a bucket and scoop every 2 hours at the moment- if we weren’t tired enough?

Day 15 bright and sunny, gradually increasing winds and warmer in the sun. Catching Bermuda- only 16 miles ahead. Qingdao heading to Tokyo to make repairs to back stay. Burgers for lunch 🙂

Susie’s birthday- Sophie and Steve baked some brownies!

Please excuse the grammar, written at sea in my bunk in a choppy old sea state!

Day 1-2 of the race were all upwind in 25 knots- was pretty tough, lots of seasickness as it was still very hot and the most wind we have had so far!

The nighttime shift was hard- big choppy sharp breaking waves and v v dark- boat slamming a lot- so much we nearly lost one of the life rafts!

Yesterday morning the sea state and wind started to ease- we hoisted the code 3 at watch change and had a cracking sail all day with the kite, overtook multiple boats to be in 3rd by dinner time! Dropping winds gave a kite drop and change to code 2. After helping to wool and put away the code 3 I was dripping and used the opportunity of a flat boat, gentle winds and warm air to have a final shower…

Bucket of sea water, plenty of soap, seawater rinse then 2 l fresh water to rinse off with- pure bliss!

By the evening we were expecting to drop the kite and between 11-3 a wind change was expected- approaching the front the air was saturated and foggy, thick thick fog so disorientating you think you’re steering in circles! The whole watch was a pregnant pause of anticipation- miss the vital signs the new wind is coming and you might end with a kite mare wrapped around the rig as the wind does a 180degree shift! In the end the wind died out and left us hanging for several hours- in which time Sanya and Halong bay were able to overtake as they were far back enough not to get the light airs, only the new wind!

Today has been back to upwind toil. Sophie and Stephen in the galley doing a super job in the circumstances. Chicken curry for dinner.

It’s getting cooler, now foulies and jacket weather over shorts and t shirt- might have to crack out some merino for tonight. Summer clothes and bedsheet are packed away in a vacuum bag and the ocean sleepwear bag is ready for first use!

Over and out!

It has been incredibly hot so far since setting off. We left subic at midday, paraded out and then we were off, but strangely not racing! MOB drill completed we started the unofficial race up the coast of Luzon, around 250 miles until the start line.

It’s always a strange feeling leaving port- anticipation of the leg, excitement, nerves and sadness at leaving friends and loved ones behind. Normally you then get to concentrate on racing and getting the best out of the boat, but we still four days to get to the start, so it’s a strange feeling. It’s so hot it’s hard to be motivated, my watch are suffering too, everyone is very quiet – several night watched passed with minimal conversation and there’s not much urgency shown when asked to complete a task or trim a sail.

Order of the day was skills and drills- it’s tough in the heat- taking down, flaking the Y1 and then hoisting the Y2 really took it out of us on day 2 and to add insult to injury I also managed to lose my new visor in the process which was disappointing! Now resorted to wearing the fisherwoman’s hat!

Yesterday (day 3) was mother day with Kaz in the “we aim to please cafe”.

Started off ok- boat fairly flat and little wind. Burgers for lunch, they always go down a treat! By the afternoon we had some reasonable wind, finally managing to cool the boat down. After a beautiful burning red sunset Bob fell over the side again, least reliable crew member that he is, and a swift MOB recovery drill occurred- this somewhat delayed the start of dinner prep, so the pasta putenesca was somewhat “al dente”

Had an excellent rest overnight, it’s amazing how a good chunk of sleep (and a slightly cooler boat) can really improve your mood! Just had a full body soap and water washdown in the sail locker with a cup full of fresh water so now I’m really feeling human again!

Now for some Netflix and chill until the boat heats up too much to lie in my own puddle of sweat!

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 ⛵️

So..

What’s been occurring since the race was postponed? Well to compress 2 years into a few sentences!

• Sadness and a feeling of loss- yes when the race was postponed resulting in a massive change in plans, I didn’t cope with this so well, it was tricky and not knowing when we were going to be going back made it more difficult to decide what to do! At this point the pandemic was rapidly taking hold in the UK, claiming lives and leaving may people with u certainty and fear for their families and loved ones.

• Furlough- resulting in virtually no locum work or jobs available anywhere!

• “Signing on” a new experience that I don’t think anyone with a vet degree thinks they’re ever going to have to do!

• NHS track and trace- yes, I got a job working for Boris Johnsons “world leading” track and trace. After completing 100s of hours of online safeguarding and seminars on fire safety in the workplace (my parents lounge)

• Pet portraits- after YEARS of not painting at all and as a bit of distraction I decided to pick up the paints! After first practicing on mums pooches, I received a few commissions. This was a very enjoyable pastime and every morning I would draw for a few hours, then take the doggies for their walkies as part of our allotted hours exercise as per Mr Johnson.

• Unfortunately, as much fun as the drawing was, it’s going to take a long time before I can be classed as professional and be able to live off the “profits” so by May 2020 it was time to find another vetty job. I landed on my feet on the lovely island of Jersey, where time has stood still and they did a commendable job of covid at bay all summer, allowing the residents to live an almost normal lifestyle.

• Sadly all good things must come to an end and I accepted a new job in Southampton to work for Equicall, a new business model for equine vets working out of hours only. This night work allowed more time to follow my new passion for sailing, and I have spent the last few months spending as much time as possible on the water ⛵️ when not playing with the lovely New Forest donkeys

Finally, late last year we got the go ahead for clipper to recommence in Feb 2022 and in true Burgess style there was always going to be some last minute drama 😂 so much for finishing work with plenty of time to prepare…

Routine hospital check highlighted that one of the wires to my pacemaker was misbehaving, and the doc recommended replacing the wire, less than a month before my flight to the Philippines!

First hurdle to have a negative pre op covid test.

Step 2. The super doc fitted the new wire without the need for a major op to remove the existing faulty one.

Step 3. Insurance! Telling them about the changes = many emails and well deserved choccies for the legendary PA to the cardiologist… she managed to get all the medical forms completed and back to me in less than 24 hours, no mean feat considering the NHS don’t use email to send forms out!

Step 4. On the 11th hour (well actually 3 mins before leaving for the airport) FINALLY got suitable insurance cover and was fit to fly!!!

Bad things come in threes- first the pacemaker/fit to travel, the second was having to put Rico to sleep after 15 years of happy memories, RIP my gorgeous boy 😢

Third/ finally after waiting on the negative PCR needed to fly, storms Eunice came to batter the UK, bringing first snow then heavy rain, collapsing the lane and leading to late night digging and wall reconstruction on our final evening in the UK!

On the morning of the flight, by 9.28 the insurance was sorted, bags squashed into the car (9.30) squashed and melancholy goodbyes to mum and dad at Manchester Airport. Black Betty here we come!

Wow so I just found this unfinished blog on my phone from leg 4 Fremantle to Airlie Beach! I thought I’d post it as a reminder of some epic times. The intro is ironic; when writing this I would never have guessed that only a couple of months later a virus would have brought the western world to a standstill and we would all have our lives on hold, confined to the four walls of our homes, only able to exercise once a day and unable to meet friends and family. How times have changed in the last few months!

“End of 2019!
What a year! I would never have thought this time last year (as I drove merrily on my way to a 4am colic on New Year’s Day) that I would be on a sailing yacht, racing through the Southern Ocean round the bottom corner of Tasmania!

We have now been on the boat for 4 months, so are over a third of the way round. Once we pass Tasmania, then the course from there will be northbound for the next 3 months, until we set sail across the mighty Pacific!

Christmas on board was a bit different to normal, with our new boat family, rather than my nearest and dearest at home. The day started with a beautiful sunrise and some nice champagne sailing. Ian, Giando and I embarked upon creating Christmas lunch for the crew. We roasted carrots and parsnips (which many of the non brits had never heard of!) and had mash, gravy, stuffing, sprouts with bacon and of course the all important turkey! We cooked two turkey rolls (the oven on board wouldn’t fit a bird big enough to feed 17) and then roasted the veg after. Dan was very disappointed to find that we had lost the cranberry sauce- it was there when we left Aldi but despite searching multiple dry bags of condiments and every cave locker, Christmas was only slightly dampened by no sauce! (The sauce turned up two days later in the cool box, doh!)

We served it up on deck, only slightly late after an impromptu yankee 1 drop and flake and hoist yankee 2! Then followed with Stollen and secret Santa organised by Susie. I got a winner with some celebrations, ginger beer and worthers originals, some got gloves or fun things like sunglasses or a silly koala face mask!

We have been pushing the kites hard. Rich, our new skipper is a great teacher and he has pushed us, in particular to really improving our helming skills with the kite up. In his own words we “dialled it up to 11” after the first few days once the dreaded upwind “bash” was over and we could ease the sails for some nice beam reaching. We first hoisted the kite in 25 knots of breeze in the dead of night- a brave move with a crew you just met and haven’t sailed with but it all went smoothly and then we were off to catch the rest of the pack who had chosen to stay close to the shore.

We had a few kite mares- getting the code 3 down in 38knots after a cold front passed over was a particular challenge: after the halyard was cut and the kite was fished from the sea our skipper commented that “you haven’t seen a bad kite drop until you have pulled it in over the A frame at the back”… it’s like he was predicting the future, as 2 days later (on New Years Day to be exact) when everyone at home was celebrating midnight, it was 10am on the boat and the whole crew (except one- more on that later) was on deck to heave our poor code 2 out of the sea, you guessed it, over the A frame!

We rounded Tasmania a couple of days into the new year. A milestone for everyone as the furthest South we will go on the whole journey, around 44 degrees South!
Sadly from then onwards the wind became a bit fickle. We elected to sail offshore to avoid the East Australian Current, a powerful stream of water travelling southbound down the east coast. This proved to be a good move in the long run, to start with the wind was much stronger by the coast and other boats made much better progress. Eventually their wind ran out and we made some good gains on the fleet- some boats even drifted backwards on the current when the wind ran out at night!
Some of the boats close to shore reported smog and ash blowing around on deck from the wildfires occurring in NSW at the time, we only had some slight haze and some stunning red to burning orange sunsets. Only once we got to Airlie were we aware of the extent of the damage to livelihood, wildlife and their habitats, a real eye opener to climate change!

Eventually we made it to the northeasterly trades and started to make some progress, although this was short lived and it felt like we crawled the final few hundred miles to Airlie beach. The light winds allowed the big red boat to catch up with us and slowly claw their way ahead…..”

Unfortunately this is where the blog ended and I feel it would be an injustice to try and finish it retrospectively. Sadly we finished about an hour after Qingdao in 6th place (5th at the time but Unicef got a place on elapsed time) however we had some fabulous learning experiences and were ready for a nice break in Airlie Beach.

Been a while since the last post, here’s a little blog I wrote on New Year’s Day at the time. Leg 4 and 5 blogs to follow soon 😀

New Years Day!

Well, it started with a yankee 2 – yankee 1 racing headsail change on the hour at midnight. Qingdao was visible on the horizon behind us and the previous watch had been fending them off well, but to keep them at bay we decided a bigger headsail was needed now. It was a beautiful evening with clear skies, a nice 15knot breeze and the stars and milky way shining every so bright overhead.

There’s something surreal about cheering in the new year and hugging team mates in the sail locker whilst surrounded by damp sweaty sails.

The yankee 1 was shoved out the hatch by the off watch and heaved on deck by crimewatch. We then had a cup of coffee to get everyone geared up for the change, and then I jumped out into the bowsprit to hank on the new sail under the old one. This is a tricky task which involves lifting a large weight of sail up, whilst trying to one handedly open the Hank and attach it to the forestay whilst it moves around as the boat rolls over waves. There’s 22 hanks on a yankee 1. The yankee 2 was dropped, the plan to unhank it from the forestay as she comes down, however the first one was welded shut with salt from being on for several days. Instead we dropped on top of the 1, then used some pliers to take the stiff hanks off. Pull the sail out of the way then hoist the new one. It went very smoothly, as did flaking (folding) the sail back into the bag to be stored down below. The rest of the watch was spent trimming and holding off Qingdao who were visible off our stern, around 6 miles behind.

New Year’s Day dawned brightly, Ian and Giando made lovely scrambled eggs for breakkie. Little did we know we were to need all our energy for the next adventure.

Qingdao had been held off all night, but had been seen to hoist a kite and were slowly gaining ground. The only thing for it was to hoist our own favourite sail, the code 2. Sheets run, everyone prepped for the hoist, a multitude of little issues snowballed into an epic disaster. With the words of skipper Rich fresh in our ears from a couple of nights ago (“ you’ve not seen a bad recovery until you’ve pulled one in through the A frame at the back…”) I watched the disaster unfold. First the tack line(the front corner) had not been pulled tight, so the kite was hanging low into the water. In combination with poor wooling and an unfortunately slow sail sweat, meaning it was in the water for long enough to break the wool and the kite inflated only 2/3 of the way up. The lazy sheet decided to join the party too and wrapped around the tack, meaning we were now dragging the kite through the sea by two points, like a giant trawler net!

Quickly the tack was tripped, and the sheets allowed to run, leaving the sail attached by the halyard. The retrieval line was fished from the sea at the back of the boat and first we ground this. The boat was heaved too, to slow us down so the weight of the water didn’t rip the kite, however this did mean the kite drifted perilously close to the rudders. The line was fed back out so the kit was behind the boat and one of the sheets again fished out the sea and pulled though the A frame. Several sheet repositions and an all hands on deck call later we were able to all pull in unison to pull the kite from the sea. On this occasion we were lucky. The quick thinking of the skipper allowed us to retrieve the kite with minimal damage (only three small holes) and continue on our way. Sadly we did have to watch Qingdao slip away from our grasp, but we will reel them in again for sure!

For now the more pressing issue of lunch and when to serve the New Year’s Day cheese and cracker selection with some non alcoholic sparking grape juice 😉

Sooo I have had an awesome, relaxing long break in Freo after the Southern Ocean. Mum and Dad have been here and we spent time with Helga, Chris and their wonderful daughter Toni. We have eaten well, drunk plenty of fabulous wine and shared excellent company. We visited the local wildlife, wonderful scenery and of course sampled the local vines 😀.

It’s now 8.27 on the morning of race day

The boat is victualled once more ready for the trip to Airlie Beach and my stuff is packed back in the cave lockers ready to go!

We met our new skipper, Rich who has some big boots to fill taking over from Mark after his sudden departure from the race due to personal reasons.

WTC Logistics (our AMAZING boat sponsors) sent the team Christmas pressies to open whilst in port- a pair of fantastic lightweight scooters to help us get around in port and some Christmas decorations to help get in the mood for Christmas! Dan (AQP) and I have decided to (try) cook a full Christmas Dinner for the team on Christmas Day- we have 4kgs Turkey breast, potatoes, carrots and parsnips to roast, sprouts and of course, mince pies and a fab Christmas Cake (thanks Helga!)

Because I have been busy relaxing in port again, I haven’t had chance to write a blog about the actual ocean crossing! However here is a blog I wrote whilst on the boat and it hopefully gives a taste of the leg!

Eat, sleep, sail repeat!

So, what to write? Well, I’ve mostly been either sleeping, eating or sailing in the last 18 days since leaving the wonderful Cape Town. I haven’t had chance to blog for a while but I have taken a few nice pics that Harry sent in which I believe have been posted online.

We have had champagne sailing, 40 knot gales, the obligatory wind holes (yes even in the Southern Ocean!) and I’m currently hanging out behind the helm, gently rocking on the swing chair I built on Leg 1, contemplating what to write about. Life on board is great, the boat is much less full which makes living a bit easier but sail changes are a bit more challenging and consequently, I think everyone is starting to get pretty tired. The weather on this leg has been much less extreme than Leg 2, but we have experienced the Southern Ocean at its’ best. I have managed to gain loads of experience at helming Black Betty and feel (mostly) able to control the beast now. However, there is still lots to learn, BB goes fastest when pushed and she goes quickly from pussy cat to what Paul W describes as “the crocodile”!

Whilst we’re mentioning Paul, I just typed up his blog for today – a poem he wrote on the back of the bread packet whilst he waits for two lovingly kneaded loaves to bake in the galley oven.

We have just finished the ocean sprint which seemed to go well, we pushed Betty as hard as possible in the conditions and did the best we could, so fingers crossed, but these things really do seem to come down to the luck of the wind you have at the time!

We have left the Southern Ocean now for this leg and are heading north towards Fremantle on the home run. The ocean has calmed to a gentle rolling, bright turquoise colour as we sail under blue skies with idyllic fluffy white clouds. The wind is warming up and layers are peeling off (thanks to Arshia for the most amazingly warm onesie and balaclava – they made the night times so much more bearable!) and soon we will be in lovely sunny Australia. The dreams of chilled Sauv Blanc, fresh food, a hot shower and a flat bed are becoming more real and I’m particularly looking forward to seeing mum and dad just before Christmas time.

I love the wildlife at sea; we have seen whales, dolphins, seals, penguins (in Cape Town) and even a few squids have landed on the deck (mmmm tasty – definitely the freshest Calamari going!) but my new favourites are the amazing albatrosses. These beautiful birds soar gracefully overhead on invisible thermals, chasing the boat and occasionally gliding down level with the water to playfully dip the tip of their wing in the sea before effortlessly rising back into the air. Sadly we seem to have left the Albatross behind now, it’s just us and the vast expanse of ocean, not another soul in sight (well except for yesterday when we briefly saw and overtook Zhuhai in the sprint).

I have taken lots of pictures but there is no way to capture the stark expanse of an ocean, or the speed at which the weather can change. The images that will last forever are of the millions of twinkling stars which are so unbelievably bright and clear, so many of them in a vast inky black sky and the magical shooting stars flashing past on which to make a wish.

Anyway, it’s nearly watch change now, so better get back to eat, sleep, sail repeat job 🙂

I feel privileged to have sailed from Cape Town to Australia with such an amazing team of people. There was so much positivity and great moments it embodied team spirit.

Anyway I’m just about to eat one more breakfast in Freo sailing club and need to decide between Eggs Benedict (always hard to resist!) or smoked salmon and crab scrambled eggs…. it’s a hard life 😀

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friend and family, see you in 2020!!

Watch leading, victualling and falling in love with sailing

So the first leg was a feat of endurance, 8 days, then a quick break in Portugal followed by 28 days at sea, crossing the north and south Atlantic oceans on the way to Uruguay. We had huge seas in the bay of Biscay, followed by the inferno and total calm of the doldrums. Generally people got very grouchy in the heat (and mild hanger was common too) and the first half of the race seemed to pass very slowly. The second half brought better wind, we sailed well and caught up a lot of lost time. The most amazing part of the race for me was the last 48 hours before arriving into Punta, when we battled with Seattle in an amazing storm. Huge dark black storm clouds looked overhead with flashes of lightning that lit up the whole sky for seconds at a time, some even hit the water near the boat making it steam!

Unfortunately we came out of the storm behind Seattle, and even one of our most determined crew (who’s wife is on Seattle) couldn’t overtake them before the finish, so we came 8th overall- a great improvement on the first race!

The stopover in Punta was lovely, the weather unfortunately wasn’t great, it was windy and cold most days and as it was out of season the resort was very quiet, nonetheless it was relaxing until victualling began.

This was a big old task, involving three trips to the large out of town supermarket, which delivered our food on the last day at 2 pm, leaving the packing job a bit rushed! This is where you take all the food for each day and put it together in a dry bag, then store it on the boat somewhere (and try remember to write it down so that you can find it again!)

The fruit and veg was delivered the day of the race start, 400 apples, 200 bananas, 200 mandarins all to be stored on the boat in netting under a bunk. The scale of the food for 24 people for 21 days was immense!

Food packed, goodbyes made and off we set for leg 2, the South Atlantic. The race was to be fast and furious, the shortest leg and an introduction to big wave, downwind surfing and some big southern ocean style weather systems. We made it to 43 degrees south- the wind there is bitterly cold, making the challenge of the night watch to see how many clothes you can wear whilst still being able to bend your arms and legs! We had some big storms, 45 knots of wind with gusts to 70knots (although our boats’ recorded max wind speed was 321 knots- for a while we had 260-300knots of wind according to our brand new instruments which were clearly working well 🙈

The waves were huge and for a few days we were heading into the waves- think crashing a car into a barrier every few seconds and the whole boat vibrates and booms around you. The eerie silence and weightless feeling in your stomach as the boat goes off the edge of a wave and becomes temporarily air borne, before crashing into the next wave along!

Once the wind came around and started to be on a beam/ behind us, the fun began! Helming the boat down some huge 8m rolling waves was very exciting- it feels like the top of a roller coaster as the wave starts to pick up the boat, the nose tips forward and you tip forward before accelerating rapidly and then try hold the wheel straight to surf the wave. Just like on a very large surf board on a very large wave!

After a while 16 knots seems slow, too speeds were up to 21.6 knots (my personal record was 20.5 😀)

We had an awesome time on leg 2 and hopefully a taster of the next leg 3- the mighty Southern Ocean “sleigh ride”.

The stopover has been all too brief, we managed some sightseeing and lots of tasting of good wine and food 😀

The victualling took longer than ideal, hence why I’m writing this in a rush once again on the morning of race start! Hopefully I will get more organised and write the blog for leg 3 with more time (unlikely).

Over and out!

Getting into the swing of things!

So race 1 started bright and early on the 2nd September. We had motored down the Thames the day before to the sound of cheers from all our supporters and then anchored overnight near Southend Pier. Sitting here at the end of the break wall at the entrance to Portimao harbour this seems such a long time ago now! It was such a high leaving London, by the time was made it to Southend (around 6 hours) everyone was tired and ready to settle down early! This leads us to anchor watch, where two at a time stay up for an hour to make sure we didn’t charge through our lines or drift into the Channel whilst everyone was sleeping! Usually it’s pretty uneventful but on this occasion the tide and the wind caused the boat to swing around and lie over the anchor warp (the rope on the chain) which got caught over the rudder. Part of the steering gear bent and snapped at 3am leaving us with no steering on one side of the boat!

Super Dan came to the rescue, a spare part was brought over from one of the other boats and Dan and Tom spent the night fixing the steering, just in time for sunrise!

Breakfast was at 6.30 and at 7 we lifted the anchor and set about hoisting sails and doing man overboard drills before reporting back to the start line for 9am. Seeing 11 huge shiny boats all sailing up and down the line was so impressive, each boat deciding the best part of the line to cross for the optimum getaway! We were starting in downwind direction, meaning we hoisted the spinnaker around the start signal going off! It all went well (the spinnaker is a tennis pitch sized triangular sail, only attached in 3 corners and generally has a mind of its own, randomly collapsing into the sea if you steer off the wind! The whole fleet stayed close together for the first 24 hours, playing cat and mouse with each other and it was all very exciting!

After leaving the Thames into the Channel the wind changed so that we were now “beating” into the wind. Beating into 25-30 knots makes life very difficult on board as the boat slams into the bottom of waves, jolting you in an unpredictable way, all while the boat is leaning (healed) over at around 45 degrees to vertical!

This caused a large number of crew to be seasick, some almost incapacitated by it (one so badly she has decided not to continue the journey and has left the boat here in Portugal!)

The living area was hot and cramped with bodies lying around in various states of fitness and the smell of vomit was ripe in the air! Being on deck was not much easier, but at least the wind was blowing away the smell!

In addition to this we had a couple of injuries (all ok now) and snapped the main halyard (the rope that holds up the main sail)!

Dan fashioned a new halyard from the topping lift and used a spinnaker halyard for topping lift and we were able to continue to race (at one point we were potentially going to have to sail back down towards land and drop anchor to re- run the line! However we were now 140 miles behind the fleet!

Finally we turned to be going across the wind, the boat levels out making life more manageable and slowly morale improved: helped by a pod of dolphins and some amazing food dishes such as the sesame chicken, bankers and mash, Thai green curry!

Just as it felt like we could catch them, we ripped the spinnaker meaning we had to take it down and continue under “white sails”. This is safer by a little slower. During prep week one of our team had received training in sail repair, so she set about patching up the rip down below (at around 2 in the morning). The repair took a couple of hours with a team of 4 helping her! Meanwhile the other spinnaker had to be rolled up, tied with wool and packed into its bag. That was a long night, I think many of us had only an hour of sleep that shift!

We continued making good ground and after rounding the bottom corner of Portugal we began to see another of the fleet (Seattle) on our AIS – the race is on! It is amazing how it become so much easier to focus on trimming the boat to go fast when there is another yacht in your sights! Sadly although we didn’t manage to catch them, we did get to within a couple of miles (from around 30) by the race finish. This gives us hope for the next race, although we finished last, several times we were able to work solve a problem, carry on sailing and make up ground again to start to catch the fleet.

This first race was a whirlwind introduction to ocean racing. I have now sailed in faster than 30knot winds, surfed down the biggest waves I’ve seen (so far), broached the boat, patched up sails in the dark, sailed by starlight and made wishes under shooting stars and seen some spectacular sunrises over the vast ocean.