As race end approaches it is becoming more difficult to sleep in the 'off watch'. All minds are focused on the race and keeping the nautical miles smoothly slipping beneath our keel.
Kat (one of my crew mates on Starboard watch) has generously offered to swap 'mother duties' with me for today. The reason I had asked for this is I didn't want to spend the last day of the race in the 'galley'. It would have been a shame to come all this way, and had been washing up as we entered Rio! I'm sure I would have been on deck with everyone else, but I really wanted to be 'sailing' the boat that day and have the opportunity to take 'Welcome to Yorkshire' across the line. Kat being a generous soul offered me this as she will be going on to Leg 2 and 3, so will be seeing a further two race finishes.
During our daily crew meeting, an 'eagle-eyed' crew member spotted a 'fin' poking out of the water about a mile off our starboard beam. It was the unmistakeable fluke of a whale! Almost waving at the boat! The long white fin waved about as it slapped the water (clear behaviour of the Humpback whale). As time went on we spotted a further three Humpbacks in the 'pod'!
The final sighting of the group was that of a huge tail rising into the air, as the giant mammal slipped beneath the surface to begin a huge dive into the deep blue depths!
Regrettably I could not take any photos as my little Fuji-film could not focus on such a range, and the wobbly film I took does not do the event any justice!
We are now sailing dead downwind, under our huge lightweight Spinnaker sail! The hoist went well, and again Jim (our watch leader) ensured I was in the midst of all the action on the bow. Great fun, and very satisfying to see this 'tennis court' sized sail take off into the air over our bow!
Now the really tiring bit will start as we must concentrate on keeping it flying all the way to our next waypoint (a headland called Cabo Sao Tome), which is currently just over 200 nautical miles away. Sounds far, but that is not a long distance in a 68ft ocean racing yacht travelling at 10-12 knots!
The major perk of being on Mother Watch is that you come off the normal 'watch rota'. So once the crew are fed and watered, you have free time. As well as organising your kit and bunk for the next few days, it is also a great chance to catch up on sleep. So tonight I will have a good solid 8-9 hours of kip! Need to make sure the 'batteries' are fully recharged, ready for the last 48 hours of the race! COME ON ‘WELCOME TO YORKSHIRE’!!!!
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Monday, 29 August 2011
A tall ship, and a star to steer her by...
H Melville's words have been resonating in my ears for the past week. I have done a fair amount of 'night sailing' so far on this race, but crossing into the southern hemisphere has made it a bit more special!I've spent a lot of time trying to get to know some of the constellations and stars here. Any knowledge I have regarding astro-navigation is purely based on the night sky of the Northern hemisphere! Not a great deal of use in the South Atlantic!
The twin stars of 'Centurious' are very clear, and has been my navigational fix for over a week now. As the night moves on I tend to follow 'Scorpius' (I believe is its correct name). It is essentially a giant Scorpion floating in the heavens! The curve of the sting and two sharp pincers can be clearly made out.
The Milky Way can be clearly identified (typically running North to South). With no light pollution from artificial lighting, every star is clearly visible!
We are also treated to a nightly show of shooting stars! It's hard not to miss them as I spend most of my time looking up, trimming the sails!
Over the past few nights our Watch Leader (Jim) has passed responsibility for calling the trim on the head sails to me. This involves standing on the bow, with waves sweeping across the foredeck, attempting to communicate instructions to the rest of the crew who are just behind the mast! It has been a lot of fun, and I have learned so much from this experience. I have now developed 'trim OCD'! Instructions are communicated to the crew on the winches by a mixture of hand signals and shouts. As I walk forward I always 'eye ball' the helm, and ask them not to 'dunk me'! This is frequently ignored, and gives the rest of the watch a good giggle! There is nothing more satisfying than returning from the 'pointy end' of the yacht, having been repeatedly dowsed by the Atlantic for five minutes, and told that the boat speed has increased by 1 knot (that type of increase over a 1,000 nautical mile distance can shorten your race by days)!
Life on board is going well. We are working hard to maintain our position, as well as put pressure on 'Gold Coast Australia' (who currently lead). We receive a race schedule every six hours, so we can clearly identify if we have made any gains or losses on the rest of the fleet. So far we have had lots of good news, as we make steady progress to Rio! The next 'sched' is due soon, so fingers crossed we continue with our 'gains' on the rest of the fleet!
The blessing of King Neptune
It has now been two days since we crossed the equator! Moving from the Northern hemisphere into the warm tropical south! We crossed over at about 18:30 local time, with both starboard and port watch present on deck to witness the occasion! Crossing the Equator by sea for the first time is a very special occasion. We upheld the traditional custom of honouring King Neptune with a small tipple of ship's grog - which came in the form of some plum liquor (made locally by Rupert's family in Somerset). We were warned to expect a visit from King Neptune himself the next day!
As 'predicted' by our Skipper, King Neptune did arrive on deck precisely on time at 16:30! Donned in gold and blue, and armed with his mighty trident, he called the crew to 'court' so he could decide if we were 'worthy' to continue to sail his seas.
We were called out in turn, and a list of 'charges' were brought against us! These were in the form of faux pas committed since leaving Southampton at the end of July. It was very entertaining as we were all passed forward to the 'dip' (a small paddling pool full of out of date UHT milk, and sweetcorn)! Neptune himself took great pleasure in ladling the concoction on the crew, and gave us each a blessing for our onward journey!
The next day, Neptune's blessing was truly fulfilled as the breeze freshened, and allowed us to push the boat faster! ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ accelerated, and held an average of 9-10 knots!
King Neptune also saw fit to bless us with an escort, in the shape of some bottlenose dolphin! Much larger than the Common Dolphin we had seen in Biscay! They played happily around our bow for over 10 minutes before disappearing off into the distance.
We were visited again later that afternoon by another pod of Dolphin. This time we were sailing in some very heavy seas, with the boat really rolling in the heavy conditions. What was impressive for me was the way the dolphins had seen / heard us some way off and made a 'beeline' for us! They shot out of the rolling surf in a spectacular aerial display as they approached, and manoeuvred effortlessly through the rapid currents that engulfed our bows. It was a truly magical moment!
Whilst on watch, we have been trimming the sails continually. 'Gold Coast Australia' and 'Singapore' seemed to pull away at one stage, but today we have seen the 'fruits of our labour' and have now overtaken ‘Singapore’, and are closing in on our Aussie friends!Our attention is not only on the boats in front, but also on the boats behind us. Whilst we have made some exceptional gains on some of the boats in the rear pack, we are very mindful of those who are chasing us directly, particularly our friends on the ‘New York’ Clipper. She is the one to watch out for after having such a great finish to Race 1. We are attempting to 'cover' her approach in an effort to not only protect our position, but build on our gains on 'Gold Coast'.
Today we have just completed our 'speed trial', which is a timed run between 4 and 5 degrees of latitude. The fastest boat will win an additional point. We have 'sailed the wheels off it' and hope to collect an extra point at race finish!
It is exciting to see Brazil so close on our charts, although we are still very much out at sea. With just under 1,000 miles left, the excitement is building on board 'Welcome to Yorkshire'!
Monday, 22 August 2011
The heat is on!
Since writing last a great deal has happened. Sometimes we have a series of very demanding watches and all you want to do is dry off and collapse in your bunk. So apologies for the delay in posting this.
All is going well on ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’. We have led the race for quite a few days heading into the dreaded 'Doldrums'! A windless band of ocean stretching from east to west, which likes to leave boats in 'wind holes' for days on end. This particular area sees high and low pressure systems colliding, giving birth to the hurricanes and storms that rocket through the Caribbean Islands and south east states of North America. Many of our views on what we expected did not transpire (thankfully!) and we only spent less than half a day 'bobbing' around in a windless part of ocean!
We are now through and currently beating into the winds we have, desperately trying to pick up the trade winds that will blow us all the way to Rio!
As for the race itself it has been pretty full on. We have led for much of the way, but it seems that some of the other boats strategies on getting through the ‘Doldrums’ have paid off a bit better than ours! We are currently in third place behind 'Singapore' (2nd place) and ‘Gold Coast Australia’ (1st). We keep reminding ourselves that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Everything is still very much up for grabs over this last stretch of 2,000 miles.
Life on board has taken on a more customary 35 degree tilt as we 'beat' into the wind using our white sails. I for one am pleased to see the end of the downwind sailing under the huge spinnaker sails from our wardrobe. Spinnakers take an awful lot of management to keep flying, not to mention the concentration on keeping that fine balance of the sail stalling and flying to attain the perfect speed.
We have seen some amazing sights over the past few days. On the evening of regaining our wind from the ‘Doldrums’ we witnessed the amazing sight of phosphorescence given off in our bow wave, lighting our way for miles! I can only describe it as a carpet of stars stretching as far as the eye could see! We also saw huge mysterious balls of luminescent light all around the boat. As far as we could determine we believe that these were huge Jelly Fish, migrating across the Atlantic! You can begin to understand why the original mariners came back to land with tales of 'strange' creatures or ghosts flying past their ships!
Flying fish have been a common sight since we left Madeira. The only difference now is that they are getting bigger the more south we go! They jump out of the water and seem to fly for ages! I wonder if a 'school' of flying fish become a 'flock' of flying fish once they take flight?
As a crew we are definitely entering the 'endurance' part of our trip. Life is made difficult below decks with our little fibre-glass world taking on a new angle of 30 degrees. Actually being on deck is the easy part. Manoeuvring from your bunk to the galley is a challenge to say the least! Watch change-over seems to resemble a team game of 'Twister'!
We are also enjoying the daily increase in temperature as we continue to sail south. On deck seems to be fine, it's only when you go below deck and the sweltering heat hits you. We have a few fans, but on this current point of sail, we can’t have any hatches open other than the main companionway located in the cockpit.
Despite all these challenging conditions we are working well together as a crew. I am on Starboard watch, and am very lucky to be working with some people who are very committed to sailing, but do it in great humour! Our recent chat involved describing who would be your all-time top four people you would have dinner with! There were some very interesting parties suggested, but I went for Nelson Mandela, Eric Morcambe, Horatio Nelson and Bill Beaumont!
As a watch we have had a very demanding 72 hours, as we have had to undertake a great number of sail changes (mostly at night). This has often resulted in a good dunking when on the foredeck! The saving grace is that the water is warm and the wind dries you off within 10 minutes! Totally different from our old training ground, the English Channel!
Going to turn in for a few hours now, so I can be fresh on for my next watch (22:00 - 02:00), keen to hunt down our Austrailian / Singaporian quarry!
All is going well on ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’. We have led the race for quite a few days heading into the dreaded 'Doldrums'! A windless band of ocean stretching from east to west, which likes to leave boats in 'wind holes' for days on end. This particular area sees high and low pressure systems colliding, giving birth to the hurricanes and storms that rocket through the Caribbean Islands and south east states of North America. Many of our views on what we expected did not transpire (thankfully!) and we only spent less than half a day 'bobbing' around in a windless part of ocean!
We are now through and currently beating into the winds we have, desperately trying to pick up the trade winds that will blow us all the way to Rio!
As for the race itself it has been pretty full on. We have led for much of the way, but it seems that some of the other boats strategies on getting through the ‘Doldrums’ have paid off a bit better than ours! We are currently in third place behind 'Singapore' (2nd place) and ‘Gold Coast Australia’ (1st). We keep reminding ourselves that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Everything is still very much up for grabs over this last stretch of 2,000 miles.
Life on board has taken on a more customary 35 degree tilt as we 'beat' into the wind using our white sails. I for one am pleased to see the end of the downwind sailing under the huge spinnaker sails from our wardrobe. Spinnakers take an awful lot of management to keep flying, not to mention the concentration on keeping that fine balance of the sail stalling and flying to attain the perfect speed.
We have seen some amazing sights over the past few days. On the evening of regaining our wind from the ‘Doldrums’ we witnessed the amazing sight of phosphorescence given off in our bow wave, lighting our way for miles! I can only describe it as a carpet of stars stretching as far as the eye could see! We also saw huge mysterious balls of luminescent light all around the boat. As far as we could determine we believe that these were huge Jelly Fish, migrating across the Atlantic! You can begin to understand why the original mariners came back to land with tales of 'strange' creatures or ghosts flying past their ships!
Flying fish have been a common sight since we left Madeira. The only difference now is that they are getting bigger the more south we go! They jump out of the water and seem to fly for ages! I wonder if a 'school' of flying fish become a 'flock' of flying fish once they take flight?
As a crew we are definitely entering the 'endurance' part of our trip. Life is made difficult below decks with our little fibre-glass world taking on a new angle of 30 degrees. Actually being on deck is the easy part. Manoeuvring from your bunk to the galley is a challenge to say the least! Watch change-over seems to resemble a team game of 'Twister'!
We are also enjoying the daily increase in temperature as we continue to sail south. On deck seems to be fine, it's only when you go below deck and the sweltering heat hits you. We have a few fans, but on this current point of sail, we can’t have any hatches open other than the main companionway located in the cockpit.
Despite all these challenging conditions we are working well together as a crew. I am on Starboard watch, and am very lucky to be working with some people who are very committed to sailing, but do it in great humour! Our recent chat involved describing who would be your all-time top four people you would have dinner with! There were some very interesting parties suggested, but I went for Nelson Mandela, Eric Morcambe, Horatio Nelson and Bill Beaumont!
As a watch we have had a very demanding 72 hours, as we have had to undertake a great number of sail changes (mostly at night). This has often resulted in a good dunking when on the foredeck! The saving grace is that the water is warm and the wind dries you off within 10 minutes! Totally different from our old training ground, the English Channel!
Going to turn in for a few hours now, so I can be fresh on for my next watch (22:00 - 02:00), keen to hunt down our Austrailian / Singaporian quarry!
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Day 2 - Race 2 - Madeira to Rio
Madeira is a long way behind us now, as are the Canary Islands. 'Welcome to Yorkshire’ has made excellent progress since our brilliant start from Madeira.
The hard part of crewing a racing yacht is getting used to the Watch System. Fatigue is a common factor, and we combat this in a number of ways; good conversation, littered with very bad jokes! It also helps that our 'champion' victuallers have supplied us with plenty of Haribo and Jelly Babies to ensure a steady series of 'sugar rushes' to get us through the dark hours!
I for one am glad to get back into the Watch System. The land doesn't move in the same way! I'm sure that innocent passers-by in Madeira must have confused some of the Clipper crews as participants in a 'Ministry of Silly Walks' seminar! After a certain amount of time at sea, it is true that you do take on a certain stroll to ensure balance when moving around a boat on a rolling sea!
Food is so important for morale on any boat involved in a long journey. Some of the best dishes have been curry or chilli so far. One thing we have recently had to start doing for ourselves is baking bread. This has proved a challenge for most of us. I do feel that some of the previous baked efforts which have found their way 'over the side' should have been accompanied by a collision warning, radioed to the rest of the fleet about a possible dangerous object floating in their path!
Having said that, optimism is high on today's Mother Watch as Ann had produced some fantastic dough, which is currently baking. Ann has had the foresight to go on a 'French bread baking day' prior to race start with a leading French Baker! I for one cannot wait, and banish the memory of 'cement loaves' to the depths permanently!
The hard part of crewing a racing yacht is getting used to the Watch System. Fatigue is a common factor, and we combat this in a number of ways; good conversation, littered with very bad jokes! It also helps that our 'champion' victuallers have supplied us with plenty of Haribo and Jelly Babies to ensure a steady series of 'sugar rushes' to get us through the dark hours!
I for one am glad to get back into the Watch System. The land doesn't move in the same way! I'm sure that innocent passers-by in Madeira must have confused some of the Clipper crews as participants in a 'Ministry of Silly Walks' seminar! After a certain amount of time at sea, it is true that you do take on a certain stroll to ensure balance when moving around a boat on a rolling sea!
Food is so important for morale on any boat involved in a long journey. Some of the best dishes have been curry or chilli so far. One thing we have recently had to start doing for ourselves is baking bread. This has proved a challenge for most of us. I do feel that some of the previous baked efforts which have found their way 'over the side' should have been accompanied by a collision warning, radioed to the rest of the fleet about a possible dangerous object floating in their path!
Having said that, optimism is high on today's Mother Watch as Ann had produced some fantastic dough, which is currently baking. Ann has had the foresight to go on a 'French bread baking day' prior to race start with a leading French Baker! I for one cannot wait, and banish the memory of 'cement loaves' to the depths permanently!
Monday, 15 August 2011
Madeira
First of all I have to say a massive ‘thank you’ to all friends and family of ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’. Your support throughout Race 1 was fantastic! Also a huge apology is needed! A number of us are writing blogs, but due to technical difficulties with our Sat Comms it has been impossible to regularly send emails. Thankfully these problems have (hopefully) been solved at our stopover in Madeira.
As you have all seen ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ finished in 6th place at the end of Race 1. It was a quiet mood for a while as we made our way into the Quinta De Lorda Marina. It had truly been a race of ‘cat and mouse’, and the fleet was hampered slightly by the light conditions. None of us envisaged the need to ‘anchor’ during a race…for which most of the fleet ended up doing at Aldaney.
We arrived at 5am and were welcomed by some of the familiar faces of Clipper. Justin Taylor congratulated us on a ‘close run’ race and passed over a case of beer, which was duly enjoyed by the crew, and helped us to forget how tired we were all feeling. Some of us opted for a few hours’ sleep prior to starting the ‘deep clean’. It felt like I’d only blinked my eyes and it was time to get up again to start the long list of jobs! Thankfully we all worked hard and got ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ looking very shiny. The next job was to clean ourselves! Off to the showers, where a number of us found only cold water! Despite this it was great to be clean, and have a shave! Most of the guys
were in the running for the David Bellamy/Brian Blessed award so a shave was definitely needed. When the crew returned to the boat it was hard to recognise we were the same group of people that had set off from Southampton 10 days earlier!
The crew dinner was fantastic, and thanks to Andy’s wife (Debs) we had booked up a very nice restaurant that catered for all our culinary desires! For me it was a peppercorn steak. Awesome! Needless to say this was accompanied by a few beers, and it was a good time for the crew to blow off a bit of steam. The warm climate was a far cry from the storms in Biscay!
After a very ‘fuzzy’ start to Thursday, we all went to the main Marina complex for the crew briefing. Apart from confirming details of our passage to Rio, we also viewed some of the media photos that had been taken of the fleet leaving Southampton. They were amazing, and seeing HMS Illustrious steaming along behind the fleet in perfect formation was incredible.
We were one of the more fortunate boats out of the fleet in that we had sustained very little damage or equipment failure (other than our comms) compared to some of the others. One crew had spent every hour of the two day stopover sewing back together one of their Spinnaker sails!
With our free time some opted for a stint at the local beach, but myself and a few others opted for a guided tour of Funchal, which included some ‘wine tasting’! It was a great afternoon and felt like we’d had a good opportunity to see some of the Island. We also visited one of the many high peaks overlooking the island and tried some of the local ‘poncha’ (which was a mix of fruit and Andy ‘firewater’! It certainly assured a very quiet coach on the way back to the marina!
That evening was the prize giving. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ crew turned up in full pink uniform, and sporting the local head gear we indulged in the free bar and snacks that had been laid on by the kind people of Madeira. The President of Madeira himself arrived to give the prizes. The crew clapped and cheered for our friends as they collected their winner’s pennants. For me I made a promise that we would do everything possible to ensure we are on the podium in Rio! This was a thought shared by all on ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’. So at race start on Friday, we felt very excited at the prospect of redressing the results of Race 1.
A brass band played as we slipped our mooring lines once again. We were the 5th boat out of the marina and received a great send off from everyone. The adrenaline really kicked in and I could see everyone on CV3 had their game faces on ready for action!
Out on the water it was a very different sight to the one we had been greeted with in Southampton. You could count the amount of spectator craft on one hand, but that did not detract from the electric atmosphere! As sails went up we looked around at the sail plan everyone else had up. Some had gone very conservative with a ‘reefed’ main sail. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ braved the strong blow with full main and Yankee 2 headsail.
As we counted down to race start, we found ourselves in close proximity to ‘Derry-Londonderry’, and ‘New York’. We were close enough to see the ‘whites of their eyes’! We crossed the line in 4th position, and worked hard to secure a great angle on the wind.
As the race continued to the next marker, we were greeted by a huge tug that shot water cannons high into the clear blue skies, and its deep fog horn sounded in salute for each yacht that passed. We were then off! A number of boats opted for an inshore route, which eventually saw them ‘parked up’ in the wind hole formed by the Islands shadow. Luckily CV3 opted for a broader angle and we launched our heavy weight ‘kite’ (Spinnaker sail) and trucked on out into the Atlantic hot on the heels of ‘Gold Coast Australia’.
We have now been racing for over 24 hours and find ourselves in 2nd place! We are hunting ‘Gold Coast’ like a boat possessed. As I write this we have just been told that we have eaten away 1.5 miles from ‘Gold Coast’s’ lead and gaining. We are trimming and helming well. As long as we can hold this we should be in a good position for the ‘scoring gate’, which is just off of Cape Verde Islands!
As you have all seen ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ finished in 6th place at the end of Race 1. It was a quiet mood for a while as we made our way into the Quinta De Lorda Marina. It had truly been a race of ‘cat and mouse’, and the fleet was hampered slightly by the light conditions. None of us envisaged the need to ‘anchor’ during a race…for which most of the fleet ended up doing at Aldaney.
We arrived at 5am and were welcomed by some of the familiar faces of Clipper. Justin Taylor congratulated us on a ‘close run’ race and passed over a case of beer, which was duly enjoyed by the crew, and helped us to forget how tired we were all feeling. Some of us opted for a few hours’ sleep prior to starting the ‘deep clean’. It felt like I’d only blinked my eyes and it was time to get up again to start the long list of jobs! Thankfully we all worked hard and got ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ looking very shiny. The next job was to clean ourselves! Off to the showers, where a number of us found only cold water! Despite this it was great to be clean, and have a shave! Most of the guys
were in the running for the David Bellamy/Brian Blessed award so a shave was definitely needed. When the crew returned to the boat it was hard to recognise we were the same group of people that had set off from Southampton 10 days earlier!
The crew dinner was fantastic, and thanks to Andy’s wife (Debs) we had booked up a very nice restaurant that catered for all our culinary desires! For me it was a peppercorn steak. Awesome! Needless to say this was accompanied by a few beers, and it was a good time for the crew to blow off a bit of steam. The warm climate was a far cry from the storms in Biscay!
After a very ‘fuzzy’ start to Thursday, we all went to the main Marina complex for the crew briefing. Apart from confirming details of our passage to Rio, we also viewed some of the media photos that had been taken of the fleet leaving Southampton. They were amazing, and seeing HMS Illustrious steaming along behind the fleet in perfect formation was incredible.
We were one of the more fortunate boats out of the fleet in that we had sustained very little damage or equipment failure (other than our comms) compared to some of the others. One crew had spent every hour of the two day stopover sewing back together one of their Spinnaker sails!
With our free time some opted for a stint at the local beach, but myself and a few others opted for a guided tour of Funchal, which included some ‘wine tasting’! It was a great afternoon and felt like we’d had a good opportunity to see some of the Island. We also visited one of the many high peaks overlooking the island and tried some of the local ‘poncha’ (which was a mix of fruit and Andy ‘firewater’! It certainly assured a very quiet coach on the way back to the marina!
That evening was the prize giving. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ crew turned up in full pink uniform, and sporting the local head gear we indulged in the free bar and snacks that had been laid on by the kind people of Madeira. The President of Madeira himself arrived to give the prizes. The crew clapped and cheered for our friends as they collected their winner’s pennants. For me I made a promise that we would do everything possible to ensure we are on the podium in Rio! This was a thought shared by all on ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’. So at race start on Friday, we felt very excited at the prospect of redressing the results of Race 1.
A brass band played as we slipped our mooring lines once again. We were the 5th boat out of the marina and received a great send off from everyone. The adrenaline really kicked in and I could see everyone on CV3 had their game faces on ready for action!
Out on the water it was a very different sight to the one we had been greeted with in Southampton. You could count the amount of spectator craft on one hand, but that did not detract from the electric atmosphere! As sails went up we looked around at the sail plan everyone else had up. Some had gone very conservative with a ‘reefed’ main sail. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ braved the strong blow with full main and Yankee 2 headsail.
As we counted down to race start, we found ourselves in close proximity to ‘Derry-Londonderry’, and ‘New York’. We were close enough to see the ‘whites of their eyes’! We crossed the line in 4th position, and worked hard to secure a great angle on the wind.
As the race continued to the next marker, we were greeted by a huge tug that shot water cannons high into the clear blue skies, and its deep fog horn sounded in salute for each yacht that passed. We were then off! A number of boats opted for an inshore route, which eventually saw them ‘parked up’ in the wind hole formed by the Islands shadow. Luckily CV3 opted for a broader angle and we launched our heavy weight ‘kite’ (Spinnaker sail) and trucked on out into the Atlantic hot on the heels of ‘Gold Coast Australia’.
We have now been racing for over 24 hours and find ourselves in 2nd place! We are hunting ‘Gold Coast’ like a boat possessed. As I write this we have just been told that we have eaten away 1.5 miles from ‘Gold Coast’s’ lead and gaining. We are trimming and helming well. As long as we can hold this we should be in a good position for the ‘scoring gate’, which is just off of Cape Verde Islands!
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Deepest Blue
Just off the Portuguese coast, near Lisbon
I noticed during the heavy weather in Biscay that the wind felt warmer, the water was not as chilled as that of the Channel. As we left the Bay of Biscay the water colour changed from a grey-green to light aqua blue. Absolutely beautiful!
Now we are sailing down the Portuguese coast, and entered true deep water sailing. The water colour is the most amazing deep blue. After being ‘knocked about’ for 48 hours in the Bay of Biscay, it was a welcome respite to have some nice cruising weather. We are of course racing, but under these conditions ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ almost sails herself!
It was a great opportunity for the crew to take off our soaking heavy weather ‘oilies’ and put on some shorts and t-shirts and enjoy the warm rays of the sun! We all still did our duties (cooking / engineering checks / bilge emptying).
The field of yachts has now formed into three elements. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ is currently in a battle with ‘Derry-Londonderry’ and ‘Singapore’ in the middle element. The leaders are now about 100 miles ahead, and we ourselves are ahead of the 9th / 10th place by 116 miles! We are very much remaining competitive, and hunting down the pack leaders.
Madeira is only a day or so away, and we are hot on the heels of ‘Derry-Londonderry’. It’s hard to focus on our own game plan when we have such a prominent ‘target’ taunting us, just in front! It’s amazing to think that after just over a thousand sea miles, we are all still very close. At this point the race will be won by whoever concedes the least errors! A delayed sail change or incorrect course can cost a boat the lead, or the ability to overtake those in front.
Spirits on board are very positive. Each day we have a crew meeting where our Skipper Rupert gives us the latest update on the race and the weather for the next 24 hours. It’s also an opportunity for us as a crew to raise any issues that have upset anyone. It’s easy in this tight environment to upset people! The tiredness and watch routine can cause the simplest little issue to become a serious one. So we conduct our ‘group therapy’ on a daily basis to ensure that we enter port with the same amount that we left Southampton with!
I noticed during the heavy weather in Biscay that the wind felt warmer, the water was not as chilled as that of the Channel. As we left the Bay of Biscay the water colour changed from a grey-green to light aqua blue. Absolutely beautiful!
Now we are sailing down the Portuguese coast, and entered true deep water sailing. The water colour is the most amazing deep blue. After being ‘knocked about’ for 48 hours in the Bay of Biscay, it was a welcome respite to have some nice cruising weather. We are of course racing, but under these conditions ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ almost sails herself!
It was a great opportunity for the crew to take off our soaking heavy weather ‘oilies’ and put on some shorts and t-shirts and enjoy the warm rays of the sun! We all still did our duties (cooking / engineering checks / bilge emptying).
The field of yachts has now formed into three elements. ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ is currently in a battle with ‘Derry-Londonderry’ and ‘Singapore’ in the middle element. The leaders are now about 100 miles ahead, and we ourselves are ahead of the 9th / 10th place by 116 miles! We are very much remaining competitive, and hunting down the pack leaders.
Madeira is only a day or so away, and we are hot on the heels of ‘Derry-Londonderry’. It’s hard to focus on our own game plan when we have such a prominent ‘target’ taunting us, just in front! It’s amazing to think that after just over a thousand sea miles, we are all still very close. At this point the race will be won by whoever concedes the least errors! A delayed sail change or incorrect course can cost a boat the lead, or the ability to overtake those in front.
Spirits on board are very positive. Each day we have a crew meeting where our Skipper Rupert gives us the latest update on the race and the weather for the next 24 hours. It’s also an opportunity for us as a crew to raise any issues that have upset anyone. It’s easy in this tight environment to upset people! The tiredness and watch routine can cause the simplest little issue to become a serious one. So we conduct our ‘group therapy’ on a daily basis to ensure that we enter port with the same amount that we left Southampton with!
Fat bottomed girl
5th in the fleet / South Biscay, just off Cape FinisterreSince the high emotions of the race start, the ‘Weather Gods’ have given us a very gentle introduction into the race. This all changed when we entered the Bay of Biscay. Unusually calm to begin with, the weather came up and before we knew it we were beating into a Force 8 gale, and rolling in heavy seas. Not expected really as this was the image on the Clipper Ventures poster that drew us all to being involved!
The last time I had been in Biscay I was a very ‘green’ rookie at sailing, and had even questioned my involvement with the race. Since completing my training I’m happy to report that I survived the rough conditions and thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the most powerful force of nature I have experienced so far!
It was an incredible experience to see our boat ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ (and her crew), weather the storm so well. It wasn’t until the next day that we learned that one of the other boats in the fleet had had to redirect to a French port due to a serious injury to one of their crew. Most of us have sailed with the injured crew member and it brought home the reality of Ocean racing. Our friend had been injured during a sail change and had been on the foredeck. Not the most stable place on a yacht in a pitching sea, with wind and water coming across the deck! A number of us had undertaken similar sail changes at the same time and fully appreciate the dangers involved. It certainly isn’t a place for the faint hearted!
On the same evening I had been asked to adjust the leach line in the mainsail. This involved climbing the first 18 feet of the mast, and tugging a cord into a tighter position. The only way to move around the deck is on hands and knees, so one of my team mates (Richard) accompanied me and he acted as my back up by positioning my feet on the climbing steps. As I made my ascent, I looked down into the ocean that was racing by at about 12 knots and thought about how quickly I would disappear into the distance should I fall in. I was of course ‘clipped on‘ via my life line, and a very trusty Richard had a ‘vice like grip’ on my line as I worked away. Soon the job was completed and we made our way back to the cockpit. As we came off watch I made a special point of thanking Rich for backing me up. As the race continues, we are coming together tighter as a crew. I trust everyone implicitly, and the same trust is being shown in me. I’ve hauled a crew member up from the lee ward side after they were nearly washed away down the companionway! We’re here for each other and the Team gets closer.
The fleet of 68’s are designed for weather conditions such as these. They have a very narrow entry into the water, which grows into a very broad beam, and then into a very ‘shapely stern’. This gives ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ (and the rest of the fleet) a nice curvy appearance! This means that they seem to love big sea and surf beautifully! Equally, when confronted with a wave over the bows, they seem to just punch through with very little loss of speed.
After a very challenging 48 hours, I’m very thankful that ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ has these qualities! She truly is a beautiful ‘fat bottomed northern lass’!!!
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Race Start 31 July 2011
WOW! What a start to the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race! After many days of hard work, ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ was ready to slip her moorings and head out for the start line. Not before we received a huge emotional goodbye from friends and family, and the populous of Southampton! Thousands of People lined the quayside and surrounding banks of Ocean Village to wave us off.
I was told on the morning of the race start that BBC national news had broadcast images of the boats getting ready and that they had filmed me up the mast with Leonie carrying out maintenance on our rig! We were now stars of telly!
As we left Ocean Village we made our way out into Southampton Water where we were escorted out into the Solent by HMS Illustrious, my Dad’s old ship! So for me this really was the icing on the cake! I scattered a few flowers in his memory and hoped he wouldn’t be too offended that his Lancastrian son was serving on a Yorkshire boat! I’m sure he’d be happy, as we are the only English entry!!
The Solent was churned white with the hundreds of small craft that had come to wave us off. It was the sort of thing you only see at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race (raced by the highly paid professionals) or a Royal Navy fleet review! As a crew we were so emotionally moved by the sheer volume of well-wishers who had braved the chop of the Solent to come and wave us off! The scale of what we were involved in really hit home. I would be home in a few weeks’ time (after leg one) but for others, this would be the last view of home for the next 11 months.As we left the Solent and headed around the south of the Isle of Wight, the supports dropped back. The only company we had was from the media helicopters that were videoing or photographing the yachts from the air! We felt like ‘rock and roll’ stars!
Within the first 24 hours we had almost changed through every sail we had. The conditions were very light, which almost makes it a bit more challenging than the stronger conditions!The first few days were very tiring, as many of us were getting used to the watch system. We have had a number of technical difficulties with the boat (mainly due to electrical problems). Nothing that has prevented us from racing, but with our‘water maker’ on the blink, it has made for some very anxious moments where we have had to plan and ration our water to last us until Madeira. I’m happy to report that we have now repaired the ‘water maker’ which is churning out 30 litres of fresh water an hour! Not enough to go crazy over, but at least we can go back to having ‘unlimited’ drinks!
We are currently on Day 4, and we have entered Biscay. This notorious stretch of water gave us a nice Force 5 Welcome, and chucked a good ‘rolling swell’ in for good measure! This triggered a number of crew to ‘start feeding the fish’…but I’m happy to report that so far I have felt okay. I was on Mother watch yesterday, which meant I spent all of yesterday climbing around the galley at 45 degrees attempting to prepare the meals for the crew! The positive side of ‘Mothering’ is you get a good long sleep afterwards and I have enjoyed a nice 9 hours in my bunk!
The only drawback is I feel that I’ve missed out on some of the fun that has been happening on deck. Yesterday we began to receive frequent visits from pods of Common Dolphin! I saw the first pod, but apparently they have been with us throughout the night!
I’m looking forward to going on watch in a few hours’ time and surfing ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ down some waves, racing our very own pod of dolphins!
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