Browsing Archive: February, 2010
Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 28, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 Day 20, 21st February 2010
Our final night-watch passed without hitch last night. Trucking along at 10 & 11 knots in the freezing cold. We had passed through the busy waters earlier so had a pretty uninterrupted 6 hours flying across the Yellow sea to our destination. Every half-hour or so we were checking the distance to the official finish line and ticking off the miles. The following watch would be on at the point of crossing the line but Mick and I asked to be woken up 15 minu...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 28, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 Day 19, 20th February
Despite our eventual good progress last night our position of 7th remains the same. It seems the other boats didn't get the light winds we did and kept moving for those extra hours. Our predicted time for crossing the finish line is about 4am tomorrow morning and it's now looking like there's really nothing we can do to change our position in the race. Edinburgh are a long way behind us so 7th is assured and we are too far behind Cape Breton – our nearest r...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 28, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 – Day18, 19th February
The sea state is now slightly calmer, the night clearer but also colder. We're now down in 7th position, which is hard to take when we have been working the boat so hard. We gambled on coming further east in order to get slightly stronger winds and a better run in towards the finish line – however the lighter winds that we hoped the rest of the fleet would get don't appear to have hit them. Certainly not significantly enough to make a difference. Althoug...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 21, 2010,
Leg 4, Race 6, Day 17, 18th February
Last night was a nightmare. It started off ok on our 3 on and 3 off hourly rotations but 2 hours before the end of the watch the wind picked up and we did the “sail change from hell!” I spotted the trend in wind increase too late so by the time we were getting the yankee 3 up on deck the winds were already gusting up to the mid 30s, the night was pitch black and absolutely freezing. It took 4 of us 15 minutes to get the new sail down the length of the d...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 21, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 Day 16 17th February
I have a new best friend as of last night. He's called Henri (Henri Lloyd) and he's my brand new, worn for the first time, mid-layer Salopettes! That, along with my thickest base layer, fleece and mid-layer jacket meant that I was toasty warm all night on night-watch. Although in fairness I couldn't compare to the previous night as we did split watches last night. One thing I can crow about – and that's that I finished a watch without being soaked through to...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 - Day 15 16th February
I'm now sleeping in my sleeping bag. In the space of 4 days I've gone from sleeping in nothing (well a t-shirt for decency's sake) to getting into my muslin sleeping bag liner, to lying on top of my sleeping bag and now I'm finally in it with the zip done up! We were told there would be a sharp change in temperature and conditions during this race – and they weren't wrong! It's staggering you can have such a dramatic change in climate without sitting o...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 15, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6, Day 14 15th February
I slept well last night – for a good 2 hours and was dreaming about sailing. I'd been sailing along nicely when suddenly the wind picked up and stormy weather started bouncing the boat around. It seems this was an omen, as just before we were due to go on watch, things started getting lively! We were straight up on deck putting in the first reef and then taking down the yankee 2 and hanking on the yankee 3. Back on the bow, the waves were crashing over ...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 14, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 - Day 13 14th February
1.30am came round far too quickly. Especially as sleep was being unfashionably late and still hadn't bothered to show until well after midnight! I started off grumpy and was even grumpier within 10 minutes as someone had taken my Oilie jacket from the wet locker and after rifling through the entire space for 15 minutes, I had to borrow a spare just to get myself on deck – late! Grrrrrrr! This was the first time since leaving the Southern Ocean in leg 3...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Sunday, February 14, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 – Day 12 13th February
As predicted sleep is something that evaded me last night. The boat slammed against the waves and I slammed against my bunk pretty well all night. The only relief was when it felt like we were tacking 3 times during the night. Each time I felt the boat level off and slow right down as we headed into the wind. Each time I adjusted my bunk angle ready to counter the heel on the opposite side and each time I ended up putting my bunk back to where I starte...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 12, 2010,
Leg 4 - Race 6, Day 11 12th February
Bang, bang, Bang! Was the noise that I woke up to at 1.30 this morning. Swiftly followed by a quick blast of 'Happy Birthday to You' sung by Charlie and Mike to an amused if slightly bleary-eyed Jeremy (or Victor as I call him – after Victor Meldrew). The bangs had been a series of party poppers fired off over his bunk as a special 'Birthday treat'!!! Our old faithful Birthday banners had been strung up and fresh balloons blown up for the occasion but...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 12, 2010,
Race 6 Day 10 11th February
11.45am Dudin Mean Time (DMT)
I arrived on deck at 1.45am this morning to be welcomed by the most beautiful starry sky. The night sky when viewed from the middle of the ocean is really the most spectacular sight. I'm by no means any expert on the stars but it's hard to miss the Milky Way, Mars is very bright at the moment but search as I might I haven't found a Fruit and Nut up there in the heavens yet! After identifying the Plough, Orion and the Southern Cross...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 12, 2010,
Race 6 Day 9 10th February
Yesterday evening was watch change-over. The whole crew are split into four groups and two watches (Port and Starboard watch). There are two groups per watch and every four days two of the groups changes watch, so each group has 8 days per watch but will be with two other groups on that watch within that time (I hope you're following this!). I've been on Port watch since race start and yesterday at 8pm, moved to starboard watch. This meant instead of starting nig...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Wednesday, February 10, 2010,
Race 6 Day 8 9th February
Today we have all started to focus a few days further ahead. We think we have a couple more days of good weather, the winds are due to go lighter before we could be set for a strong blow either just before or just after the scoring gate. The temperature over the last two nights has dropped slightly and we are all wearing light jackets at night now. Piers reminded us that while it's still relatively calm, now is a good time to sort through our kit, get our thermals and...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Wednesday, February 10, 2010,
Race 6 Day 7 8th February
Today was no ordinary day for two reasons. Firstly it was Mikey's Birthday and on Hull & Humber we always go big on Birthdays and secondly after much joking and teasing from the crew Piers our Skipper agreed that he would do motherwatch – for the first time! The deal was brokered yesterday. Our two primary watch leaders Tom and Mike would run the boat while Piers would run the galley. It sounds a bit risky when we are doing so well but in fairness our course was set...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 8, 2010,
Race 6 Day 5 7th February
Today was a busy, day for me. I was first up on the helm which delayed my breakfast (never a good start for me!) and then as engineer we also have to keep the yacht's log up to date (every 2 hours) do the engine and generator checks, empty water out of the bilges and clean the general cabin areas below deck. The last jobs are done at 4pm when everyone is up, so in theory, you don't disturb anyone who is trying to sleep. This morning I had to return to my role of “Su...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 8, 2010,
Race 6 – Day 5 Saturday February 6th
We are still sailing hard today – flying along in fact! We are still in first place but with Cape Breton hot on our heels. The rest of the fleet are further west and heading north while we too are going north but also trying to get a bit further east. All the weather forecasts predict that the wind will swing round to the east, which will then help us go north and make it tougher on the boats with a lot of easting still to make. So in theory, if the for...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 8, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6, Day 4 - 5th February
Sleep did come last night despite the heat and before I knew it Tom, our watch leader was at the side of my bunk to nudge me into life and remind me I had 15 minutes to get myself on deck.
I had been vaguely aware of a tack during the night… aware enough to reach out and ease the tilt cord on my bunk so I was horizontal again, without fully waking up and also aware of sails being moved around in the forepeak I'm guessing at about 6am, but as I woke up with ...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 5, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 - 4th Feb, Day 3
Last night we saw the fruits of all of our lugging and rail-sitting efforts. The scheds that arrived around 11pm put us in second place next to Cape Breton. We were chuffed to bits and even more so when, having tacked, we crossed Cape Breton's path. We were on Starboard tack and therefore the stand-on vessel and so as we were set to collide, Cape Breton had to duck behind us to avoid us. As they ducked behind us, that technically then put us in first place! Admi...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 5, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 - 3rd Feb, Day 2
Night watch last night was good. I've always enjoyed night sailing under the stars and while as night fell there were quite a few clouds around, they soon cleared to reveal the wonderful starry skies that we'd all come to know and love. The winds, while still light, were fairly steady and we held to our course well, all the time trying to pinch as tight into the wind as we could. Dotted all around us on the horizon we could see the masthead lights of nearly all th...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Friday, February 5, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 6 - 2nd Feb Day 1
My final night in Singapore was spent sleeping on deck under the night sky in Keppel Bay Marina. It was far too hot and sticky to attempt to sleep below decks in my bunk and anyway I'd much rather sleep on deck when it's safe to do so.
We were all up at 6am to clear Immigration and had breakfast courtesy of our hosts, as the day slowly started to dawn and the temperature likewise rose. A much as we'd enjoyed our stop-over we were all agreed that we'd been on dry la...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 1, 2010,
Leg 4, Race 5 - 18th January – The finish!
As predicted, around 3am we crossed the official finish line to Race 5. Technically in 6th position but with Finland behind having stopped to transfer Cork's skipper onto Qingdao at what was now becoming known as “Cork Island”, we were pretty sure we'd end up in 7th. Our worst result so far and no points from the scoring gate either. We are all a bit disappointed, however we know we raced hard, worked the boat hard and learned a huge amount – ...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 1, 2010,
Leg 4, Race 5 - 17th January
It's my turn for mother watch again today – this turn my partner in grime is Tom. We soon realised that the last time we were on mother watch together was the fateful day that Arthur went overboard in Leg 2, so everyone made me promise not to go near the video camera, lest I bring a fresh disaster upon us. (It appears that my media role is still being heralded as the jinx for all our troubles!!!) The weather was pretty well the same as the last few days – only ...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 1, 2010,
Leg 4 Race 5 - 16th January
Today is Jo's Birthday and as Albert and I appear to be chief B'day organisers, that's what we did – we organised. As I was on the opposite watch from Jo, it was down to me to bake the Birthday cake while she was sleeping and Mike B heroically blew up some modelling balloons that didn't want to be blown up and stuck up some Happy Birthday Banners that didn't want to stick! Piers had predicted the same pattern of overnight squalls again but despite the fact that th...
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Posted by Della Parsons on Monday, February 1, 2010,
Leg 4, Race 5 -15th January
So we're racing up to Singapore – or Batam Island to be correct – except none of us really know if we are racing or not. It really doesn't feel like it at all. We are all still in shock at Cork's exit from the race and we spend a lot of time speculating about what Clipper will do – whether they'll try and salvage the boat, repair it and even if it will be able to rejoin the race at a later stage. I can't begin to imagine how I would feel if I was a crew member...
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