Leg 4, Race 5 -14th January

Woke up at 1.20 by Charlie in full foulies saying they had been in one squall for 6 hours!!  Got on deck to find it was by then, only drizzling but blowing quite well. After the last few days I knew enough to make sure I kept an eye on the radar to spot any squalls coming at us. The squalls were easy to spot - a mass of solid yellow that took over a good portion of the radar screen! Pretty soon we had some weather coming in – Piers had a look and confirmed that ta...
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Leg 4, Race 5 -13th January

At 2am I arrived on deck to find we'd also arrived at the straits – the previous watch had tacked several times – we could all tell as we'd gone from lying on our lee-cloths to having noses pressed against the side of the boat and then back to cuddling the lee-cloth again!.
We now had Singapore and Qingdao Clippers within spitting distance as we sailed up through the narrow part of the straits – while keeping a beady eye out for pirates! This area was renowned...
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Leg 4, Race 5 -12th January

Got up – to find the lightweight spinny was up and we were sailing along quite nicely - trimming and making reasonable progress – we could still see other Clipper lights around us on the horizon so it was still all to play for. Pretty soon we were aware we were sailing into a blacker and blacker hole and it was pretty obvious we had an almighty squall coming. We got the yankee ready to hoist and woke Piers who called for an immediate spinny drop, and yankee and ...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 11th January

Today is my first day of 4 as watch leader. I was neither looking forward to it nor dreading it but I did know it would challenge me, take me out of my comfort zone but that ultimately I would learn a lot and enjoy the experience all the more for it. Before I could concentrate properly on being a grown-up Mike B and I were woken especially early in order to play a practical joke on JR – who had been particularly obnoxious (in the nicest possible way) yesterday! W...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 10th January

Yet another hot, Hot, HOT day! – True to our word we were trimming the lightweight kite during the night – and as we'd hoped we'd taken miles off all boats – although we are still in 8th place but much more in touch with the other boats now. Edinburgh appeared on our stern this morning and by working hard we managed to banish them to the horizon! So we can see that what we are doing is paying off. Tempers have settled down now, everyone is positive and has th...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 9th January

Having gone to bed at about 10pm last night for my full night's sleep treat after mother-watch, I then found I couldn't. Sleep that is. So after an hour and a half of trying every lying position imaginable and some you probably can't imagine I stuck my head on deck to see what was going on, got involved in an evolution and stayed up til 2am for the rest of the watch.
Was woken at 7am by Big Mike to tell me they were about to do a Spinnaker peel and did I want to fil...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 8th January

I should have been editing on night-watch last night but once again we were busy packing the mid-weight, putting the heavy up and calling trim and spinny collapse for each other on deck. We are playing the angles with the wind and can't quite seem to make the heading we want. It's tricky on the helm as you have to balance between getting the boat speed up – and going in the right direction. At the moment the two are about 30 degrees apart on the compass and it's a...
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Leg 4 – Race 5 - 7th January

After the excitement of the previous night, getting up on deck to find that there was still a deck and sails up was reassuring!  However the winds had dropped and so had our speed and I after half an hour of watching our chances of gaining ground on the other boats disappeared, we finally woke up the skipper hoping he'd make a decision to change down to the light-weight kite to get us going.  As is often the case when you feel forced to wake Piers when you know h...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 6th January

Another scorching day on the water.  However we wake up to find the wind has died right down. In fact it died pretty soon after we went off watch and during the last 6 hours Jamaica had gone past us.  We were a bit disappointed, as the previous 6 hours we had been the fastest boat in the fleet and had taken miles out of everyone. But it also made us more determined. Now, unlike leg 1 when we were also faced with light airs and we floundered not really knowing what t...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 5th January

Last night we took the heavy weight spinnaker down and sailed night-watch with a poled-out yankee 2 sail and the main.  The seas are still quite rough and confused and this is by far the safer option – especially with everyone finding their feet and their helming heads again – and for some of the leggers it will be the first time they've helmed at night with the spinnaker. As night fell we could still see the lights of the other 7 Clipper yachts around us. It w...
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Leg 4, Race 5 - 4th January

If we thought we would have a gentle settle into this race on our first night watch, we were mistaken.  With all the fleet so close and the wind changeable we had almost 6 full hours of constant graft.  We went through 2 sail changes, bagging and packing sails and reefing the main in and out. By the end of the watch we were rigging a spinnaker pole ready for a potential hoist by the other watch at first light.  I was hoping that this would mean after a very long rac...
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Leg 4 – Race 5 3rd Jan 2010 – Race Start Day

(editorial note: as this is posted, the blogs have skipped from Christmas Day straight to here. The missing days may get patched in later).

We were all up bright and early in our apartment – despite staying out later than we should have done and then also having had a very difficult conversation with Charles last night. It was blatantly obvious he was still in a lot of pain and extremely uncomfortable with basic sleeping and moving around.  We ...
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Geraldton – Christmas Day

Christmas Day is Christmas Day however old you are and wherever you are in the world. It is just as exciting regardless. Well for me it is anyway! I got up eagerly – if a little gingerly (too much beer and wine last night!) to see if Santa had left me any presents under the tree. I was pretty optimistic – because I always am - but mainly because I'd had a huge stash of parcels waiting for me yesterday which I had deposited under said tree ready for this morning!...
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Leg 3 Day 24 – Christmas Eve!

Last night was busy.  Busy helping Albert in the galley, box up all our food that can stay on board and busy doing the final 'fling' on the bits that can't.  Also I'm needed on deck to help out drop our headsails as the wind strength is such that the main alone is enough to keep us trucking along. I also happen to know that Piers is trying to delay our arrival into Geraldton until around 6am – when it's light and the cameras will be able to film our arrival an...
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Leg 3 Day 23 - 23rd December

I'm on Mother watch with Brett today – which is bound to be interesting as Brett notoriously hates mother-watch!  I make Bread for Lunch which is baked and out of the oven just in time to be eaten with baked beans and salami – lots of salami as we are now eating up everything we can't take into Australia with us.  Anything not tinned has to be used or slung overboard as the Aussie custom rules are very strict! It's an amazingly bright, sunny day. Good strong wi...
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Leg 3 Day 22 - 22nd December 

It's still not sunny or particularly warm today and we're not happy at all! The day brightened up this afternoon but we are starting to doubt that it can possibly be 40 degree mid-summer heat in Geraldton – which is now after all only just around the corner! We were expecting to be in shorts and t-shirts by now and topping up our tans ready for Chirstmas! As the day continues the wind picks up gradually but is still not quite the strong winds we should be getti...
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Leg 3 Day 21- 21st December

We wake up each day expecting to have sunshine and for it to be much warmer – and each day doesn't quite deliver.  In an effort to put a spring in our step, I decide it's time Christmas arrives on board H&H and so get out the few bits of tinsel and the Santa hat I had bought in Cape Town, along with the mini-tree, decs and tinsel Albert bought and a few of us set about decorating the saloon and Nav station area. I get 'Blue Peter' creative, dig out some coloured c...
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Leg 3 Day 20 - 20th December

It was a starry, starry night on night watch and with the sails up we are making good ground. The first quarter-moon was up and looking very orange,  and it was lovely to be helming by stars again – even if they did keep disappearing behind cloud! We whiled away the hours by writing the scenes and script for our boat Nativity. It would be based around the actual Nativity but featuring Baby Arthur, a 6ft 9 inch tall and bearded Mary, three wise crew members bearin...
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Leg 3 Day 19 - 19th December

Last night was a wet miserable night.  The rain was that really wet kind – a bit like a heavy mist, that seems to get in everywhere and soak you through far more than a torrential down pour.  We are in light winds again – the high pressure has finally caught us up and Piers predicts we might be under motor for the next 24 – 36 hours. It's not great but the upside is engine power takes fewer bodies to man the boat. We split our watch into smaller groups – I ...
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Leg 3 Day 18 –!8th December

I'm full of cold today and feel utterly rubbish.  You still have to keep going though, as the ocean doesn't stop doing it's thing just because you feel ill! However blogging does stop when I feel rubbish. I'm hoping at times like these, less is more!



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