Race 10 Day 7, Sun May 30th

Having slept through both night watches I got up at 7am just when my watch were going off watch!  In theory I should have gone back to bed but I've never fancied bed sores and the view from my bunk – of the bunk above - was not picturesque enough to tempt me back there. Instead I stayed up in the saloon, tested my stomach out on a cup of tea and slice of bread with only a hint of jam on it. It went down and stayed down so I declared myself fit and well again.  I w...
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Race 10 Day 6, Sat May 29th

Today's been a bit of a write off. I appear to have picked up a stomach bug from somewhere – God knows where and have been unable to hold anything down – not even water for nearly 24 hours. Sleep seems to be the only solution and I've been doing lots of it, despite the pick up in the wind, despite the jaunty angle of the boat and the occasional slamming which is magnified when you sleep right in the fore-peak. We've been keeping up great speeds since mid morning...
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Race 10 Day 5, Fri May 28th

Having wallowed in frustrating light airs for the first half of last night, by the time we came back up on deck for the 3 – 7am watch, the wind had picked up and we were zipping along at 9 & 10 knots under the medium weight kite.  Over the last 24 hours we've lost a bit of ground to the leading pack but we are now hopeful our “Drive it Like We Stole it” policy of helming, will pay off and we'll be able to play catch up. The wind has been pushing us away from t...
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Race 10 Day 4, Thurs May 27th

Thursday 27th May

During the night we encountered the most amazing storm. The crew on-deck sat and watched it creep up on us for 3 hours before it finally arrived; the lightning flashing every 10 seconds or so, lighting the sky up like a Friday night disco, giving us just enough warning to drop the spinnaker and get 2 reefs in the main before the 10 knots of wind puffed it's macho chest out to 30.knots. And then came the rain. Big fat, juicy splodges of rain, they ...
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Race 10 Day 3, Weds May 26th

I'm on mother watch again today and it's another scorcher. Shorts and bikini top are all I can bear to wear and still I'm bathed in sweat all day. Rich, one of the Hull Ambassadors is my co-mother. He can't sleep so gets up early to help with breakfast – a sign of his general willingness to get stuck in and participate in full, which I very much appreciate. The morning passes in a hot haze of tea and coffee making and a frantic search for beans – the key ingred...
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Race 10 Day 2, Tues May 25th

After the frustrations of last night – making ground on all the leading yachts one hour, to lose it all and then some the next, we got up for watch at 7am this morning to discover that the scheds now put us in 2nd place!  We were pleased but took the news with a pinch of salt as the positions are always calculated on a straight line distance to finish and we are sure some of the other boats are in a better position than  we are.

The fleet split in to two groups ov...
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Race 10 Day 1, Mon May 24th

Leg 7 Race 10  Jamaica to New York
Monday 24th May

I awoke this morning looking like I'd done 10 rounds in the ring with Frank Bruno! Not a great omen for race start day but there it was. That's what you get when you share a bedroom with 20 or so mosquitoes. Despite virtually bathing in Deet “Sod off all Mozzie” spray, the little tykes had feasted properly on my blood and I was now covered in large, itchy lumps and had two swollen eyes. I felt violated. Thank God...
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Race 9 Day 4, Tues May 18th

18th May

Having finally got to bed at about 3.30am I was woken by Charlie from the opposite watch at 5.30am. The message was that everyone was needed up on deck to sit on the high side. I pulled my shorts on quickly, grabbed my life jacket and was greeted on deck by the sight of Cape Breton about 20 feet away alongside us, in a full head to head battle.  They appeared to be edging ahead. If it's possible to sit on the high side of a boat with 'full force', well that...
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Race 9 Day 3, Mon May 17th

17th May
My last couple of off-watches I haven't been able to face my bunk. It is SO hot and airless. The humidity is still bad. Everything feels damp from sweat and for the first time since the start of the whole race I really want to get off the boat. Not away from the racing and the sailing but I'm struggling to face the living conditions. Even though it's marginally cooler as we get slightly more north it's still foul below decks. Even though there's a good bree...
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Race 9 Day 2, Sun May 16th

16th May

Our watch rose wearily for breakfast. All had little or no sleep. It was too hot, we were beating straight into the wind which meant the return to violent, boat slamming, bone shaking action. This also meant water over the deck and so no hatches were open which in turn contributed to the stale, airless, oppressive heat in the fore-peak. It really was the most unpleasant living conditions and brought on a new wave of sea sickness in those that were prone to s...
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Race 9 Start Day, Sat May 15th

7am came round too quickly. I awoke to the sound of heavy rain on deck and a glimpse of dull, grey skies through the hatch, which despite being propped open kept both the rain and any hint of fresh air out.

We all trogged up to the marina block – most in the hope of a shower – to find there was already a huge queue of Clipper crew armed with travel towels and wash bags. The cafe which had promised to be open by 7.30 was still looking ominously dark and unpopu...
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Panama Canal, Fri May 14th   

Panama Canal

Having staggered back to the boat in good time for our ridiculously early “off”, we set off (minus the Singapore crew member who was supposed to be hitching a ride with us and missed the boat – for a second time!) only to then sit out in the bay waiting for our pilot to show up. 6am went by, then 7am and eventually our pilot arrived via a rib, just before 8am! I'd just decided I'd go below deck and catch up on some sleep while we were waiting, a...
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Panama, Thurs May 13th   

Having only managed to stagger back to the boat for about 2am, I was woken from my mattress on the bow of the deck, by the Singapore Crew who were moored alongside us and were making preparations to slip lines and leave for their journey through the canal. There was a bit of a hoo-hah as 2 of the Singapore crew were nowhere to be seen. One had just disappeared for a few days without leaving any contact info and the other one had been last seen out in the early hours,...
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Panama, Weds May 12th   

Panama
Deep clean day –  I woke up on board having slept on my mattress on deck, under the stars at 10 to 8 – thinking I was too late to have time for a shower. I then surveyed the other unconscious bodies scattered around and surmised that once again we wouldn't be starting on time, so a quick shower was taken. The facilities where we were moored, consisted of 2 loo cubicles and one shower room. The water was cold with no option of a hot tap but that really wasn't...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 17, Thurs May 6th   
6th May

Election day back home in the UK a million miles away from life here on board Hull & Humber.
The winds picked up during 3 – 7 am watch and Maggie and I started to slide from one side of the saloon to the other – although trying valiantly to continue to repair the sail holding onto our seats with clenched stomach and buttock muscles!!!
By 6.15 we'd finished taping every part of the sail except the main rip across the head where the sail was still ...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 16, Weds May 5th   
Wednesday 5th

When I did awake – at around 5am (my watch having decided to let me sleep through the 11pm – 3am watch) it was because the boat suddenly lurched heavily over to one side and my nose was firmly pressed up against the side of my locker. I then heard the cry “Just get it down” so assumed that we had lost another shackle on the spinnaker halyard. It all seemed to be under control and the next thing was the sound of heavy rain on deck – a...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 15, Tues May 4th   

Tuesday 4th May
Night watch – the wind picked up gradually overnight in fits and starts, which made trimming the spinnaker interesting. One minute the winds would be quite gusty which meant to keep control of the sheet you needed at least four turns on the winch – or else you were in danger of taking off in flight with it Superman style!  Then the next minute the winds would go light and you'd have to get your grinder to help ease the sheet round the wi...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 14, Mon May 3rd  

Monday 3rd May

It may be bank holiday Monday at home but here in the North Atlantic it's just another day of racing. Last night treated me to my first half-way decent night of stars – although there was still a haze of cloud, most of the constellations I'd been learning about were visible and I've now been talking about it all so much several of the other crew are picking up on it and finding they too can name some of the stars – although mainly they just...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 13, Sun May 2nd 

Sunday 2nd May
So 10 hours later (plus a few hours break to get a tiny bit of sleep) our new bionic lightweight spinnaker – which was now more fly-weight at the top due to the amount of patching and stitching it had on it – was ready to be packed and flown again. The winds had died right off again overnight and the mid-weight was struggling to stay full. The super sail repair duo had breakfast (to a round of applause from the rest of the crew for resurrect...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 12, Sat May 1st

Saturday 1st May

It's almost unbearably hot before we even get up today – breakfast on deck is reasonably pleasant but by the time that is over we're sweating, bathing in sunscreen and the guys going off watch are not looking forward to trying to sleep below decks in the oven that is now the forepeak. Still, the mood on board is pretty upbeat as there is no sign of Singapore trying to come back up behind us and we are now fully focussed on catching California...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 11, Fri April 30th

Friday 30th
Our night watch was made this morning by a stunningly beautiful Sunrise – smooth pale aqua sky framing a bright tangerine sun, unblemished other than a few dramatic clouds.
We are catching Singapore gradually. It's a long slow process and each time we check the AIS, we see we are making grounds – but only in a couple of hundredths of a mile! We are trying everything with the trim, working every wave and my arms are aching like anything having d...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 10, Thurs April 29th

Thurs 29th
Still struggling with the 11pm – 3am watch last night. Also a very frustrating watch. We can still see Singapore although they have managed to put some space between us now and we are very much the ones chasing them down. No matter what we do we don't seem to be able to close the gap. The wind is not on our side and keeps veering back round to the west which means we are heading almost due east – sometimes slightly north of east (NOT GOOD) wh...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 9, Weds April 28th

Weds 28th
I dragged myself away from the drama of checking our position against Singapore to help John – one of our Ambassadors, in the galley over breakfast. But by the time we had cleared up it looked like Singapore were edging back level with us again. We note that they are flying their medium weight kite – unusual in the breeze which is dying by the minute, but after Justin calls them up on the VHF radio for a chat, we find out that they damaged their...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 8, Tues April 27th

Tuesday 27th
At midnight I was standing in a pretty hot, sweaty forepeak. The off-watch sleeping (and snoring) around me and a sad, twisted tennis-court size pile of spinnaker lay at my feet. My task was to check it all over to see if there was any damage – and then repair it asap so it was ready to hoist at the earliest possible opportunity. On a down-wind leg, our mid-weight – or 'all purpose' kite was a key sail that we couldn't afford to be without.

It...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 7, Mon April 26th

Monday 26th
Second Night watch (3am – 7am) was more generous with its cloud than stars and I was allowed only the occasional peep of my new twinkly acquaintances. I'm still getting used to going to bed at 7am. My body clock is struggling to adjust to this 48 hour watch cycle. It takes me ages to get to sleep and then when I'm woken to get up for the next watch, I tend to be in a deep, deep sleep which takes me ages to drag myself out of. Hence lunch was eate...
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Leg 6 Race 8 Day 6, Sun April 25th

Night watch 2300 – 0300. I got up hoping to get a great night sky having started to study my Night Sky book yesterday afternoon – I was fired up and ready to learn! But it was mainly cloudy and very bright, as a huge, not quite full moon was out. We're still flying the mid-weight spinnaker with winds ranging from 7 knots up to 14 knots. I mainly observed again – with a bit of sporadic grinding  – and tried to get my Night Sky book out and make sense o...
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