Leg 4 Race 6 Day 19, 20th February

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 rivals for most of this race, to make any gains on 6th place a reality.

We are all exhausted and the lull in the pace is giving us all a moment to realise just how tired we are. We have 5 people who have various injuries that have now taken them out of the mix for general sailing duties. Lots of people have cuts, bruises grazes. Areas of broken skin are particularly sore because of the exposure to salt water and the fact that they get constantly knocked. Plasters just don't stay on in this environment. Every single one of us aches all over, we have sore hands and painful backs, arms and knees! Despite that, good humour is always in plentiful supply. We still have the energy to take the mickey out of each other, play practical jokes and generally keep our spirits up. We're all pretty good at spotting when someone needs a hug too -a small gesture which, when well timed, goes a long way to help keeping life on board bearable. The cold has been energy sapping and we all agree that we've never been so exhausted at the end of a race.

As we approach Qingdao, the sea is much busier with traffic. I checked out the AIS just before coming onto our day watch to see that we were about half an hour from crossing two very busy lanes of shipping. We were obviously about to encounter the main routes used for travelling around the Chinese coast.  The odd tanker we can deal with but this was definitely looking like a game of British Bulldogs with a constant line of tankers heading north and another one heading south running parallel. I woke Piers who had only been asleep for an hour – but I didn't want to be responsible for having Close Encounters of the Tanker Kind and creating yet another Clipper Race headline! In typical Piers fashion he smiled wryly and proclaimed we just had to pick our moment and “blast through” but although he made light of it, he spent the next half hour constantly moving from the nav station to check the visual on deck and altering our course to move either in front of, or behind a tanker. We were close enough to several of them to have a very good look – and to wave at the guys on board who were similarly checking us out!

Our final day of sailing was really great. We were moving along really well at 10 knots now and were obviously in the winds that the other boats had enjoyed.  For a couple of the guys who were just doing this leg this would be their final chance to helm in the daylight. Talk as always turned to what it would be like to be back home again. I don't even want to think about race end yet. I suspect it will be like having a bereavement... and yet I may well have had enough by then and be eager to step off the boat. I really don't think that will be the case. Despite the cold, despite the sometimes frustrating conditions, despite the knocks and bruises, the wet bunks, the lack of sleep and the aching limbs, I've caught the sailing bug and am in no rush to find a cure.
 

Leg 4 Race 6 – Day18, 19th February

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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Leg 4, Race 6, Day 17, 18th February

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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Leg 4 Race 6 Day 16 17th February

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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Leg 4 Race 6 - Day 15 16th February

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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Leg 4 Race 6, Day 14 15th February

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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Leg 4 Race 6 - Day 13 14th February

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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Leg 4 Race 6 – Day 12 13th February

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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Leg 4 - Race 6, Day 11 12th February

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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Race 6 Day 10 11th February

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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