16 posts from 2008

nuff said :o)

Well I've certainly been there and done that and have a few t-shirts to prove it, however I'm still not home safe and sound but lounging around lovely wet Dartmouth. 

Hurrah!!

What was I whittering on about back in Sydney? Crossing the Atlantic was a doddle, even if we did come in at 9th position so will miss our target position of being in top 5 of the overall race leaderboard.  

There's no beating about the bush, I am dreading this next race. There, I've said it out loud.  Some or most of my closest friends know that prior to joining the race I couldn't bring myself to contemplate the Atlantic crossing and I was somehow miraculously going to get from Canada to Cork. I've got one hour before I have to join the boat and I am still unable to think about it. If I could get off now I would without hesitation or a look backward at the fleet.

At last I'm in a port with internet access and at last I manage to get onto one of the only 2 pc's available to us (probably because I should already be on the boat doing last minute preparations with the rest of the crew).

I brief update:

I left Hawaii and 3 weeks later landed in Santa Cruz, looking forward to a relaxing few days and to get washing done, alas Clipper had other ideas and we had 24 hours in port. Still, can't complain that's enough time to sample more than sufficient quantities of B&C.

From SC we raced to Panama but man-o-man what a slow race that was, our boat took a different tactic to the rest of the fleet [it is becoming apparent to me that they always take a different tactic] and it didn't pay off because we spent more time becalmed and trying to find wind than actually moving.  Still, not to complain, we made it to Panama just a day behind the majority of the fleet and ahead of the last boat.

Panama to Jamaica, now that was a quick fast race, unless you're sailing on WA in which case you take a different tactic to the rest of the fleet and find yourselves becalmed. Not to worry, we made up time and came in within 5 minutes of 9th place boat.

Next comes New York, I believe this should be a short fast race. . . . .

today could be the day we set sail, or maybe tomorrow.  Our repaired mast was put in place yesterday afternoon, we also finished stitching the mainsail so that's all good to go.  Today we have to attach the boom to the mast and the riggers have to tension the mast and that should be us ready to go.

That's me all booked up to fly to Hawaii this Sunday to join the boat there and sail her whenever she's seaworthy again and to wherever her destination is set.  If the mast is fixed in time for WA and Durban to sail by Wednesday then we'll be heading to Santa Cruz as per the race plan and will be in a 2 boat match race to get there.  If they're not ready to sail by Wednesday then they won't make it to California in time to catch up with the rest of the fleet in time to start race 9, so we'll be heading direct to Panama instead.

The sail to Santa Cruz is around 14 days and will be a 2-3 day pit-stop for us.  The sail to Panama is a very different thing,  is approx twice the distance so we will be looking at 20 days at sea, the plus side of this is we'll get a decent stopover in Panama waiting for the rest of the boats to make it there from California.

I guess I should go cook us a dinner, the last one I'll be doing here for a long time.

I'm not feeling quite as stressed this afternoon as I was this morning.

I've spoken to the Clipper office and asked for confirmation of what day exactly I need to be in Hawaii by and are they sure it has to be by Monday.  I figured last night that it wouldn't hurt to send a text to a friend who is already doing the race and 'stranded' in Honolulu waiting for race 8 to start and see from her what the word is on the ground regarding the state of play and timescales. Unofficialy the maintenance crew opinion is that the boat will be seaworthy again and ready to set sail on Wednesday which means I've got a couple more days at home to orgainise myself properly.  Unfortunately Clipper office are not, yet, giving out this info.

More encouraging news, I got notice from the courrier this afternoon that my passport will be delivered tomorrow morning.  Hurrah!

Even more good news;  my PLB (emergency beacon in the eventuality I become accidentaly separated from the boat) arrived this afternoon.   I had been getting grumpier about it not arriving because Chas placed the order in January, the supplier said it should arrive early March but they would try and get it to me in February.  I've been trying to get hold of them for a few weeks to no joy, I swear it is probably easier to get through to BA's baggage office right now than to the PLB supplier.  That has to be saying something!

More good stuff.  I had some photo's done a couple of weeks ago and have received the first batch of pics on disc to check out.  Looking good, even if I do say it myself. About myself.

Feeling more relaxed, but begining to mentally note there is a lot of kit to pack tomorrow, I'm off out to play this evening to enjoy a meal with friends to bid one of them farewell on his epic migration from Newbury to Winchester.

Bit of an excited panic on today after I received a call from Clipper office asking if I was interested in joining the race early at Hawaii.  Was I?  Am I ever! One sticking point is that whilst my US visa has been approved I'm waiting to get my passport back from the embassy, fingers crossed it arrives Thursday morning.

It's just hit me that I may only have 2 more days left to sort out my life so that it runs smoothly whilst I'm away; pack; build my website so my legions of fans and followers can keep a track of me (at least I got this blog up and running so I guess the web site isn't so important); find flights that don't leave from Heathrow T5 (not that I object to T5 but I really can't do an ocean race without my kit) or have a stupidly long layover in the states which will make the eventual journey time anything more than 21 hours.  Can you believe some of the travel websites are offering flights with journey times of 41 hours?  You can get to Australia in less time than that!

I've still got to follow up with a potential sponsor and secure their support.  I still got to get in touch with the local rag to promote my adventures and the fund raising aspect.

Oh! So much to do and so little time.  I guess panicking is just going to befuddle my head and waste time and I had better simply crack on and get organised.