Wednesday, 10 March 2010
It was a strange feeling looking out the plane window down on the Pacific Ocean. Knowing that somewhere out there the people I have spent the last four months with were battling it out. I couldn't help but feel like I was cheating, thousands of feet up in the air, warm, dry and clean in my reclined chair, food being served while watching movies. To be honest it wasn't easy - It was a horrible feeling and the last place I wanted to be!
Two days later, typing this (from the comfort of the couch back home in New Zealand rather than wedged into a cold, wet, moving nav station on a lean), being on land and back home still feels a bit surreal. I've done everything that I dreamed of on my 'middle of the ocean, I wish I could.... list' - I've seen my family, caught up with friends, used a flushing toilet, had a long hot shower, slept in, had a spa bath and put on clean, dry clothes and changed my underwear EVERY day (such an extravagant luxury!). I've even been for a run! (I should have looked at the clouds first - did I learn nothing!?) It rained and I got almost as wet as up on the bow - not nearly as fun though! However, call me crazy but it's addictive! I'd give anything to be out there. Woken every four hours, climbing out of my warm ocean sleeping bag, lowering myself down from my bunk and struggling into my cold wet boots and foulies but instead I'll have to settle for changing out of my clean clothes and into my clean PJs and climbing into my clean warm bed and having a sleep in!
As a legger, especially a multi-legger you get the opportunity to become part of an awesome team. They become like your family (for better or for worse) so undeniably there are good times, bad times and trying times but the good easily outweigh the bad! There is an uncompromised understanding that we look out for and rely on each other, sharing the amazing highs and helping each other through the lows. Together tackling head on, every challenge that mother natures changing mood throws at you out in the world’s oceans. We get to see and experience firsthand what others can't quite even begin to imagine and what words and photos just can't do justice.
Unfortunately the unavoidable down side as a legger is that after all this you then have to stand on the shore as your home and family for the past months sail away, leaving you and your tear streaked face behind asking 'now what?'. Or in my case I waved goodbye leaving our poor mastless boat sitting lonely by itself in the marina and my crew in the bar - even harder to leave when they have so much ahead of them!
With every low there’s a high and they are what I will remember most about the race and life at sea.
High - Finally being back on the boat for race start in Cape Town.
Low - The next 48 hours experiencing my first ever sea sickness.
High - Bouncing around on the bow changing Yankees getting soaked by waves as they crash over you (my favourite place on the boat!)
Low - Being cold and wet once the adrenaline wears off and your back sitting on the high side!
High - On the helm surfing in the Southern Ocean
Low - Helming when we hit a whale at night in the Southern Ocean
High - Getting the all clear after hitting the whale and powering up again to work our way to number one into Geraldton!
Low - Losing Eero our first awesome skipper
High - Gaining Rob our second awesome skipper
Low - Lentil Casserole on my mother watch! (There’s an exception to every rule! No ‘high’ to this one, it was BAD!)
Low - Being woken in the middle of the night to hear that Cork had hit rocks and needed assistance
High - Safely welcoming our 8 adopted Cork crew on board from their life raft!
High - Picking up two gate points off the coast of Taiwan
Low - Standing on deck, while in first place, hearing the crash and looking up to see our mast in three pieces, Race 6 over!
High - Team celebrations for making it safely into our impromptu Taiwan stopover with our coastguard escorts
High - Team work and problem solving to get our jury rig sorted and a modified sail plan.
Low - Long cold motoring up to Qingdao
High - Being welcomed into Qingdao by the VIPs, locals and Clipper crew! We had made it even with a sick boat!
Low - Leaving the race and my crew mates behind, being on land while they’re still racing
High - The whole thing!! I recently read a quote - 'Don’t cry because it’s over, Smile because it happened!'
Everyone signs up to Clipper for different reasons but for everyone, whether it’s expected or not, it’s a life changing experience. Everyone leaves a different person from when they began. Making it through the challenges and tough times on board is what changes us and is where we learn the most about ourselves it also makes achievement more rewarding and success even sweeter!
It has been an amazing journey from the minute I saw the advertisement on the London underground almost 18 months ago. Really and truly the experience of a life time! I’m still always being asked, Why? What ever possessed me to sign up?…..Well where do I start?.... Adventure, Challenge, Travel, Sailing, Fun….. Now in retrospect the list just gets longer!....Comradery, adrenaline, partying, learning….. I also met the ocean personally – in all it’s shapes and forms; calm, peaceful, confused, angry, rugged, powerful, unpredictable but undeniably beautiful. The ocean - raw untameable nature. I’m in awe; it won me over completely and has my total respect. I hope I get to visit it again.
So after experiencing so much in what now seems like such a short time, what now for life after Clipper? Well, apart from getting back to the three hour watch system for race updates a holiday sounds like a good start!
Miss you Team Finland!
‘SISU to the Finnish’
Becs xx
PS: Beat those damn Aussies! :)
Friday, 30 April 2010
Homeward Bound
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Well I’ve burst out of the Clipper bubble, sadly the race is over for me. I’m writing this from Beijing before flying home tomorrow.
The rest of the journey north from Taiwan to Qingdao went comparatively smoothly. The 50+ knot winds that the rest of the fleet faced after passing us had blown through by the time we got there. After the first 24-36 hours of uncomfortable rolling in the large waves the weather and sea state calmed considerably. So we never got to experience the notorious passage up to china in strong winds, freezing temperatures and huge seas that even the Volvo race guys found tough. Given our circumstances we were pretty thankful to be treated to beautiful, sunny, blue sky winter days instead. There was still a definite chill in the air but we made it up to china in about 5 days.
With our jury rig and modified sail plan there wasn’t much trimming to be done, although at times when we had to turn our engine off for maintenance we still managed to maintain a couple of knots with just our tiny sails up. With helming being the only job to do it meant there was a lot of time to fill on watch. Caroline organised an ‘unbirthday’ day of celebration. We celebrated it being no ones birthday! There were party hats, face painting, steamers and balloons and I made picklets with jam for afternoon tea! Ahhhh the things we do to keep ourselves amused! Minke and I also held a makeshift prize giving ceremony where we presented Rob (skipper) with a first place pennant (made out of a flour bag) for ‘Race 6a; Singapore to Taiwan’. Each of the crew was also presented with their own miniature pennant. Then for a few days we turned into an offshore gambling boat with dice poker and a chess tournament. However the only thing we were playing for was bragging rights!
With the rest of the fleet making it into China well before us and the massive reception they received we couldn’t wait to get there. Although, I had mixed feelings as once there the race was over for me. It wasn’t the arrival I’d hoped for for my last race. It was a disappointing way to end my journey but it had brought us closer together as a team and looking back at everything I’d experienced it was amazing 4 months….Hitting a whale, winning the race to Geraldton, rescuing Cork, demasting…..
We arrived into Qingdao first thing in the morning on the 23rd Feb in the cover of thick fog. We could hear the fireworks going off from beside the Olympic rings but couldn’t see a thing. It took the media and ‘follow me’ boat quite a while to find us out off the breakwater. But once we got into the marina there was no mistaking where we were to moor up. The marina was full of people! Crew, skippers and clipper staff all ready to welcome us with beer and plenty of hugs and photos (after our passports were stamped by immigration and we stepped off the boat!). Making our way from the pontoon up to the stage we were cheered in by VIPs and locals, each of us presented with flowers, a scarf, and gifts. The reception we had in Qingdao was amazing, everyone treated us like celebrities. Some people were asked for their autograph and I was asked to have my photo taken with numerous different people who had come down to see the boats at the marina.
It was too cold to stay on the boat so most of us treated ourselves and stayed at the Intercontinental, a 5 start hotel right beside the marina. The day after we arrived, Qingdao put on a huge banquet dinner in the hotel for the crews and VIPs. We were then driven by buses about 500m down the road to an awards ceremony in the Grand Theatre at the Olympic Sailing Centre. It was an amazing night with speeches, presentations and performances; traditional dance, ballet, Peking opera, singers, orchestra just to name a few. Team Finland missed out on receiving a winning pennant but we were presented with a ‘Tenacity Award’. After the prize giving we partied until morning at Lennon Bar, a bar down the road that’s actually owned by one of the Chinese crew sailing on the Qingdao boat.
The 28th Feb was Lantern Day or Sweet Dumpling Day - the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. We were given the opportunity to be ‘adopted out’ for the day with a local family. I spent the day with Luke from the Cape Breton Island boat. It was an amazing day. We were introduced to our family up on stage before leaving and heading out to their car. Only their 13 year old daughter and a family friend who came with us could speak English. As soon as we left it was like having the paparazzi following us. We had at least 2 video cameras and 3 photographers come with us. It wasn’t until much later that we found out who they all were. Some of them were family friends but 2 were from the TV station and 2 from the local paper! It was a bit weird to begin with as everything had to be translated, we weren’t sure what to expect and were treated like celebrities. It was funny they couldn’t believe how ‘strong’ and ‘brave’ we were and were shocked by our stories of life at sea. Our day was jam packed, we were given gift after gift, played table tennis, had the piano and flute played for us (I made the mistake of mentioning that I played the flute over 10 years ago in high school, so had to do my best to give a terrible rendition of Mary had a little lamb!) and we all sung jingle bells around the piano together. We were taken to an old part of Qingdao and treated to a huge banquet lunch. Luke and I were seated either side of Grandad and toast after toast was made for us while Grandad kept piling strange and unusual foods on my plate! After we’d had a go making our own sweet dumplings and been interviewed for the news we were taken to one of the temples where we prayed to the goddess of the sea for safe passage for the crews in the rest of the race. Once back ‘home’ we made pork dumplings to go with dinner, watched ourselves on the news! And then sat down to another huge home made meal with a least 10 different dishes and A LOT of local spirits and rice wine!! I gave them a small gift of a New Zealand tea towel, soap and a book about Dunedin that Mum had sent over for me but it paled in comparison to the pile of gifts that they gave us! It was a day to remember!!
Race start day was impressive and more than a bit emotional. Qingdao made sure the boats left in style. After speeches had been made and the crews had paraded in front of the large crowd they made their way down to their boats and one by one slipped lines with their team songs playing and fireworks going off. Our boat was left behind in the marina looking very lonely and bare, still without a mast. Team Finland was invited out on a VIP boat to watch the race start and cheer the rest of the fleet on from out on the water. A few tears were shed as it was hard watching them sail away and not be going with them but not as hard as if my team had been with them and I’d been left there on my own!
I left that afternoon, catching a night sleeper train up to Beijing with Tania, one of the Cork crew that we’d rescued in the last race. Tania travelled on back home to Australia and I’ve met up with Paul in Beijing. The day I arrived we went to Temple of Heaven Park. It was amazing, full of people doing tai chi, martial art, dance and other various forms of exercise including backwards walking which is thought to be very good for you!! That afternoon we walked around the Summer Palace before getting the bus back into the city and having dinner while exploring the depths of a hutong. There were more than a few things I wasn’t prepared to try, for example the still alive and wriggling bugs on kebab sticks!
Yesterday Paul and I walked 10km of the Great Wall of China, Jinshanling to Simatai. It was amazing, just like the pictures, heading off into the distance, weaving around and over the hills in both directions as far as my eye could see! On the way back to met the van we did probably the most stupid thing we’ve done yet. There was a zip line that for 35Y would take us down to the car park instead of walking the extra 1 km. Seemed like fun. We stepped into a bosuns/abseiling harness that both of us quickly felt the need to tighten as much as we could. We were then attached via only one carabiner to both our harness before launched ourselves together down the flying fox – not before Paul checked the carabiner himself and had to screw it closed!! It was actually really fun, I’m just glad everything held and we lived to tell the tale!
Paul flew back to the UK yesterday and today I wandered through the Forbidden City on my own. It’s huge and took me almost all day!! I then walked up the hill in Jingshan Park; it was an amazing view down over the whole complex! Tonight I’m catch up with some of my other crew that have come up to Beijing to fill in time while they wait for the new mast. I’m getting pretty used to finding my way round with my guide book and using the underground. I guess living in London and lots of travel has helped!
It’s been an amazing journey. Tomorrow I head home to New Zealand for a well over due visit (it’s been 2 ½ years!), hopefully the excitement of being home will help me adjust and accept life back on land and help me not miss the race so much!
Well I’ve burst out of the Clipper bubble, sadly the race is over for me. I’m writing this from Beijing before flying home tomorrow.
The rest of the journey north from Taiwan to Qingdao went comparatively smoothly. The 50+ knot winds that the rest of the fleet faced after passing us had blown through by the time we got there. After the first 24-36 hours of uncomfortable rolling in the large waves the weather and sea state calmed considerably. So we never got to experience the notorious passage up to china in strong winds, freezing temperatures and huge seas that even the Volvo race guys found tough. Given our circumstances we were pretty thankful to be treated to beautiful, sunny, blue sky winter days instead. There was still a definite chill in the air but we made it up to china in about 5 days.
With our jury rig and modified sail plan there wasn’t much trimming to be done, although at times when we had to turn our engine off for maintenance we still managed to maintain a couple of knots with just our tiny sails up. With helming being the only job to do it meant there was a lot of time to fill on watch. Caroline organised an ‘unbirthday’ day of celebration. We celebrated it being no ones birthday! There were party hats, face painting, steamers and balloons and I made picklets with jam for afternoon tea! Ahhhh the things we do to keep ourselves amused! Minke and I also held a makeshift prize giving ceremony where we presented Rob (skipper) with a first place pennant (made out of a flour bag) for ‘Race 6a; Singapore to Taiwan’. Each of the crew was also presented with their own miniature pennant. Then for a few days we turned into an offshore gambling boat with dice poker and a chess tournament. However the only thing we were playing for was bragging rights!
With the rest of the fleet making it into China well before us and the massive reception they received we couldn’t wait to get there. Although, I had mixed feelings as once there the race was over for me. It wasn’t the arrival I’d hoped for for my last race. It was a disappointing way to end my journey but it had brought us closer together as a team and looking back at everything I’d experienced it was amazing 4 months….Hitting a whale, winning the race to Geraldton, rescuing Cork, demasting…..
We arrived into Qingdao first thing in the morning on the 23rd Feb in the cover of thick fog. We could hear the fireworks going off from beside the Olympic rings but couldn’t see a thing. It took the media and ‘follow me’ boat quite a while to find us out off the breakwater. But once we got into the marina there was no mistaking where we were to moor up. The marina was full of people! Crew, skippers and clipper staff all ready to welcome us with beer and plenty of hugs and photos (after our passports were stamped by immigration and we stepped off the boat!). Making our way from the pontoon up to the stage we were cheered in by VIPs and locals, each of us presented with flowers, a scarf, and gifts. The reception we had in Qingdao was amazing, everyone treated us like celebrities. Some people were asked for their autograph and I was asked to have my photo taken with numerous different people who had come down to see the boats at the marina.
It was too cold to stay on the boat so most of us treated ourselves and stayed at the Intercontinental, a 5 start hotel right beside the marina. The day after we arrived, Qingdao put on a huge banquet dinner in the hotel for the crews and VIPs. We were then driven by buses about 500m down the road to an awards ceremony in the Grand Theatre at the Olympic Sailing Centre. It was an amazing night with speeches, presentations and performances; traditional dance, ballet, Peking opera, singers, orchestra just to name a few. Team Finland missed out on receiving a winning pennant but we were presented with a ‘Tenacity Award’. After the prize giving we partied until morning at Lennon Bar, a bar down the road that’s actually owned by one of the Chinese crew sailing on the Qingdao boat.
The 28th Feb was Lantern Day or Sweet Dumpling Day - the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. We were given the opportunity to be ‘adopted out’ for the day with a local family. I spent the day with Luke from the Cape Breton Island boat. It was an amazing day. We were introduced to our family up on stage before leaving and heading out to their car. Only their 13 year old daughter and a family friend who came with us could speak English. As soon as we left it was like having the paparazzi following us. We had at least 2 video cameras and 3 photographers come with us. It wasn’t until much later that we found out who they all were. Some of them were family friends but 2 were from the TV station and 2 from the local paper! It was a bit weird to begin with as everything had to be translated, we weren’t sure what to expect and were treated like celebrities. It was funny they couldn’t believe how ‘strong’ and ‘brave’ we were and were shocked by our stories of life at sea. Our day was jam packed, we were given gift after gift, played table tennis, had the piano and flute played for us (I made the mistake of mentioning that I played the flute over 10 years ago in high school, so had to do my best to give a terrible rendition of Mary had a little lamb!) and we all sung jingle bells around the piano together. We were taken to an old part of Qingdao and treated to a huge banquet lunch. Luke and I were seated either side of Grandad and toast after toast was made for us while Grandad kept piling strange and unusual foods on my plate! After we’d had a go making our own sweet dumplings and been interviewed for the news we were taken to one of the temples where we prayed to the goddess of the sea for safe passage for the crews in the rest of the race. Once back ‘home’ we made pork dumplings to go with dinner, watched ourselves on the news! And then sat down to another huge home made meal with a least 10 different dishes and A LOT of local spirits and rice wine!! I gave them a small gift of a New Zealand tea towel, soap and a book about Dunedin that Mum had sent over for me but it paled in comparison to the pile of gifts that they gave us! It was a day to remember!!
Race start day was impressive and more than a bit emotional. Qingdao made sure the boats left in style. After speeches had been made and the crews had paraded in front of the large crowd they made their way down to their boats and one by one slipped lines with their team songs playing and fireworks going off. Our boat was left behind in the marina looking very lonely and bare, still without a mast. Team Finland was invited out on a VIP boat to watch the race start and cheer the rest of the fleet on from out on the water. A few tears were shed as it was hard watching them sail away and not be going with them but not as hard as if my team had been with them and I’d been left there on my own!
I left that afternoon, catching a night sleeper train up to Beijing with Tania, one of the Cork crew that we’d rescued in the last race. Tania travelled on back home to Australia and I’ve met up with Paul in Beijing. The day I arrived we went to Temple of Heaven Park. It was amazing, full of people doing tai chi, martial art, dance and other various forms of exercise including backwards walking which is thought to be very good for you!! That afternoon we walked around the Summer Palace before getting the bus back into the city and having dinner while exploring the depths of a hutong. There were more than a few things I wasn’t prepared to try, for example the still alive and wriggling bugs on kebab sticks!
Yesterday Paul and I walked 10km of the Great Wall of China, Jinshanling to Simatai. It was amazing, just like the pictures, heading off into the distance, weaving around and over the hills in both directions as far as my eye could see! On the way back to met the van we did probably the most stupid thing we’ve done yet. There was a zip line that for 35Y would take us down to the car park instead of walking the extra 1 km. Seemed like fun. We stepped into a bosuns/abseiling harness that both of us quickly felt the need to tighten as much as we could. We were then attached via only one carabiner to both our harness before launched ourselves together down the flying fox – not before Paul checked the carabiner himself and had to screw it closed!! It was actually really fun, I’m just glad everything held and we lived to tell the tale!
Paul flew back to the UK yesterday and today I wandered through the Forbidden City on my own. It’s huge and took me almost all day!! I then walked up the hill in Jingshan Park; it was an amazing view down over the whole complex! Tonight I’m catch up with some of my other crew that have come up to Beijing to fill in time while they wait for the new mast. I’m getting pretty used to finding my way round with my guide book and using the underground. I guess living in London and lots of travel has helped!
It’s been an amazing journey. Tomorrow I head home to New Zealand for a well over due visit (it’s been 2 ½ years!), hopefully the excitement of being home will help me adjust and accept life back on land and help me not miss the race so much!
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Are we there yet?!
Well i can't say this is plain sailing or particularly pleasant!
It's 0130 and I'm still on watch until 0400hrs. I've just come down for
my 30min off deck to warm up after helming and am sitting in the nav
station stuffing my face with chocolate and a hot chocolate laced with
coffee to keep me awake. It's cold and wet up there and we're rolling
around like we're in a washing machine. I'm already wearing my full
base layer, midlayer and foulies!
We were basically hit by a very large confused sea as soon as we left
the breakwater outside Hua-Lein which after 3 days back on land and very
little sail area to keep us stable almost turned us straight into a
vomit comet! We still have a few confined to thier bunks while the rest
of us are keeping a close watch on each others sickness and coldness
levels and sharing around sea sickness pills and patches like lollies
(translation - sweets). The sea has settled a little and we're not
crashing down the back of as many waves but it's not nice helming. Its
raining too so its a matter of sqinting into the pitch blackness trying
to make out the tops of any breaking or steep waves while the rain is
like needles hitting your face and eyes! We have no idea what winds we
are in or from what direction exactly as all our wind instruments are
currently at the bottom of the south china sea along with the top
section of our mast!!
It's already quite hard to sleep, with only our trysail up we're not
heeled over which is easier but we're being rolled around a lot more
(picture a toy boat or rubber ducky in the surf!). I found for most of
my first off watch I was in a half wake half sleep state and constantly
thought i was up on deck, lying in our cockpit. Everytime the boat
crashed down a wave i cringed as i expected to be hit by a wave. Only
when it never came I would realise i was still off watch and in my bunk!
Until the next time it happened that is!!
We're nearing the top of Taiwan and actually not making to bad a
progress. With the current behind us we were making about 10 knots at
one point but are down to about 8 knots now as we seem to be out of the
current and have had to cut back the revs to stop launching ourselves
off the top of the waves.
Right time to go back up, wish me luck from your toasty warm beds!!
xx
It's 0130 and I'm still on watch until 0400hrs. I've just come down for
my 30min off deck to warm up after helming and am sitting in the nav
station stuffing my face with chocolate and a hot chocolate laced with
coffee to keep me awake. It's cold and wet up there and we're rolling
around like we're in a washing machine. I'm already wearing my full
base layer, midlayer and foulies!
We were basically hit by a very large confused sea as soon as we left
the breakwater outside Hua-Lein which after 3 days back on land and very
little sail area to keep us stable almost turned us straight into a
vomit comet! We still have a few confined to thier bunks while the rest
of us are keeping a close watch on each others sickness and coldness
levels and sharing around sea sickness pills and patches like lollies
(translation - sweets). The sea has settled a little and we're not
crashing down the back of as many waves but it's not nice helming. Its
raining too so its a matter of sqinting into the pitch blackness trying
to make out the tops of any breaking or steep waves while the rain is
like needles hitting your face and eyes! We have no idea what winds we
are in or from what direction exactly as all our wind instruments are
currently at the bottom of the south china sea along with the top
section of our mast!!
It's already quite hard to sleep, with only our trysail up we're not
heeled over which is easier but we're being rolled around a lot more
(picture a toy boat or rubber ducky in the surf!). I found for most of
my first off watch I was in a half wake half sleep state and constantly
thought i was up on deck, lying in our cockpit. Everytime the boat
crashed down a wave i cringed as i expected to be hit by a wave. Only
when it never came I would realise i was still off watch and in my bunk!
Until the next time it happened that is!!
We're nearing the top of Taiwan and actually not making to bad a
progress. With the current behind us we were making about 10 knots at
one point but are down to about 8 knots now as we seem to be out of the
current and have had to cut back the revs to stop launching ourselves
off the top of the waves.
Right time to go back up, wish me luck from your toasty warm beds!!
xx
Time to go!
Well we arrived in Taiwan 3 days ago, no idea where but it's called Hua-lien!
It was quite an experience bobbing up and down as we cut away our
rigging at 4 in the morning in the pitch black. We couldn't turn our motor on until we had it all cut away and
no lines or anything hanging over board. As we were cutting away all the halyards from the mast and lashing the largest
broken bit to the part still standing we couldn't help but be under the mast and as more of the shrouds/diagonals gave way
one of the guys had a spreader fall and land on his leg while i deflected a second
one from his head! Luckily he was ok though. It's weird it was never really scary but it was an awful noise and sight. I was just really worried we were
going to end up the the broken top end of the mast going through our hull before we could cut it off which would
have caused much more of a problem. Everything went so smoothly with getting
it cut away, there was a significant amount of calm discussion about how to
go about it and what needed to happen in what order but everyone was really
calm, safety concious and one thing i can say for the team is, we all really look out for each other,
especially when it comes to the safety on deck.
It was quite an experience bobbing up and down as we cut away our
rigging at 4 in the morning in the pitch black. We couldn't turn our motor on until we had it all cut away and
no lines or anything hanging over board. As we were cutting away all the halyards from the mast and lashing the largest
broken bit to the part still standing we couldn't help but be under the mast and as more of the shrouds/diagonals gave way
one of the guys had a spreader fall and land on his leg while i deflected a second
one from his head! Luckily he was ok though. It's weird it was never really scary but it was an awful noise and sight. I was just really worried we were
going to end up the the broken top end of the mast going through our hull before we could cut it off which would
have caused much more of a problem. Everything went so smoothly with getting
it cut away, there was a significant amount of calm discussion about how to
go about it and what needed to happen in what order but everyone was really
calm, safety concious and one thing i can say for the team is, we all really look out for each other,
especially when it comes to the safety on deck.
It's pretty disappointing. We were coming first and it was just starting to get fun - love the rough
stuff! Gutted thats the race over for me at least I did one leg/race
where we finished and even got first. The people who are only doing this leg oz to
china haven't even finished a race!
We've been feeling a bit delicate the last few mornings! The first night we were invited to the coast gaurds mess by commander Chen where we were well and
truely looked after with some taiwanese food, more than enough shots of some local spirits and finished off with some kareoke! We then moved onto a great
bar that we felt the need to return to for a second night in a row to celebrating the fact we
were on land and alive (well thats our excuse and we're sticking to it!). They were massive nights out! I don't think we've ever
had nights quite like it actually! There were plenty of shots (including a round of mixed up Jagerbombs, where something got lost in translation and we
ended up with 16 beers with vodka - didn't stop us though!!). Dancing went on late into the next morning with everyone having an awesome time, there may
even be video evidence of me crowd surfing....aghhhh cringe!!
Despite the hangovers our days have been productive here in Hua-lien. First on the to do list was a crane with our skipper dangling at the end of it up
at the mast stub removing the remaining 7 metres of broken mast. Next was some innovative rigging to set up a jury rig using the remaining 7-8 metres (out
of 25!) of mast left attached to the deck. We now have a makeshift standing rig (forestay/backstay and shrouds) and a sail plan using our trisail and storm
jib hoisted upside down! A guy from a boat ?building/repairing company helped us with a quick fix for the holes in our deck (who funnily enough is
actually from Auckland) so hopefully we're not as leaky as we were! We've also had an 'agent' working for us to help us
get things sorted and find our way around this place!
We've just had the go ahead to leave and start limping our way up to China. We're expecting it to take up to 8 days but hoping it will be less. We've
filled up all our diesel tanks and have our lazarette and snake pit full of extra containers. Oh, and of course we have our amazing new rigging to fly our
sails from!! It looks quite hilarious and will be interesting to see if it holds up in the winds and seas we're expecting, we've been hearing reports of the
other boats facing 50 knot winds!!
Time to go!
xx
Monday, 15 February 2010
Demasted but all ok
Well i guess everyone has heard by now and mum and dad have had the phone
call no one wants to get! At least they will have been able to let you know
we were all ok!
I was on watch when the rigging went. Standing by the helm having just
handed it over 10 minutes before. We were pushing along nicely at about 9.5
knots over the ground with our main and one reef and staysail, didn't even
have a yankee up. (I think we were even in first place!). We went over the
largest wave we've seen yet and couldn't control the crash down the back of
it. As we were all recovering there was a massive crack and bang and the
other watch leader on deck beside me yelled out 'we've lost the rigging'.
The skipper was woken and everyone else was sent down below while a few of us
remained on deck figuring out what to do next.
The mast had snapped in two places and was flogging up and down with the
upper most bit in the water and at risk of going through our hull.
While Emil and Andy systematically cut through all our standing rigging
starting with the forestay and innerforestay then the shrouds and backstays
the other couple of us cut through all the running rigging.
We lost our stay sail with the innerforestay but we all managed to haul the
boom back in board and recover the mainsail with it. Although not before it
had pulled 2-3 of the stansions out of the deck - not a nice sound! So we're
without part of our gaurdrail along the beam of our starboard side and have
some holes in our deck that are keeping us busy with emptying the bilges and
lockers in the galley every 30 min or so.
Gotta go comms comp in hot demand, we're being escorted by the taiwan coast
gaurd into a port there.
xxx
call no one wants to get! At least they will have been able to let you know
we were all ok!
I was on watch when the rigging went. Standing by the helm having just
handed it over 10 minutes before. We were pushing along nicely at about 9.5
knots over the ground with our main and one reef and staysail, didn't even
have a yankee up. (I think we were even in first place!). We went over the
largest wave we've seen yet and couldn't control the crash down the back of
it. As we were all recovering there was a massive crack and bang and the
other watch leader on deck beside me yelled out 'we've lost the rigging'.
The skipper was woken and everyone else was sent down below while a few of us
remained on deck figuring out what to do next.
The mast had snapped in two places and was flogging up and down with the
upper most bit in the water and at risk of going through our hull.
While Emil and Andy systematically cut through all our standing rigging
starting with the forestay and innerforestay then the shrouds and backstays
the other couple of us cut through all the running rigging.
We lost our stay sail with the innerforestay but we all managed to haul the
boom back in board and recover the mainsail with it. Although not before it
had pulled 2-3 of the stansions out of the deck - not a nice sound! So we're
without part of our gaurdrail along the beam of our starboard side and have
some holes in our deck that are keeping us busy with emptying the bilges and
lockers in the galley every 30 min or so.
Gotta go comms comp in hot demand, we're being escorted by the taiwan coast
gaurd into a port there.
xxx
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Chafe is the enemy!!
I'm exhusted so this will be quick. I've just finished my 6 hr day shift at 1400hrs. Been on the helm for about an hour ad a half trying to make our way
through the gate and snatch some points up with it. The wind is is up to 30 knots true and the waves are big!! It's been an eventful night with only
really skip, 4 watch leaders and a couple of otheres helming in the dark under these conditions so it made for some long stints on the wheel for us. My
shoulders and arms are feeling it already after all the light wind stuff since australia!
through the gate and snatch some points up with it. The wind is is up to 30 knots true and the waves are big!! It's been an eventful night with only
really skip, 4 watch leaders and a couple of otheres helming in the dark under these conditions so it made for some long stints on the wheel for us. My
shoulders and arms are feeling it already after all the light wind stuff since australia!
I woke in my bunk this morning wondering who the heck was on the helm and what the hell they were doing as i was thrown from side to side in my bunk, Where
they tacking or not?? What way did i need to ajust my bunk to get back to sleep! Could soon hear Emil's voice shouting out commands though and chaos was
managed. I found out later we had lost our working yankee sheet due so some sort of chafe. Then while trying to sort that out by tacking i understand they
lost the halyard and then the number 1 reefing line snapped too. By the time we made it on watch things had been sorted and we hoisted the yankee 3 then
had the 'pleasant' job of flaking the yankee 2 down stairs in the tiny saloon and sleeping quaters.
The conditions have made their mark already I've also been playing medic this morning dishing out sea sickness meds, taking care of a laceration to someones
head when they got hit by the grinder handle and dosed up someone else and helped them to bed when they went flying across the gap between the galley and
saloon, landing on thier tail bone.
Not looking forward to checking out my bunk. I know there is a decent leak into my lockers so really hope my dry bags work!! But the guy that sleeps below
me reakons he was getting wet from above so they may be so full it's slopping out the front and into my bunk!! Wish me luck!!
Friday, 12 February 2010
Did someone say wind?? Yahoo!!
Oh what a difference a day makes. When i went to bed mid morning today
it was a beautiful day although we were sailing a horrible course due to
a bad wind direction and at a terrible speed because we were also having
to cross a wind hole to the west of the Philipines.
By the time i woke up for watch at 1400hrs we were preparing to change
down to our yankee 2 as the wind had come up and we were on a much
better course although we did lose a couple of places but only 9 miles
behind the leaders.
it was a beautiful day although we were sailing a horrible course due to
a bad wind direction and at a terrible speed because we were also having
to cross a wind hole to the west of the Philipines.
By the time i woke up for watch at 1400hrs we were preparing to change
down to our yankee 2 as the wind had come up and we were on a much
better course although we did lose a couple of places but only 9 miles
behind the leaders.
In a matter of 2 hours we hanked on our Yankee 2, dropped the Y1,
hoisted the Y2, tacked, flaked the Y1 and stowed it away for the rest of
the race, moved the Y3 to a more accessable place, tacked again, and
took in a reef!!! I think it's safe to say the wind we've been waiting
for has arrived!
It has started to get dark earlier and earlier so the last few hours on
watch until 2000hrs have been in darkness. The waves are really picking
up and some have been pretty huge although probably nothing compared to
what is to come! I've just come off the helm at the end of watch with
my adrenaline pumping. We had a ture wind that gusted up to 30 knots at
times and i had all my weight hanging on the wheel to keep her down and
was still coming up 20 degrees! They guys on watch up top have just
dropped the stay sail so the boat has flattened out (relatively speaking)
so it will be slightly easier to launch myself into my top bunk and stay
there!
Yaaaaahooooooooo, lovin it!!!
Night
xx
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