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!