Are we there yet?

Aghhhhhhh. Still 40 miles til the finish! It's been a long 4 days!
We've been beating into the wind which has basically been coming from
the same direction we want to go so it's meant tacking backwards and
forwards without making great progress. I've just got up for b'fast and
hopefully my last watch but the wind has dropped a bit and backed
(turned anticlockwise) so we're going to have to put in yet another set
of tacks to reach the finish line.

Bad news for the Cork crew, she was deamed unsalvagable and has been
left on the rocks. Apart from the few waiting for medical clearance for
realitively minor injuries they have all been adopted out to other boats
to continue the race.

Yesterday we crossed the equator which meant King neptune, his wife and
a few trunsted colleagues visited the boat. Us first time crossers had
to face him in his court while our sins were heard and judged apon. We
all failed miserably despite having been 'cleaned' and 'shaved' before
hand. So had to take our medicine from the doctor (I nearly vomited!!)
before taking our punishment (we were blind folded given a smell of the
slops from the last 2 days that we were told were about to be poured
over us then were doused in a bucket of salt water. Afterwards a bottle
of Ben Romach wiskey was passed around in celebration.

Everyone just wants to get there now. It's just as well we've always
gotten on so well with the cork crew, the living conditions have been
more than a little trying. With the sea conditions and wind at
20-30knots the forward hatch hasn't been able to be opened for about the
last 3 days! The forward bunk area is like a sauna and absolutely
stinks! Nothing is dry. My bunk smells as if something died in it. I
have quarantined my sheet and pillow and have tied turning the matress
over and sleeping in the opposite direction which helped for a few off
watches but with hot bunking there is always someone in it sweating
constantly. The only thing worse than going off watch and needing to
sleep in it is going off watch and someone else being in it so i have to
sleep in someone elses equally smelly bunk! It's been really hard to
sleep too until you reach exhustion and fall asleep despite the fact
your dripping, but it means you wake up desperate for a drink and
usually with a headache from dehydration. It's most comfortable with
the heel of the boat and heat to sleep on my back and with no pillow
either I've given up and resigned to being a snorer!! haha I'm hanging
in here dreaming of the chalet we have got between 6 of us at a resort
in Batam. ....Air con, shower, bed, fresh towel, pool, BAR!!!

Still having fun? Hell yeah!! :)

A mothers work is never done!

Last night we hoisted the sails and finally started making our way to Batam
again. I've been on mother watch all day. I think i've lost about 5kgs! I've
never sweated so much in my life! It is completely disgusting! It started
before i even made it to my bunk last night. Had to kneed the dough for todays
bread during my last on watch. It was too wet on deck to have the hatches open
so the sleeping area was like a steam room.

Cooking and cleaning all day for 18 people is a big enough job in itself but
make that 25 in about 40 degrees with humidity of about 90% and you soon lose
your will to live! But we got through. We don't even have enough plates and
cutlery so as one mother serves the other has to start re-collecting the empties
and washing them! I managed to sneak up on deck for an hour or so, helped get a
reef in and spoted some chafe on the Yankee sheet so helped drop the yankee,
re-lead the sheet and hoist again. The sores on my leg haven't liked the
conditions today so skips banned me from the bow and i have to stay at
the back of the boat and stay as dry as possible! BORING!!

With all the hatches closed against the spray again tonight, there's a 'party'
going on with people camped out on the sails at the bottom of the companion way
(ladder/steps up to the deck) trying to catch any little breeze and the fan in
the nav station is working over time. Doesn't pay to move though or you lose
your spot!

On that note, I need to go and muscle my way back in! I'm melting here!! :)
xx

Going nowhere fast

While Cork is still on the rocks and obviously not going anywhere,
neither are we! Team Finland + new crewmates along with Qingdou and
Edinburgh have been circling the 'island' and going away and coming back
all night and day! All the other boats have gone on while we spent the
night motoring with our staysail up to give us a bit more stability. A
couple of big squalls kept things interesting as they went through with
winds up to 40knots and literally tropical downpours!

Clothing attire becomes an interesting combo in hot humid but wet
conditions. I've taken to wearing my bikini with my foulies over the
top. I've managed to succumb to some uncomfortable salt water sores
after spending too long yesterday when rescuing cork in my wet shorts
and harness! Ouch! It's difficult to avoid though as if you're not wet
from the spray and rain on deck then you're damp from sweating in the
heat and humidity. No clothes are completely dry and the fastest way to
get them dryer is to wear them! My bunk is also constantly damp from
going to bed wet and then sweating. All sounds lovely huh? :) Too be
honest we're all ready to get the go a head to leave 'the island' behind
us and make our way to Batam for some much deserved cold beer and air
con!! Not sure when that might happen yet though, at the moment our
instructions are to stay with Cork. (We're stopping in Batam - Indonesia
as planned for the boats to meet and leave on the 23rd so that we can
all arrive together for our big welcome into Singapore).

Today has been spent circling the island while people are ferried (well
they paddle themselves) back and forth to the island for one more
surveyors report on the salvagablity of Cork and to gather as much of
the crews personal possessions and valuable equipment as possible (we've
put in our order for a new jockey pole! :)

Everything is a bit askew onboard, no one can be found to be woken for
watch as we've almost all ended up hot bunking in random bunks to help
accommodate our 8 'corkians'. Mother watch has been doing an amazing
job of keeping us all feed, that is if you can find somewhere to sit!
Luckily for some reason the last 2 days have actually been quite
overcast so not as hot and apart from during the night and early morning
during the small storms/squalls we have been able to keep all the
hatches open.
Cross your fingers for us being able to head to Batam tonight!!
xx

Cork on the rocks, Team Finland to the rescue

As if our watch wasn't eventful enough last night as we were making
progress chasing down cork we had a sudden increase in wind to 26-28
knots as we sailed into a storm cloud with our Yankee 1 and full main!
After hauling in the yankee, hoisting the yankee 2 and taking in a reef
in the pouring rain, my watch finally got off deck and into bed at
0230hrs.
I was woken 1.5hrs later to quickly come back on deck and help prepare
the boat as Cork had put out a Pan Pan message they had hit rocks after
rounding one of the gate marks and were taking on water.
As we approached in the dark we kept our distance until dawn when the
image of Cork heeled over on rocks by a random island in the middle of
the Java sea appeared infront of us. After assessing their position in the
day light it became obvious they were going to have to abandon ship. As we
readied out boat and ourselves for potentially another 16 crew members
needing extra food, hot tea, clothes and ?medical attention a plan was put
in place for them to ready their life rafts. They lauched one raft at a
time , leaving the boat behind to be washed ashore the tiny island just
off the rocks. Once all rafts had safely made it to the island they
combined into only 2 as once had punctured and again one at a time
launched off the island set adrift with all their trust in us to retrieve
them and get them safely on board. By this time California had also
arrived and took the first life raft. After about 15min the raft had
managed to drift far enough to be in safe waters for California to
retrieve them. Once all 8 were safely on board the second raft left the
island and Skipper + 7 crew were rescued and lifted on board Team Finland.

All the following boats have caught up now and we're all still circling
Cork on the rocks. I finally made it to bed for 4 hours sleep since i
had only had the 1.5hrs since 1100hrs yesterday! Cork is still on the
rocks but heeled over more than 45 degrees and the starboard side is under
the water. Our skipper has been transferred to Qingdou and Qingdou's
skipper launched on an inflatable boat back to Cork to assess the damage
and whether she is salvagable.

So, race over but thank goodness all Cork crew safely recovered, feed,
watered and now dry (well dryish) with no serious injuries. We're
starting to go back into our watch system tonight and trying to organise
how to hot bunk with our new guests - it's now a very full and even
hotter boat but like I said at least everyone is safe!

xx

It's getting hot in here!

As we approach the equator trying to claw our way up the ranks it's
getting hotter and hotter!! The temperature down below is pretty much
unbearable during the day and not much better at night. Despite the
newly installed fan blowing out hot air, sitting typing in the nav
station is something that I just haven't been able to face so not many
updates so far this leg!
Our first few days didn't go terribly well - We shredded our heavy
weight spinnaker and won't be able to get it repaired until we get to
singapore, then we broke our jockey pole, our steering wheel started
coming loose and we tore along the foot of our medium weight spinnaker.
Luckily despite the last sewing machine needle breaking, Polly and Tony
were able to to an awesome job stuck down below in the sauna for hours
hand sewing it back together!
Since then although we have to keep pushing the wheel back in while
helming to stop it squealing, we've been reassured that it will not
come off completely! We've had our spinnaker up most of the time
although often the wind is so light we struggle to make it fly
especially during the night when the wind seems to drop even more!

There has been loads to get used to on board with our new skipper but
all in all it's going ok. It's a bit hard to get used to not being
nearer the top of the leader board though, but there's still a way to
go and the race is no where near finished!

Yesterday was a trying day! One of the new things we are trialling on
board is a designated mother watch. 2 people do all the cleaning and
cooking for 24hours. It means that everything gets done and meals are
on time no matter what is happening on deck but in this heat it is like
working in a sauna all day! Can't say i was in the best of moods!
Highlight of the day -well 2 actually - was 1/ soaking everyone with
water at the end of happy hour which we also had to run and 2/ having my
first bucket shower on the 'poop' deck on the back of the boat. It was
awesome after a day spent in the galley. Sitting in my bikini on a
platform at water level on the back of the boat with a line tied around
my waist. I was even able to wash my hair (in salt water scooped up in
a jug) and shave my legs. It was unbelievable how warm the water was!

Today was a weird day. It started out as normal on watch from 8-12 but
as I went off watch we started sailing under some massive clouds.
Within the hour we were almost becalmed with small puffs of wind coming
from any angle and lots of rain! The humidity below deck was about 99%
everyone was drenched whether it be from sweat or the rain. After happy
hour aka a crew sauna in the saloon (all hatches had to be closed
because of the rain!) it was on with the bikinis etc and out into the
rain for a shower o'natural! Heading back on watch at 1600hrs it was a
wierd wardrobe combination of bikini with my waterproof shorts and light
weight foulie jacket. The rain has stopped now and the wind is back and
stronger than before! We were joined by dolpins for the 2nd time
this leg as we watched an amazing sunset.

Time for bed, hopefully it's cooled down enough to sleep. We've
rearranged our watch system timing for this leg so that we have longer
off watches during the night so we can have decent sleep when it's
cooler and shorter periods of time on deck in the heat during the day.

Night
xx

Pirates, Cyclones, Volcanos and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

After a fantastic break in Geraldton and getting the boat ready to leave
again we're finally back on the water racing!! Unfortunately we left
our skipper behind......However despite what a great core crew we have
we have brought a new one with us !! Eero decided he couldn't continue
with the race due to his young family back in Cape Town so finished
the race with our winning sail into Oz. We now have Rob, who didn't
get enoght last time round and has returned for another go at the race
after also completing the 07/08 race on the Nova Scotica boat. It's a
real shame to have lost Eero but we all understand why it had to happen
and wish him all the best. He formed a winning team and now it's our
turn to prove we can maintain it! Rob has large boots to fill but has
already fitted right in and had an influential effect on our partying on
land and we're quickly settling in on board (as best we can in this
heat!!) and getting used to the few changes we're trying out on board.

Internet was pretty scarce and there was too much else going on
(relaxing in the sun and swimming in the ocean is tough work you know!)
so sorry to those who i wasn't able to get in contact with before
leaving. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and saw the New Year
in in style.

Our xmas BBQ was great, plenty of 'fizzy drink' and hours spent in the
pool, with a dip in the indian ocean on the way home later that night!
Likewise the new year was seen in true clipper style. We took over the
yacht club and the next day was a bit of a write off!!

We had our race briefing yesterday. They always seem to involve
something a bit alarming! Last time it was the video of Hull and
Humbers man over board. This time it was photos of the collision damage
to Cork and Hull and Humber from the start in Cape Town and warnings for
pirates! cyclones, volcanos and oil/gas rigs on our way up through
Indonesia! - At least there are hopefully no whales this time round!

Despite a great break in Oz most of us were starting to get itchy feet
again and looking forward to the race start this morning. Everything
went well. We've gone 21 miles so far. We were first to hosit our
heavy weight spinnaker almost as soon as we rounded the last mark before
heading away from Geraldton but some of the other boats were close to
follow. We currently have Spirit of Australia and Cork close of our
starboard beam and we're making 7-8 knots boat speed off 10 knots of
wind.

Right time to go before i slide off the nav station seat! It's sooooooo
hot, especially below deck so life is more than a bit sweaty and we're
expecting it to only get worse!! Hope you guys in the northern
hemisphere are making the most of the cold and enjoying some skiing!!

xx