Living the dream!

Reflections From the Couch, Life After Clipper

2010-04-30T03:22:00.000+01:00

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! :)

Homeward Bound

2010-04-30T03:19:00.001+01:00

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!

Are we there yet?!

2010-02-18T18:14:00.001Z

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

Time to go!

2010-02-18T06:57:00.000Z

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'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

Demasted but all ok

2010-02-15T04:36:00.000Z

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

Chafe is the enemy!!

2010-02-13T09:40:00.000Z

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!

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!!

Did someone say wind?? Yahoo!!

2010-02-12T18:47:00.000Z

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.

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

Number one!

2010-02-12T12:59:00.000Z

The conditions did't continue to pick up like we were expecting last
time i wrote a blog so the yankee 1 came back out and we've been
continuing with beautiful blue sky days and no more that 11-12 knots of
wind. We even had a wind angle that meant we flew our medium weight
spinnaker for about 24hours only dropping it in the middle of last
night!! I thought i'd seen my last of the spinnaker!

Every day we talk and prepare ourselves for the onslaught of wind and
waves we are expecting once we get near the gate at the south of taiwan.
It's getting to the point where a lot of us just want to get there and
do it, enough talk!! Apparently althought the wind and sea will be big
it won't start getting really cold until we pass taiwan and head up into
the east china and yellow sea. We've packed away everything that we can
think of that can possibly go flying - galley condiments, knives and
books etc We also finally bit the bullet and sicaflexed ?sp? our
sleeping quaters hatch closed as it is warped and lets too much water
in. Now that the spinnaker is down the poles have been well and truely
lashed to the deck and the jockey pole stowed away in the lazarette.
We've rigged up extra jack stays around the deck to clip our safety
lines onto while we move around up top and we have rope rails strung up
everywhere down below so it looks a bit like a ropes course and has been
providing a bit of a big kids play ground while the conditions are light
enough not to need them in a serious way. We've rearranged all our
sails so we have our storm sails close at hand and positioned in the
cabin so we are walking on them rather than the floor that gets very
slippery when wet and on an angle! Oh and people have re-started their
sea sickness meds. So we're as prepared as we can be and are now just
waiting for the wind gods to flick the on switch!!

We've always had our plan, first to follow the aussies tack for tack as
they are our main competitors at the moment being 1-2 points over all
infront of us on the leader board. Our patience eventually paid off and
our belief that we could outsail them and once we passed them there was
no looking back. Our passage plan is constantly under review with each
new weather file we recieve and change in conditions and there is always
huge discussion. I've learnt loads as being a watch leader has meant
i've been part of the discussions and decision making. I'm now much
more familar with 'Seapro'our computerised chart and weather plotter!
I've also been using the radar and AIS to locate, track and avoid or
outsail other ships, fishing boats or competitors. I've even answered
one of our VHF calls the other night, although it was only from the
aussies wanting to check their barometer reading with ours as theirs had
misread a change of 6+ hPa over a few hours. I was able to check our
log and barometer and reassure them all was ok. It has been awesome and
the mood has been great since seeing all our hours of deliberation over
our course and racing hard paying off as we worked our way up the fleet
to where we are more used to being, NUMBER 1!! However fter getting
ourselves there we have now had an unfavourable wind shift and have also
had to do the inevitable and tack to come further east so we can set
ourselves up for the predicted change in wind direction and force to
head through the gate. It means we are likely to drop at least a few
positions by the next update as we're having to settle for a pretty ugly
course over ground/velocity made good and a fairly average speed
too! All a bit frustrating just as we made it to the top!

Waitangi Day on Team Finland

2010-02-07T07:34:00.000Z

(Written for Clipper Website)
Yesterday was New Zealand's Waitangi Day commemorating the signing of
the Treaty of Waitangi between the British settlers and native Maori
back in 1840. Being the two kiwi's on board Christel and I found
ourselves designated to mother watch for the day (so much for a national
holiday!!!). During happy hour everyone was treated to some kiwi
lollies (translation 'sweets') and home (or 'boat') baking but only
after participating in a hilarious attempt at the Haka.

Since leaving Singapore we've been slapping on the sun screen on deck
and sweating in our bunks down below. However we've been being careful
what we wish for knowing that it will be a different story that we are
telling in a week or so! Already it is noticeably cooler during our
night watches and the water temperature of what was likely to be my last
bucket shower yesterday was also initially a bit of a shock! Today has
seen a further change in the conditions as the wind picks up. We've
dropped our yankee 1 for the 2 and without jinxing ourselves have
probably put it to bed for the rest of this race. The temperature is
still really hot during the day especially down below in the sleeping
quarters. This morning some of the off watch crew found themselves
quickly cooled down as with the increasing wind and waves a bow wave
made it down our open forward hatch and into their bunks! So with that
said I've had lunch and I'm off to my bunk to check for water saturation
levels and rig up a shower curtain before climbing in!
'Night' :)

My last start day :(

2010-02-04T05:58:00.000Z

We're 'back on the road again' after a good break in Batam and
Singapore. Batam was an awesome resort with the marina out infront
of it and it was nice to have our own space and aircon in one of the
chalets. We arrived to a hero's welcome with the crew from the 6 other
boats already arrived out on the marina to greet us and the rescued
Cork crew. Then we all grabed our free beer and lunch before jumping in
the pool and throwing our skipper in as he was trying to do an
interview.

It was an early start 4 days later after having 2 nicghts in a row where
we were provided a buffet dinner and entertainment. We motored across
to Singapore each boat flying an ireland flag off our spreaders to
represent Cork left behind on the rocks. Keppel Bay Marina put on a
fantastic welcome ceremony and prize giving for us again with free food
and drinks. Some how we managed to make it into the VIP area so we even
got table service and dessert!! Singapore was quite expensive,
especially to go out to the bars spending NZ$ so i saved money by
sleeping on the boat. It was too hot down below so each night saw a
slumber party with our matresses dragged out on deck. It meant a nice
cool sleep until the sun came up and woke you at about 8 as it was
getting too hot!

It was another early start for race day with alot of us still feeling
the effects of too many late nights out! It was another great send off
after having breakfast put on for us at the marina. Mixed emotions
given it was my last start day on board, couldn't help but think about
how i would be feeling next time watching the team sail away without me
:( I cant believe i only have 2.5 weeks of racing left!

The Aussies and us have taken a slightly different route to the rest of
the fleet initially having us in 1st and 2nd position but more recently
puting us in 2nd last and last place but hopefully it will pay off
later! The Aussies have been in our sights for well over 24 hours now,
yesterday morning they tacked behind us putting us infront as we yelled
a very happy good morning to them off our stern! However as i keep
saying things change quickly and during the night they got a better lift
coming closer in around one of the islands and came out infront of us
again. But we're hot on their tails clawing them down! 6nm, 5, 3.5,
2.4, 1.7..... It's fairly nice sailing conditions at the moment, 10-14
knots true wind so we're heading along at a calm 7-8 knots. It's still
REALLY hot down below but not quite as bad as our run in to Singapore
and we're being careful what we wish for as in the back of our minds we
know that given another 10 days or so as we head up towards and past
Taiwan, conditions will be anything other than hot calm conditions!!

Lunch time
xx

Are we there yet?

2010-01-19T00:58:00.000Z

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!

2010-01-16T15:58:00.000Z

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

2010-01-15T11:53:00.000Z

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

2010-01-14T11:55:00.000Z

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!

It's getting hot in here!

2010-01-10T18:05:00.000Z

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!!

2010-01-03T12:52:00.000Z

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!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM G'TON

2009-12-25T06:50:00.000Z

Merry christmas wherever you are in the world!! It's bloody hot here!! Wish i could skype or something but there is nowhere open with internet, so all i
have is my boat email.
First night sleep back on the boat after saying goodbye to mum and dad and the luxury accomodation with air-con that came with them! Through the night I
came to realise that the boat bunks are not designed for a normal nights sleep (ie over 3 hours at a time) or for someone who isn't exhusted when they fall
into them!! Not really a normal xmas so far..... Woke up for about the 50th time this morning and decided enough was enough so got up and went for a run
with one of the other guys in the crew. Bad move - it must have been at least 30 degrees already at 0915hrs!! Have never sweated so much in all my life!
Nearly died!! Cooled off and washed my running clothes with a swim in the indian ocean before unwrapping my presents from mum and dad while the couple of
other crew that are staying on board opened theirs too. - Thanks mum and dad - It wouldn't be christmas without chocolate for breakfast/brunch!! :) Then it
was off for a shower in the plastic portable showers before cereal and warm yogurt for lunch! So, so far not very christmasy but we have a clipper BBQ and
drinks this afternoon which should be fun and is likely to get a bit messy!! Ahhhhh good times!
Right time to move i'm seriously sticking to this nav station seat!! Thinking of you all either freezing your butts off up in the northern hemisphere or
having a slightly warmer time but not as warm as me back home in kiwi land.
Miss you! Wish I was there. Hugs, Kisses and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Becs xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Land at Last!

2009-12-19T06:45:00.001Z

Ahhhhhhhhhh, I'm clean! I've had my fresh chicken salad (2 actually) and cereal with yoghurt! Had a spa bath with bubbles, washed my hair, shaved my legs, painted my nails, used a flush toilet, done 6 loads of washing and had two 8 hour sleeps in a stationary bed with sheets and no leecloth!! Once I was off the boat and in a clean environment I can't believe how suddenly stinky everything was (including me! – only did ever get the one shower in 25 days!).

Oh yeah and …….We won! We won! We won!! Yaaaaahoooooo!

At 1210hrs on Wednesday (16^th) we crossed the finish line 32 minutes ahead of Spirit of Australia in front of the crowd on the shore. I could tell where Mum and Dad were when I saw the Finnish and the silver fern flags flying! It was an amazing feeling to finally set foot back on dry land once we were moared up, the celebratory champagne had been passed around and photos taken. The Geraldton community have gone out of their way to welcome us with loads of people down at the marina to cheer us in and drinks and a BBQ as soon as we stepped of the boat. Our photo is plastered on the front of the paper with a double page spread inside, we've been on the local news and radio and on Sunday we are parading down the main street before a welcome reception with the major and our prize giving down at the yacht club!

No rest for the wicked though, we completed our deep clean the afternoon we got in and yesterday we were lifted up onto the dry dock for a bottom wash and new coats of antifouling paint. I'm allocated to the rigging team so we're responsible for checking all the rigging and ropes, replacing or repairing them where necessary and coming up with new ideas to help reduce the chafing and wear and tear to prevent breakages. Tomorrow once we're lowered back onto the water it's time to go up the mast to complete our rigging check and replace the windex light bulb which we lost a few nights before the end of the race. The 'sails team' have been away busy in a warehouse checking all our sails for damage and making the necessary repairs and the maintenance team have already serviced the heads and most of the winches so it's been full on! Everyone is keen to get things finished as quickly as possible to enjoy some much deserved time off over Christmas and New Year.

Right I'm off to have a swim it's sooooooo hot! Mum and Dad have an awesome apartment right on the marina. I have my own bedroom with a view out to the boats and an ensuite and we also have a spa bath. There is a pool, spa pool and BBQ area down stairs! Ahhhhhh Luxury!!!!

Check on MSN NZ Money for a hand Feeling the financial pinch?

The race is on!!

2009-12-15T23:34:00.000Z

The kiwi vs Aussie rivalry is obvious especially on the sports field but
the Team Finland vs Aussie definitely matches it! They are hot on our
tails keeping us on our toes and making us work to keep our lead for the
remaining 60miles. The atmosphere on board has become a little more
serious! Can we hold them off for another 6 hours??
It has been a frustrating night; we've had a favorable wind angle to
come in on a broad reach, polling out our Yankee on a direct course to
Geraldton with 25-30knots of wind. However we've been facing an
unexpected opposing current of around 2knots on average slowing us down
most of the night and allowing the Aussies to make a lot of ground,
being only 5 miles behind at the last update!

It amazes me that over an ocean crossing of 4800nm with 24 days at sea
the race is this close! The distance between 3rd and 7th is also only
15 miles so every position on the podium is going to be hard fought!
Unfortunately Cork and Hull and Humber, having had repairs made
following their collision back on the start line in Cape Town, left up
to a week later than us. They are now still a way off and will be
missed at the inevitably huge party tonight! Ahhhhhhh I can't believe
we'll be on land in a matter of hours!!

We've been back in full foulies as the sea state has been rough, the
swells often hitting us straight on our beam (side of the boat) causing
plenty of waves to keep us awake! With my last night watch for this leg
completed, I've stripped off my soaking wet foulies and am on my way to
my bunk. Hopefully I'll wake in 2.5 hours for breakfast with land in
sight and those damn Aussies behind us!

'SISU to the Finnish!'

Christmas has come early

2009-12-15T07:39:00.000Z

Today started off like any other, reluctantly woken 2 hrs early for
happy hour at 1200hrs. But half an hour later festive spirits are high!
Christmas has come early on board - we all had a present from our on
board Santa Claus Pauline, who gave us all Santa hats and chocolate (we've
been without chocolate for a number of days now), then Andy P had more
chocolate to give out that he had saved all the way from Grimsby in the
UK! Christmas music played from the on deck speakers and a Christmas carol
was sung into the wind which, adding to our good spirits, we have found
again meaning its back into our wet weather gear as the waves break over
the bow at times making all the way down to the helm and life is once
again being lived on an angle! Then as the cherry on the top of our
early Christmas off the new race update came in and we've made another 4
miles on the Aussies putting us 14nm in total closer to the finish line!
So heading to lunch now it's just like a typical Christmas, I'm too full
of chocolate and sugar!

It has felt like we have had only a few days left for so long now but now
it's really true. We have 220nm (less than 22 hours at the speeds we've
been doing over the last 24hrs) until we cross the finish line and can
have all those luxuries we have been dreaming about for at least the last
10 days - the first drink, shower, fresh meal, clean dry clothes, flat
bed, more than 3 hours sleep........ Mmmmmmmmmm

Fending off the Aussies with 525nm to go!!

2009-12-14T00:52:00.000Z

After writing my last blog and heading climbing into my bunk yesterday
morning we woke in the afternoon to see Spirit of Australia hot on our
tails off our stern (back of the boat), they had caught some wind that
we were desperately lacking! The next race update confirmed what we
already knew. The damn Aussies had gained even more miles on us and
were only 3nm behind! The binoculars were out and we matched them move
for move in a gybing duel. At happy hour Eero (skipper) was more
positive than most, pleased to have them in our sights so that at least
we were subject to the same weather/wind conditions and quietly
confident that we can be the faster boat.

During the night I did the hardest bit of helming so far! We had only 6
knots of extremely variable wind coming from anywhere between 200-250
degrees. It was dark, there were no stars and I couldn't see the horizon
other than the nav lights of the Aussies still breathing down our necks
off our starboard beam (right hand side of the boat). I'm not sure
who/what was struggling more - me to keep our course or the light weight
spinnaker to fly! I always imagined that helming was most difficult in
strong winds and rough seas, waves crashing over the deck, boat heeling
(leaning) over, gunnels (where the hull of the boat joins the deck) in
the water but actually it's so much harder to keep on course when there
is little to no pressure in the sails, the movements of the wheel have
to be so gentle and small and the boat takes much longer to react.

It's 0400hrs and time for bed again. I might have to raid the galley
first though I'm starving! I'm not sure if it's because I deserve to be
hungry from working hard or whether my stomach now just expects a
constant flow of food! It has been a reasonably busy night though. The
wind has improved slightly over this watch, the lightweight kite is
flying happily (hopefully I haven't just jinxed it!). I managed to clock
our 48hr speed record of 7.4knots over the ground just before coming
down below. I can feel a few bruises coming out on my legs as we've
also been busy with a few gybes through the night which has meant
climbing up the downhaul (one of the 3 ropes attached to the outer end
of the spinnaker pole) to set up our tripping line (used if we needed to
drop the spinnaker). Hopefully it's all been worth it though, we lost
the Aussies over the horizon again as the sun came up (at 3 in the
morning!).

So how's the Christmas shopping going? Loving all those Christmas
carols? Can't wait to hear all the goss from the Christmas parties!
There better be some juicy emails waiting for me when we hit land or
I'll be very disappointed! :) We're very much removed from all the
festivities out here, although we did have a special happy hour lead by
our 3 Dutch crew mates for St Nicholas day last week. I think Christmas
this year will be a BBQ on the beach. The poms on board can't wait to
throw some shrimps on the barbe, mate!!

Nite x

Bare chests and wind dances

2009-12-13T04:37:00.000Z

We're stuck and going no where fast! Our windex (arrow at the top of the mast indicating wind direction) is doing loop'd'loops and we're all slowly going
mad down on deck too. As we had anticipated, the wind has slowly been dropping more and more over the last few days. We weren't doing to badly, making the
most of what we had - until this morning when the wind completely died. The night before last with our spinnaker up we were even making 6.4 knots SOG
(speed over ground - often different to speed through the water due to current/drift) which was faster than the wind speed of about 5.2!! However we now
have only 2knots true wind and the ocean is like a pond (but it's an amazing blue!!). We had to drop our light weight kite (spinnaker) 3 hours ago when it
just wouldn't stay filled and currently our windseeker (big light weight head sail on the front of the boat) is flapping backwards and forwards doing very
little with us moving 0.1-0.9 knots (we're just thankful that it's forwards not backwards! Our computer is encouragingly reporting it will take us 54!!
days to get to Australia!! It's been suggested that it would be faster to swim, only we're a bit worried about sharks! - better hope we find some wind
soon!

The midlayers and foulies that we were wearing just 48 hours ago have been stripped off. Bare chested men seem to be multiplying on deck while us ladies
are remaining more conservative - possibly due to our legs not having seen a razor in 3 weeks now! Although I'm pleased to report my shorts did still fit
over my longjohns despite our diet of chocolate and carbs!! :) It's all very nice sun bathing while on watch but it's more than mildly frustrating! After
all THIS IS A RACE!!! The cause of all this? We are currently sailing right through the middle of an unavoidable massive high sitting right off the coast
of Australia, smack bang between us and Geraldton! All we can do is hope that the rest of the fleet are experiencing something similar enough for us to
hold our lead until we find some pressure again. So everyones fingers and toes crossed please!!!

We were thankful for the light winds during the night when we spent 4+ hours under emergency steering! Our wheel had come loose and the bolt to hold it on
was threaded. Luckily after a few (unusually failed) Team Finland ingenuity attempts (including hack sawing into our vang pole!) after emails back and
forward with the Clipper engineer a temporary fix has been made and we're back to using our wheel again.

The highlight of yesterdays happy hour was John, who is finishing after this leg, passing on his wind dancing expertise to the rest of the crew. I'll post
photos when we finally make it to land, it was hilarious! Another benefit is that the boat is flat!!! (even if it is rocking a bit). Life is therefore
100x easier. It's also seemed to have meant that we are sleeping more deeply, making it harder to wake up but it has meant that I'm feeling a bit revived.
Desperate for activity on deck this morning we even had a bit of a gym circuit going, the rigging of a racing yacht makes an amazing multigym funnily
enough....a bit sad I know! haha

I've sunbathed enough, been to the gym, had our last grapefruit for breakfast, written a blog and baked some biscuits – even with chocolate icing (times are
getting desperate, shockingly the kilo's and kilo's of chocolate is gone and people are almost resorting to the muesli bars!!) It's now 9 in the morning
and it's my bed time, can't afford to have too late a 'night' !! :)

Night night xx

832nm to go!!

2009-12-11T10:26:00.000Z

I have just been woken from from yet another weird dream to head up on deck for our happy hour meeting. One thing a lot of people seems to experience on
board is vivid and weird dreams! I'm not sure why? ?disturbed sleep, rocking/moving surroundings, 2.5-3hrs only at a time? Most of mine involve sailing or
clipper or my crew mates in some way although I did have one 'normal' life dream and woke up very disorientated! I also had one where I had twins?? What
does that mean? New beginnings??
The other thing that no one has escaped is waking up completely disorientated to time and in a mad panic that you have overslept for your watch or gone back
to sleep after your wake up call (which is VERY easy to do and is probably safe to say everyone has done at least once!). Some people in this mad panic
have even 'jumped' out of their bunk and frantically started trying to get ready only to be looked at strangely and told it is 2 hours before they need to
be on deck get back to bed! When we first came on board as newbie leggers we were warned about this and all thought we had gotten away with it not
affecting us until about day 3-4 when we too succumbed to it to!

Routine daily life continues on Team Finland but we can almost smell the finish line. Latest update at happy hour was that we only have 832nm to go to
Geraldton and made another 3nm on the Aussies! I never wrote about passing Uniquely Singapore and Spirit of Australia it was an exciting time, however
we're all well aware it's not over till it's over. Now that we have and have been holding our lead we're doing all we can to make sure it stays that way!!
Unfortunately we have a massive high sitting smack bang between us and Australia that we have no choice but to sail through. Sitting in the nav station
typing this blog I can see our nav computer and grib file showing light variable (from changing directions) winds. Although at the moment - touch wood -
the weather outside tells a different and much better story. We continue to have a constant wind of 17knots from the NW allowing us to make good progress
at 9-10knots along our great circle route. It has remained this way for the past 3 or more days (it's easy to lose track!) so things have been slow on deck
with a minimal number of sail changes required. Last night we finally noticed it was slightly warmer than it had been now that we have been moving steadily
further north-east.

Reading through some of my previous blog entries, I realised it may be that through some of my descriptions of life on
board, it may be difficult to realise that (or understand how) I'm having the time of my life! I guess in some ways it's kind of like running a marathon (I
imagine) There are moments that you ask yourself why the hell you're doing this to yourself. But then there are other times that you love it and go back
for more! The cold is probably what I find most difficult to deal with and I don't see it changing. The colder and more tired you are on deck the less and
less motivated you are to move, but actually that is the best cure, so it's times like these that if there is nothing else happening on deck, I'll make
myself go up to the bow to check sail trim or go on the helm (or kindly offer to go down below and put the kettle on for everyone or bake something :) All
the jobs on deck in the right (or wrong) conditions involve something that could be perceived as undesirable eg getting soaked by a bow wave on the fore
deck at 0200hrs in the morning. But working on the bow with the other foredeck guys is awesome and one of my favorite parts! Standing on the top rail of
the pulpit (frame at the front of the boat - picture 'Jack I'm flying' from titanic)looking back down the length of the boat, leaning on and clinging to the
forestay with my legs while the bow of the boat dives into a swell sending a massive wave crashing into me and almost lifting me off as I hank or unhank one
of the head sails or leaning at the full stretch of my safety line out over the side of the boat to drag in the foot of a head sail in a sail drop then
throwing my self on top of it to keep it down on the deck as 4 of us fight with the rest of the sail to bring it on board. I also love wearing the nappy
(think I've mentioned this before) - the affectionate name we have for the harness and climbing the mast for rigging checks or the spinnaker pole to 'spike'
the clew to release it for a spinnaker drop. Basically the more challenging the better that's what makes it exciting and fun.

Good day at work?

2009-12-08T13:00:00.001Z

So how was everyones day at work in land? My split shift system saw me
helming in the pitch black until 0400hrs last night/this morning - I
couldn't even see the mast! When you are handed over the helm you
are given instructions of what to steer to. Sometimes it is a wind
angle for best speed, sometimes a compass course, sometimes it is a
course over ground or more confusingly sometimes a mixture! You
generally try and helm by 'feeling' the motion of the boat through the
water and swells and anticipating the correctionon you need to make on
the wheel to keep your course steady, using the instuments as a
reference only. It is made more or less difficult by the wind
strength, direction and variablity, what sails we have up, the light and
visiblity and the sea state (oh - and wheather your getting soaked with
rain or waves and what kind of angle your having to stand on!).

After 2.5 hours sleep I was up again and on deck for 0800hrs. No rest
for the wicked - the wind had picked up and it was up to the bow to hank
on and prepare the yankee 2, drop the yankee 1, hoist the yankee 2 and
flake (fold up and put in it's bag) the yankee 1. One of the things
that first struck me on our first day of training was just how large,
thick and heavy the sails are, which makes team work vital!
With the wind still rising next was taking in a reef (making the main
sail smaller). Then i baked flapjacks/krunchie before heading back on
deck to helm so Andy could go below and take his turn on 'mother watch'
to prepare our lunch. 2.5hrs later i'm finally off the helm and my
shoulders ache!!! Usually we don't do so long on the helm at a time so
that your concentration is mantained at it's best. Howver today the
weather was too wet and cold to have our happy hour on deck so while the
othes met down below 2 of us stayed up on deck.

It's not always busy on deck. Although some times i go off watch
exhusted and aching at other timess we'll spend our whole 6 hour day
watch or 4 hour night watch sitting on the high side of the deck and not
have to do anything other than check the sail trim every so often. This
can be quite nice looking out at the ocean if the sun is out and it's
not too cold. But especially at night, when its cold, dark and often
we're getting sprayed with waves or rained on it's not so fun and you
wish there would be a wind change so we'd have to do something just to
warm up and get off out butts! (Also one of the reasons it's good to be
able to rotate onto the helm!).

The weather changes so quickly out here. Sometimes i go to bed and it's
a bright sunny day and i'm woken up later to 30 knot winds, confused
seas and generally cold and wet conditions. The other day we were so
becalmed we were only doing about 0.5knots. Andy P turned up at happy
hour in fancy dress - his dive suit - and following our meeting he
abandoned ship and tied to a rope dove down to check out our rudder
after our whale encounter.

2 days ago we celebrated Finlands independance day. At happy hour the 3
Fins on board gave us a bit of a finnish history lesson, there was even
more chocolate eaten than normal and we had a toast to finland, all
having a shot of finlandia.

Right time to sign off. It's 1630hrs I've only got 3 hours left of my 6
hour off watch left to get some sleep before being woken again.

Night x

Likes, Dislikes and I Can't Waits.....

2009-12-08T13:00:00.000Z

DISLIKES:
*Being woken at midnight or 0400hrs (or any time!) to put my wet socks,
boots and foulies back on and head up on deck.
*hotdogs in a can 3 days in a row
*Needing to wash my hair
*The computer losing my last blog just as i was about to send it!

LOVES:
*Henry Lloyd gaiters that stop my boots filling with water on the bow
*Gill Mid-layer romper suit to keep me toasty warm on deck at night
*Merino Icebreaker top - Apparently NZ sailing legend Peter Blake wore
his for 40 days - not a record i'm planning on trying to break! I think
i'm finally going to have to give mine up to the dirty washing bag after
17 days!
*Snuggling into my toasty warm, fleecy lined, ocean sleeping bag
*Copious amounts of chocolate at any given time of the day (yes even 2
or 7 in the morning!)
*Boat baked bread for b'fast in the morning
*SAILING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN OCEAN AND HEARING WE'VE MADE MORE MILES
ON THE AUSSIES!!!

CAN'T WAITS:
*To see mum and dad for the first time in 2 years standing on the marina
cheering us in as we come into Geraldton in about 8 days (even better if
we're still in first place!)
*My first shower and hair wash
*To sleep for more than 3 hours at a time
*To wake up a a normal hour and put on dry clean clothes
*For a fresh salad with chicken with icecream for desert

Day 13 - day of the shower!

2009-12-05T06:16:00.000Z

We've had some bad, wet, rough weather but still haven't really seen the massive swells or huge winds that we expected of the Southern Ocean. Tactical
decisions due to the wind forcasts have meant that we have stayed relatively north which has meant slightly warmer weather too, yesterday some people were
even on deck in shorts! Over the last few days with the sea being calmer and sailing on a broad to beam reach so the boat has been flater, the prospect of
showers had been talked about with excitment for the last few days . However due to tactics, timing and a few weather changes it wasn't until yesterday -
day 13! that it finally happened - they were brief but BLISS!! We even had hot water! I had forgotten what it was like to have clean hair!! (the whole 'your
hair cleans itself is a myth!!). It was still a bit of a challenge to remain upright while standing in the startboard heads with soap and water making it
even more slippery, but there's no question about it - definaltey worth the effort. Clean body also meant that it was time for some clean clothes too!
Although I have to admit that i'm still wearing my merino icebreaker that I started the race in! I can't bear to get rid of it to the washing bag. It's
just so warm and dries easily and it still passes the sniff test! Gotta love NZ icebreakers.

A couple of days ago we scored our first gate points. 2 points for crossing 2nd. After the whale incident we didn't know if we would be able to catch the
boats infront of us in time so it was awesome news to hear we came second by around 1.5 hrs. The latest position updates just in this morning show we made
a small gain on the Aussies who are now only 7 miles infront of us. We will have our eyes peeled south off our starboard side over the next few hours as
they should come into view. We'd been flying our heavy weight spinnaker for about the last 37 hours making a good average of 10-13 knots off 20knots true
wind, I was helming as close to due east as we could hold and directly into the rising sun (nice but rough on the eyes!) but then at 0600hrs completed
another errorless drop when the wind continued to veer to far round for us to hold our course with the spinnaker up.

I seem to spend most of my time on either of the 2 opposite ends of the boat. I've been doing a lot of helming especially at night with the spinnaker up as
we have a limited number of people able to helm in those conditions. I've also been wearing the nappy (the affectionate name for the harness). This is
basically a climbing harness that someone on deck has to wear when ever the spinnaker is up incase we have to quickly climb the pole to release the clew of
the spinnaker for a quick drop (we also use it for climbing the mast and rigging for various reasons). With all the helming, spinnaker trimming and working
with the pole and head sails on the bow and foredeck my shoulders and arms are constantly sore. It's like going to the gym for 5 work outs every 48hrs and
no rest days! My hands are slowly hardening up and i reakon i've got virtually no finger prints left! But as the skin gets tougher and rougher they are
also getting itchy! It's sore to make a tight fist and my finger tips are still tender but it's gradually getting better and as soon as i have to do
something on deck everything is forgotten and it's all go! It's usually the guys that i'm working with on the foredeck so I'm determinded to prove kiwi
girls can do anything they can and it's very seldom that i accept that they can physically do something better than i can!

It's been awesome to be back closer to home in the southern hemisphere and see the southern cross in the sky at night! It's also becoming obvious that we
are making our way slowly but surely east. Last night when I came on watch at 2000hrs boat time it was pitch black and this morning there was an amazing
sunrise at 3 in the morning!! Spectacular the whole sky and ocean were a bright scarlet/orange.

As i've mentioned before we have a huge mix of crew on board from all over the world (19 different nationalities within the crew in total over the whole
race) This along with different opinions, goals, ideas, personalities...the list goes on... can make for interesting times in such close quaters!! However
in saying that we have become like a family, out here the only people we have to rely on is each other, there is great atmosphere on board (ok maybe not as
your woken at 4 in the morning to go out into the dark cold and wet). Everyone really looks out for each other. Like our family's back on land you learn to
read peoples moods and in this challenging environment you also recognise everyones different strengths and weaknesses including your own which can
sometimes be surprising!

Returning to london after training weeks down in Gosport. I always said it was tougher and tougher every time to have to return to reality and 'normal'
life. However although this may not be 'normal' life there's been nothing like cold, wet, salty southern ocean bow waves in my face and down the front of
my foulies at 2 in the morning to make me realise that this is definitely reality!!!.... and there is nothing else in the world I'd rather be doing right
now!!

Becs, living the dream
xx

Having a Whale of a Time!

2009-12-02T00:51:00.000Z

Written for the Clipper web site crew blog 01/12/09

As the sun came up this morning there was good humour on deck and
numerous whale jokes going around however the mood was all a little more
serious and sombre late last night. B watch had just recently come on
deck and darkness had set in. We were flying our heavy weight kite
making a good 10 knots. I was on the helm having recently got my
'spinnaker driving licence'. It seemed like smooth sailing and after
our last race update we were making good progress, however as we are all
coming to realise things can change quickly at sea! Suddenly there was a
thud as a sharp jolt came through the helm. I along with others let out
a few confused expletives and expected that I had lost the steering.
However this wasn't the case and those behind the helm looked aft to see
the large tail of the culprit having hit our rudder, surface before
disappearing again into the darkness. Our log book now reads 2105hrs;
'hit whale, rudder damaged??'. With a whole ocean to play in what were
the chances? (since then coming up with ideas as to why has become a
popular pass time – from that whales sleep below the surface to it was
attracted to the hum of our generator). We haven't been far enough
south to need an iceberg watch but maybe a whale watch is more
appropriate, although still difficult in the dark, as like this one, it
was in full camouflage and stealth mode.

Seconds after it happened Eero was on deck and turns were taken by him
and our watch leaders to go down into the lazarette and check out our
steering system. A consensus was reached that there seemed to be some
damage to our rudder. The race office was contacted, while on deck a
smooth and speedy spinnaker drop took place. On the helm it was my
first opportunity to see this evolution take place without being in
amongst it. Instructions were shouted into the wind directing the 7
other crew in their various roles to work swiftly together in the
darkness wrestling the sail almost the size of a tennis court and with a
mind of its own down, through the 'letterbox' slot between the main sail
and boom, onto the deck and down below. It is amazing that something
that looks so chaotic, all comes together so smoothly!

With possible rudder damage we thought our race prospects were over. We
didn't want to believe it and held our breath that it wasn't the case!
As the night went on the steering remained ok and it began to seem that
maybe we had gotten away lightly with no damage after all. As a
precaution our sail configuration remained conservative over night
causing us to lose hard fought miles to our closest competitors and
dropping our position back to 4th within the highly contested top 4.

So lesson learnt (don't hit whales – or don't let them hit you).
However trying to find a positive - how many other people will be able
to one day tell their grandchildren 'back when I was young and sailing
part of the way around the world we hit a whale in the southern ocean'.
As I go off watch this morning we're as determined as ever to claw back
those miles before the scoring gate! The spinnaker is back up and I'll
go to my bunk with the sound of 'trim…..hold' above me. Spirit of
Australia, Cape Breton Island, Uniquely Singapore watch your backs Team
Finland are back in the race and hot on your tails!

Surfs Up Baby!!

2009-11-27T06:23:00.000Z

The 3 hourly internet race viewer watches are over and now that i think
it's safe to say sea sickness is behind me, i'm feeling better and it's
awesome to be actually on board! At our last happy hour up date we had
advanced to second place overtaking the Aussies and gaining on Cape
Breton who are both further south than us. It's actually slightly easy
to forget your racing out here on our own with only birds for company
(albatross! - very cool!) Especially since we get our position updates
much less frequently than is available on the race viewer on land!

We've had a great few days, We crossed over the 40th parallel so are
officially in the southern ocean now! Conditions aren't quite the
natorious ones you'd expect of the Southern Ocean....Yet. We've had some
weird weather and I've quickly realised that if you think the weather can
change quickly up in the mountains (or in Dunedin :) it's nothing
compared to what can happen in the middle of the ocean! The other day we
had fog with thunder and lightning as i went off watch at 8 in the
morning and when i got up again at 2 it was a beautiful day and perfect
conditions! We were on a broad reach so apparent wind was low despite it
gusting up to 40 knots at times, the sun was shining and we were quickly
into our shorts and t'shirts. Foulies, boots and socks off and hanging
anywhere we could find to dry them off.

The swells have only been 3-5 metres so far but the competition for
highest speed has started already. It's an exhilarating feeling on the
helm with 68ft of boat infront of you as you surf down the front of a
wave and she actually starts to hum, can't help but let a smile break my
look of concentration - just as well there is no rear view mirror to see
the wave coming or it would be more a look of terror! I've just come off
watch (0400-0800hrs) we just shook out a reef before i came of deck and
so have our full main, with stay sail and poled out yankee 2. It's quite
a 'safe' downwind sail combination so it's been great to get more
practice on the helm. It'll be back to my learners licence and feeling
very nervous when the spinnaker comes out! I've also been spending quite
a lot of time on the bow, quite a challenge in the dark and wind trying
to communicate with the crew in the snake pit (= Pit with all the winches
and ropes behind the mast) to co-ordinate things like sail changes and
taking a pole up and down. Especially as you open your mouth to yell
something as the bow hits the back of a swell and a you get completely
soaked by a massive wave.

Bed time
xx

Fish Feeding!

2009-11-24T12:52:00.000Z

Well the clipper diet started off with a bang! I can no longer claim I
don't get sea sick!! I've managed to stop feeding the fish for now and
am hoping to stay that way all the way to Qingdou but it was a bit rough
for a while there! Had to schedule throwing up time into the time it
took me to get kitted up for being on watch!! I'm still feeling a bit
spaced out though from the drugs that have helped me to so far keep down
some water, a hot choc, few mouthfuls of 2 minute noodles with a weird
selection of vege and some tinned corned beef and smash! Oh and some
chocolate! Ahhhh talk about fine dinning!!

We had a fantastic race start and got off to a great lead (which has
been lost since but we have our tactics and there is a long way too go!)
we made so much ground that the media helicopter thought they'd missed
us until the pilot spotted us off on the horizon! It was initiation by
fire for us new leggers who joined in Cape Town. We had some great wind
for the race start that was super exciting!! (Although feel for the two
boats that are back in the marina in Cape Town after being involved in a
collision on the start line). The wind then died as we entered the wind
shadow of table mountain and we got our light weight spinnaker out.
Wasn't long before it had to come down and the wind kept climbing! We
managed to work our way through almost our whole sail wardrobe to
settle with Yankee 3, stay sail and main with 2 reefs. In the middle of
the night with the wind gusting over 35 knots we were over powered and
with 5 of us up on the foredeck, fought hard to bring the yankee 3 down
(During the nice little window of time you get of feeling fantastic
after throwing up!!).

A lot of people were suffering from sea sickness and with the boat
bouncing hard through the waves on crazy angles life on board was
initally a matter of just getting through it. Very little sleep was
had and one of my off watches was spend gripping onto the edge of my
locker beside my bunk to stop being bouced our! Last off watch I had
a great sleep however woke up realising just how sore my muscles and
whole body in genereal was, being unaccustomed to life at sea. I'm sure
i'm covered in a rediculous numaber of bruises that i'll never get a
chance to even see! Today however the wind and sea have settled, we're
averaging about 10 knots speed over ground off about 17-18 knots true
wind and the sun and smiles are out.

I'm losing track of the days already, but there are A LOT to go!! We
are in our own wee world with our own boat time, No longer south african
time but a long way off being on australian time yet too. Not that the
time matters other than to know when your watches start and finish. Its
1430hrs boat time, I've just come off the helm at the end of our 6hr day
time watch (Saw a turtle (actually I just about hit it!!) and the others
saw a whale behind us but i couldn't turn and look while i was driving
(dedication or what!! haha) Lunch is tinned sausages and smash (powdered
potoato, just add ?water and = instant mashed potato.) Then it's bed
time for me until I'm woken at 2000hrs for the first of our 4 hour night
watches.

I've also changed my socks, cleaned my teeth and had a baby wipe
'shower' - doesn't get much better than that! Life on board Team Finland
is all good!

Night Night
xx

RACE DAY!!

2009-11-22T07:19:00.001Z

No more sleeps!! My nails have been cut and jewellery removed! I've had my last shower for at least 3 weeks, used my last flush toilet and had my last land based meal!!! At crew briefing yesterday we saw the video footage of Hull and Humbers man over board which was amazingly caught on camera - very difficult to watch and very much a reality check!!!
We slip lines at 11.00. Race start at 2!

Becs xxx

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Final count down has started!

2009-11-15T19:24:00.001Z

Moved out of the backpackers and onto the boat today!! Another step closer!! This time in a week we'll be on our way to oz!! I've drawn top bunk up at the bow so it's going to be an interesting ride while we surf the southern oceans waves and i'm off watch trying to sleep!!

Had an amazing 28 hours staying with a crew mates family in Jo'Berg while she was on the boat on her way to Cape Town. I had springbok for lunch and my face painted at an african restaurant, and a Braai for dinner then before flying out to Cape Town the next day we went to a Rino and Lion safari Park!

Just walked up Table Mountain today, Bit tough on the legs!! Especially after 3 nights in a row of celebrations going on into the early hours of the morning!!

Boat maintenance tomorrow, prize giving and sight seeing on tuesday, corportate sail on wed, sight seeing thurs, last training sail friday, leaving sunday........It's a tough life :) x

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I'm finally off on my adventure

2009-11-12T17:13:00.001Z

Hi, Sorry i know I haven't been in touch with some of you for quite a while but I though now was a good time to send you an update and say hi and bye!

If you have managed to escape hearing me go on and on about my next adventure then I should let you know i've been doing some sailing training throughout this year and am crewing in 2 legs out of 7 of the 09/10 Clipper round the world yacht race. This is a race where 10 identical 68ft ocean racing yachts sponsored by various cities or countries race each other around the world each sailed by one professional skipper and 18-20 amateur crew.

So life in london has been packed up for 6 months and I've just arrived in Cape Town. I'm typing as I wait at the yacht club for my team to sail in from Rio!! They've had an amazing race so far ......No pressure for those of us joining!!! haha.... They won the first race from the UK to france and the second from france to Rio and are currently due to arrive in cape town in about 5 hours in 2nd place! - Hopefully - it's not over until they cross that line!

Leg 3 starts with us sailing out of Cape town in 10 days time (22 nov) and racing 4,743 miles across the southern ocean to Western Australia (geraldtown-north of perth) which will take about 3 1/2 weeks non stop. We 'rest' in oz for xmas and NY while completing maintenance etc and leave again on the 3rd Jan racing 2,450 miles up to singapore. We stay there a week before racing 2,578 miles on to Qingdou in China following a similar course to the volvo ocean race. Qingdou is where i unfortunately leave the boat at the end of feb but I'm coming home to NZ for 6 weeks after that before heading back to try and return to 'normal' life in london!!!

Anyway I better go, Cork have just crossed the finish line first and are due to arrive at the marina so Im going go congratulate them while waiting for my team 'Team Finland' 'who will hopefully hold off singapore who are only about 8 miles behind us to arrive in second in about another 4 hours - quite a close race for having come 3,385 miles!!!!

I'm going to keep a blog site that i will email messages too from the boat, if your interested in following it the web address is
http://becslivingthedream.blogspot.com/

There are also 3 hourly race position updates on the clipper web site which is
http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/Follow/RaceViewer

So while life on land goes on hold for me as i sail off... Happy Birthday! Merry Xmas! Happy New Year! Happy Pregnancies! Happy Engagements, Happy Weddings... And everything else i'm going to miss until i get to NZ in March!!!!!

Miss you already
Ahhhhh this is all starting to feel real!!

Becs
xx

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