Clipper Race Leg 2 South Atlantic Challenge

Sponsorship

Supporting two amazing charities – KULE and Friends of India (FoI) I have chosen certain hardships that living on board a stripped down racing yacht offers unlike those in the Kenyan and Tamil Nadu communities who simply endure hardship without choice.

Please remember that as you read these blogs, my aim is to raise funds for KULE and FoI and my employer has agreed to match the funds I raise.

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The best bits so far

Almost 10,000 nautical miles sailed and there have been some great things to remember, here are the top ten, in no particular order of favourite:

1. The departure from London, an amazing send off and so much emotion with family and great friends

Kitemare

What an horrendous watch. We had the joy of sleeping after dinner from 6pm ’til 10pm to take over the graveyard shift.  At half past nearly the end of our watch at 0130 ish, the wind picks up and the decision is taken to change down to the heavier weight spinnaker.

Given we’ve now done a number of changes of the spinnaker, doing what is called a peel… that means that

Action from Leg 2 of the Clipper Race, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa

Jargon

There are tonnes of it no matter what walk of life … we all use it. Well on the boat it’s no different; we just have some really special words, some of which are important so that everyone uses the same terminology for safety’s sake and some seem just a bit random – like the handy billy aka “Cunningham”… why I ask myself, who or what was/is Billy?

Rio Baby

Arriving with only two full days in Rio in which to clean and mend the boat as well as re stocking with food really wasn’t going to allow time for sightseeing.
However my unrealistic, optimistic self thought otherwise and that’s probably why I feel so disappointed.

That said, we did turn the boat around and set sail on time, currently enjoying an upwind slog with huge waves crashing over us. In the log book our sea condition

Adventure

So here I am having listened to our Skipper’s pre Southern Ocean « disaster » scenario briefing. As usual we all have key roles to play, mine is communication……”mayday..mayday…” Nooooooo, we won’t have one of those calls.

Our boat has been “Southern Ocean proofed” this week in Cape Town, freezers lashed with knock downs in mind. Floor boards will be screwed down shortly.