Leg 8

‘There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.’ ~ Frank Herbert

And so here we are on the last stage of our round the world adventure.

For some this is their first ocean crossing, for others, it is their last ocean crossing (ever, or for some time).

We’re embarking upon the North Atlantic crossing, “the pond” as it’s fondly referred to, but as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston clearly stated this afternoon at our crew briefing,

Advertisement

What a race

Well folks, as you’ll know by now we made it into New York in 4th place.

Initially I was hugely disappointed but as I reflected on the ten days at sea I became really proud.

We’d done something amazing. Our focus on boat performance with concentration on trim and helming was something we’d never done before with such a concerted degree of intensity. And the payoff was incredible.

The Big Apple 2

It’s 5am on Friday and the satellite phone rings. This always raises our attention as more often than not it’s the Clipper race office calling with news. But what news today?

Our skipper sticks her head out of the hatch from the navigation station to the cockpit.  We’ve already debated what kind of news could await us.

And we were right.

Bermuda Triangle

Never thought this was somewhere in which I’d be sailing, but yes, here we are. We were sorely tempted to go into stealth mode during our time crossing the triangle – that period when no one except the race office knows where we are.  However recent tragic news stories soon brought us back to a sensible decision to remain ‘on line’.

The Big Apple 1

Racing from Jamaica to New York provides a mix of sailing from on the nose winds, punching into the waves, to full on reaching and then there’s the possibility of spinnaker sailing. Should be fun.

But in the meantime we must navigate our way between Cuba and Haiti being sure to avoid not only the 12 miles coastal exclusion zone, Guantanamo bay (!) and the TSS (jargon for traffic separation scheme i.e. big ships only) but choosing

Amazing mums and daughters

What an incredible surprise when I connected back to email in Panama.

My mum had mentioned that she’d ‘do something’ to raise money for the charities I’m supporting as I race around the world,

Well, that ‘something’ turned out to be a marathon baking feat. Katherine, my daughter had just returned to University and took precious revision time to help out. Except of course mum