Race 12 - Day 15
Crew Diary - New York, USA to Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland
05 July

Charlotte Willis

Team Garmin

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Hello Garminions.

After declaring that my last crew diary was my last crew diary, it transpires that there are now actually enough days at sea for me to write another one. And you'll all know that the reason this is the case is because Race 12 from NYC to Derry-Londonderry has been extended so as to ensure we don't arrive in Derry before the required arrival infrastructure.

As a boat sponsor and a huge supporter of the Clipper Race this year, we are expecting big things from the Northern Irish city and understand it's no small feat to manage the logistics of the fleet's arrival combined with the Foyle Maritime Festival. However after a fast, uncomfortable and pretty darn cold and wet Atlantic crossing, the extra 500 miles added to our course has been toying with our emotions in these final days of our last ocean crossing on board Garmin.

We finally saw Irish landfall on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd July but before we could decide whether to order a beer or a Guinness first, we gybed around Tory Island and headed north instead. Away from Derry. Away from hot showers, a flat bed, regular shore clothes that don't involve sixteen layers of merino wool and gore-tex, and those loved ones who had brought forward their travel plans to be there expecting our early arrival.

I remember watching as a Legger from home when the race from Airlie Beach to Da Nang was extended earlier this year, and expressing disappointment and sympathy for my fellow crew for the extra miles they had to sail. A colleague of mine at the time challenged me arguing that crew are paying to sail and therefore surely being given extra days to do that could only a good thing especially since the arrival date ultimately remained the same.

But for me, that's not the point. This is a race and the faster we complete our A to B journey, the greater the rewards in terms of race points, pride in our success and more recuperation time on land. All of us on board push this boat and ourselves as fast as we can, and amongst other things we measure our success and set our own expectations by how quickly we can get to the other side. So if the other side gets moved further away just before you get there, it's disappointing and efforts are required to mentally recalibrate.

It's like running the London Marathon and turning into Parliament Square knowing you've only got Birdcage Walk to go before the finish line on the Mall, until someone tells you that they're not quite ready for you yet so would you mind just finding the mental and physical reserves to keep running along Piccadilly, around a mark in Leicester Square then a mark in Trafalgar Square before you can run back up the Mall to cross that line and claim your medal?

Anyway, Garmin races on. We recalibrate and re-route, and we're trying to get to Rockall as soon as we can in the current weather, whilst also trying to remember that this course extension shouldn't negate the fact we've had another good race (despite what you may have read from Jerry yesterday!).

Derry-Londonderry will still be there when we do finally arrive and this extra time allows us to be absolutely sure what our first drink will be. It can't come soon enough for all of us.

My fellow Starboard watch crew member Campbell Mackie has written a little ditty about our extended time at sea so I shall leave the remainder of my blog in his capable hands. Hang on in there Garminions! We'll be there soon!

- Charlotte Willis

A Voyage to St Kilda

- by Campbell Mackie

A race extension is a cruel invention

Designed to keep us under tension.

And so it was at Tory's gate

We were given our latest fate.

A diversion to a tiny dot

A voyage to Rockall was to be our lot.

But there was ever more

A sprint to St Kilda was also in store!

We turned north, a feisty fleet