Race 13 - Day 1
Crew Diary - Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland to Den Helder, Netherlands
18 July

We are all feeling rested and ready to be back on the boat after a lovely stopover in Derry-Londonderry. We had the support of a number of our crew mates from previous legs and a number of us were lucky enough to have loved ones come to visit us. Sue topped that list with 16 friends and family!

It was great to catch up with Tanja (1-4), John (1&2), Alan (4&5), Martin (5), Nic (7). Thanks for making the effort, we appreciate it! We slipped lines around 1pm and then took part in the parade of sail in front of thousands of spectators all cheering us on. PSP Logistics crew members passed the time by thanking the locals with many Mexican waves. These were well received and brought on many more cheers from the crowd.

We then proceeded to Greencastle for race start where more people lined the beaches to watch us sail into the distance. Race start went off without a hitch and with a lot of tacking, a spinnaker hoist and more gybing we found ourselves in the middle of the pack. Then...with the wind dying and our boat speed down to as little as 1kn we struggled (with the rest of the fleet) and bobbed around the heads for quite a while. A few of the other boats gybed over and headed away from us but we held our ground and hugged the coastline. LMAX Exchange managed to sneak through every one from the back as did GREAT Britain and off they went in the distance. Then we all picked up some good wind speed and as the spinnakers filled we started heeling over. By the time I got on the helm we were in a really good position and Garmin (who were behind us) sailed over to cover GREAT Britain. By the time watch changeover came round, we had passed GREAT Britain and were gaining on LMAX Exchange. This meant we were in 2nd place and we all made jokes about calling Skipper Dan up to ask which way it is to Scotland. Good thing we didn't as they are now in front of us!

We are now headed for our first waypoint which is an island we are to leave to starboard. The weather has been mostly drizzly and cold but not freezing. About a third of the crew are suffering the effects of seasickness, hopefully this will pass in the next couple of days!

We are looking forward to bagels with smoked salmon for breakfast, a new menu item introduced by Henrik, the victualler for this race.

Watches remain the same as the previous race.

Written by Nicola Edwards