Race 2 - Day 16
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 16: Punta del Este to Cape Town
20 October

My perspective on being a new legger is maybe somewhat different from most. I was fortunate in having the time and money to allow me to go to boat preparation week in Gosport. This allowed me to work and socialise with all the Round The Worlders. I was also allowed to deliver the boat to Liverpool and continue working on preparation there so that in addition to Level 4 training, I had another 4 days of sailing with them before the start of Race 1. The result of this has been that when I joined in Punta del Este I already felt like a "fully paid up" member of the team: I had developed a very healthy respect for them and they had a pretty good feel for my strengths and weaknesses.

My good friends Adrian and Caroline, both Round The Worlders in the Clipper 15-16 Race, advised that if I could arrive early at stopovers then any help I could offer would really be appreciated and so I did just that. Luckily there had been little major damage and a lot of the routine maintenance had been been done on board prior to arrival, so some work and more socialising were done along with goodbyes to those doing Leg 1 only and welcoming my other Leg 2 crew mates.

After our unfortunate incident with the whale, we are going to be very late into Cape Town. Our new leggers joining in South Africa have already been in touch and have offered to do as much as possible to speed the turnaround. This is great news and thank you guys. Great team work.

As for adapting to life on the open ocean, this has certainly been difficult as anticipated. Moving around the boat was always going to be the problem. We all know the rollercoaster; that forward up and down movement is difficult, but adding the yawing ,the side to side rocking, brings another dimension to staying upright; that's like a waltzer on a rollercoaster. Now, add the fact that coming over the crest of a big wave the bow crashes down on the surface of the water with a bang and a judder. The bow stops very briefly as it breaks the surface, just like you've landed from a jump. At the stern you are cast into free fall, again very briefly. So it is more like being on a bucking bronco mounted on a waltzer inside a rollercoaster.

Thankfully, we are adaptable and after a week I have found my sea legs and it is now exhilarating rather than terrifying.

Some may know that older gentlemen like me can have a little hesitancy in the boy's room (heads). Sitting on a little porcelain bowl on a bucking bronco/waltzer/roller coaster trying to pee was very difficult for a time. Again, our amazing adaptability has relieved me of this problem.

So, all in all, it's been a very exciting amazing week since our resumption of the race in Piriapolis, Uruguay.