Race 13 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland to Den Helder, Netherlands
21 July

I'm late. Again. By several days. Sorry. This race is so intense that time planned for the keyboard, has been subsumed by sail changes and other deck related activities; we always seem to be on the cusp of losing a place, or gaining one, and Mr Clough keeps the pressure up on us to sail the boat as fast as we can.

But finally this morning we have a spinnaker up and conditions look as if they'll be stable for a few hours, and there are no squally looking clouds around, and we can see we are doing the same thing as all the boats around us. So after doing my two hour slot on the helm, I have slunk downstairs to crack one off!

This is a leg of firsts and lasts: we have done our last ocean crossing (the Atlantic); the last time we will be west of the finish (we crossed the Greenwich Meridian last night). Den Helder will be our last stopover, and when we leave it will be our last race start.

But what of the firsts? Well this is the first time that instead of people talking about the first thing they'll do when they get in (usually drinking beer or having a shower), they're talking about what they'll do with their lives once we finish. And when we reach the Thames Estuary, it will be the first time that our inbound track will cross our outbound track, which signals the first time that six of us on board will have circumnavigated the globe. That, for me, is the big one, the payoff, the prize. Once we cross that track, I will relax, knowing I have completed my task. We still have approximately three days sailing to complete, during which I could be scuppered, but it now feels close enough to risk the dream.

Everyone on board is well. We are 150 nm from Den Helder and our current estimated time of arrival is the small hours of tomorrow -- which would see us beating the SWAGs again. I bet they are desperately trying to rearrange their flights as I type. Good luck ladies; may the best crew win, See you very soon in Den Helder.

I have just been called back up on deck to help with a spinnaker peel.

Until anon

Henry