Race 13 - Day 3
Crew Diary - Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland to Den Helder, Netherlands
20 July

40,000 pumps and counting.........

For those of us who are sailing round the world, this is near the end of eleven months and a circumnavigation almost completed! I’m not sure that any of us have fully grasped the significance of that and the effect it will have on our lives.

Eleven people (including Huw) started in St Katherine's Dock last August and the same eleven will finish next week. That in itself is an achievement; only us and LMAX Exchange in this race have kept their full contingent of round-the-world crew. So here are some of our less obvious achievements!

Each of us will has helmed for around 2,000 miles. At an average speed of eight knots, that's the equivalent of helming for ten days non-stop! We've spent 450 hours changing into and out of our foulies and we've each cooked and served about 1,000 individual portions of lunch and dinner (during our 'mother' watches). Collectively we have lost weight, so you will see a more streamlined crew next week than the one that left in August. That, in itself, is a miracle considering the amount of biscuits, cakes and chocolate we have consumed!

But you really want to hear about toilet statistics. So at the risk of my daughter telling me (again!) to 'write about something tasteful', here's a few! We have each visited the heads about 2,000 times, roughly half on each tack. Most of you will already know that visits on port tack carry with them an additional risk of being summarily ejected through the canvas door in a state of undress! I can however confirm that, to date, I have avoided that embarrassment and so, to the best of my knowledge, have my crew mates! Each visit should conclude with at least 20 pumps. That means we have each pumped the heads about 40,000 times during the race, which equates to almost half a million pumps between us!

This is my last blog before the race finish. So can I take this opportunity to thank my family and, in particular, my daughter Lori, for their amazing support during this year. One of the common conversation themes during night watches is the importance of support from home and that's certainly true for me.

And I will leave others to finish the story and to attach the final three words to the most famous piece of sporting commentary: 'They think it's all over.......'

Pumps on Seattle

Sean