Race 11 - Day 8
Crew Diary - Panama to New York, USA
08 June

So this is it, almost the end of my 3 month adventure with the Clipper Race and sailing around a third of the world from China to New York. I think I've been lucky enough to have experienced all that this race has to offer including beautiful downwind sailing, challenging hurricanes, perfect upwind conditions, the Panama Canal plus 3 points through the Scoring Gate a few days ago. But the best day is today – at 8am this morning we were joined by Tropical Storm Colin – luckily downgraded from a hurricane as I've seen enough of them now to last me a lifetime – but the reason it's a good day is because I had an hour and a half on the helm this morning in up to 60 knots of wind and got my best speed yet, a massive 26 knots. It might sound bad but I was having the time of my life and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face or the stop the squeals of excitement as I got faster and faster. With only a couple of days to go until I get off Garmin I've had the best day of sailing yet. Just a shame I had to come down below to fulfil mother duty or I would've stayed up there longer- although at least I am dry now!

There have been some very definite highs and lows and memories that will stay with me forever but I can honestly say that I am pleased to be finishing my race in New York, having already crossed the Atlantic, plus the added bonus that my long suffering husband and some of our friends are coming out to help me celebrate this great achievement.

I'm looking forward to welcoming Garmin back to London on 30th July, especially the round the worlders and I like to think that I have made friends for life on this boat. Some experiences can be talked about but only we will really know the feelings we shared at the time. I'd just like to thank RTW crew member Hayley for swapping her blog with me – I was due to write this on 11th but seeing as we have been doing so well on this race we are expected in to New York days earlier so she very kindly let me have her blog day. It's actually very stressful being in the lead and this may well have changed by the time you read this as ClipperTelemed+ are really pushing us but we are trying our hardest, especially as we have them literally in our sights as of this morning. I can’t wait to get to normality and have a well-deserved break in the states before heading home to catch up with family and friends. I hope not to bore them all too much! I will be making changes in my life, most noticeably having a massive clear out – one thing that living on a boat teaches you is that you really don' t need much “stuff” in your life at all.

So finally I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who made me welcome when I joined the boat in Qingdao and for helping me adjust to boat life in difficult conditions and for helping to make this experience a once in a lifetime.

Signing off from the Clipper Race for now...

Lucy Frost