Race 4 - Day 21
Crew Diary - Raace 4 Day 21
09 December

I've Seen Things you People Wouldn't Believe

Hello All,

I couldn’t help but steal the iconic line from Bladerunner for the title of this blog.

We are a few days out from Fremantle (Freo) now, having crossed the Southern Ocean during my first Leg - Leg 3 of the Race. I thought a lot about the sailing aspects of Leg 3 before leaving Cape Town, but the aspect of the journey so far that has stunned me a little is the things I've seen as a consequence of sailing here.

I've seen whales repeatedly breaching far off Cape Point; Albatrosses, lots of them of different species, 16 albatrosses in total at one time; an Hourglass dolphin, so beautifully marked; Southern Right Whale Dolphin (which has no dorsal fin which is strange to look at); stars from horizon to horizon some so low to the horizon that you could mistake them for an oncoming vessel, to mention a few.

Yes, there have been challenging conditions, huge waves, high winds, and so on, at one point is was sitting in the cockpit up to my waist in water from a wave that broke over the top of me at night (that's a first too), but the other sights on the journey have been the most amazing for me.

There are a lot of things I have never seen before and may well never see again, and that has made the journey truly wonderful.

Campbell