Race 14 - Day 9
Crew Diary - Homeward bound
07 July
It’s Kerry here, on Qingdao, soon to be Very Merry Kerry Dewberry in Derry.
In the wee hours of this morning we crossed Virtual Mark Jay denoting the halfway point across the Atlantic Ocean. Given we wake up and sleep three times a day I have no concept how long ago it was that I took the helm and sailed the big red dragon past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island. It was pretty surreal to be leaving America having lived there for 20 years, heading back to my new life in England in the completely opposite direction to thousands of immigrants before me. It was a goose bumpy moment for sure.
So much has happened on board since then. We have been flying along under one or other of the spinnakers pretty much the whole way. About 12 sleeps ago we tore the head right off the top of the Code 3, somehow managing to bring it back down again in two parts. Miraculously 48 hours later we had it repaired and back on deck. I joined in the team of elves helping Santa Bertrand who stayed up all night fixing it and held my breath with everyone else when we flew her with her full width patches for the first time. So far so good!
I think it was last night or the one before we had the thrill of very gently losing the tack line which somehow got caught on the fairlead as we were easing it out a few feet. The front of the Code 2 sail swirled around freely taunting us. The usual solution would be to drop the sail, repack it and hoist again but Chris suggested we just grab it and reattach it. What an adventure. It took five of us on the foredeck to tame the foot and try and hold it down. Everytime we thought we had it a gust would come and fill it and it would get away from the four of us up front. Nmamdi at the shroud kept shouting “I’ve still got it ...I’ve still got it...one more try guys!” I discovered on try four that lying on the sail with my leg over it was more effective than hanging on with my arms and as others cottoned on we managed on try five to reattach the tack, roll off and let her fly! After lots of high fives and back slapping we all slept well that night.
It's been proper ocean sailing for a while now. Big rolling four metre waves and 30 knot winds meant we spent a few days and nights with just the Yankee 1 up surfing at 20 plus knots down waves. With just white sails it's a lot less to do each watch than when we were flying the spinnaker. The Clipper Race has designed the decks so that there is not one single comfy place to sit down on the whole boat deck. Not to be out done we have discovered that sitting at the back of the cockpit on a bucket full of spinnaker sheets provides a relatively dry perch, with a backrest that is somewhat sheltered from the huge waves that dump on deck. We take it in turns to enjoy life in buckets and cosy chats around the grinder.
In other news the main reason for me getting back on board for Leg 8 has not been going well. On Leg 5 I experienced the most effective devastating weight loss plan I’ve ever tried and believe me I’ve tried a lot. This leg – with just over four weeks of sailing and no booze I was hoping for 15 to 20 lbs at least. Some small improvements in the waistband have occurred but I’m really hoping to be skinny by Derry~Londonderry. Karolina and I have been doing crunches, bridges, dips and sit ups every night watch to try to make progress but at this point I’m having to skip the carbs to speed things up. The carbs have looked amazing… banana bread, scones, chocolate brownies...uggh!!
All in all, despite the lack of devastating weight loss I’m having a lovely time. Having come this far south we have had beautiful sunny days and warm nights. My tan is coming along nicely, and being splashed by waves every 30 mins or so, my hair has turned blond and curly and reminds Frankie of the egg noodles he has hidden under my bunk!
All is good! Let’s hope for some luck to come our way with winds and tides so we can catch up with the rest of the fleet. Until then we do all we can to make the boat go faster.
See you soon. Merry Kerry Dewberry in Derry!