27 November 2pm; Day 9 on our way to Fremantle. The last few days have been pretty tame. Lots of spinnaker sailing under sunshine and blue skies that would not be out of place for a summer’s day on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. This is, however, all about to change. The blue skies have already been replaced with an all-consuming greyness and after a dry few days, we’re back to an omnipresent dampness. The spinnaker has come down and our white sails have been hoisted. We don’t expect to see the spinnaker again for many days. Sunglasses have been taken off and mittens and balaclavas have been put on. We are over 2000 miles from Cape Town with about 3000 miles to the finish and there are two big weather systems headed our way. Both promise strong winds. Based on our current position we expect the first system to deliver fast downwind sailing in large swells. There should be epic surfing opportunities. Just what the brochure promised. We’ll be trying our best to beat the current record boat speed of 24.5 knots as we try to hold onto the back of that system. If we fall out of it there is a brief period of light winds before the next system arrives with really strong headwinds which will result in a pretty uncomfortable few days of upwind sailing. We’d rather avoid that if possible.
These boats are so much more fun to sail downwind and we’ll also be making fantastic progress towards Fremantle while we are in the first system. My favourite memory from the last strong downwind sailing was standing at the wheel watching the bow point down the swell with birds gliding under the bow at the bottom of the trough which we were about to surf towards. It is like taking off from the top of a ski slope as the boat launches down the face of the wave. Our 70-foot yacht feels pretty insignificant against this amazing demonstration of the power and beauty of nature. Beyond the weather of the next few days, thoughts are also beginning to turn to the Fremantle stopover. I am very excited at the prospect of seeing my wife and daughters for the first time since leaving New Zealand in early October. While the opportunity to race sailboats across the world’s great oceans is amazing, it does require a significant sacrifice by the family to allow me to be away for the months of racing. While in this incredibly remote part of the world, I have reflected often on how lucky I am to have the family’s support for this incredible Clipper Race adventure.
Today is also my sons’ birthday. Happy birthday boys. Presents are coming by surface mail. My long off-watch is just starting so I have five hours until we are back on deck - dressed for the cold and wet - and I will be spending as much time as possible before then in my sleeping bag (keeping the thermals on) asleep. Cheers for now. Update: 28 November - 1pm: after writing the blog yesterday, the boat was hit by both the forecast weather system and an outbreak of a bug. Both watches ran at half strength overnight to accommodate those laid low by the bug, as the boat began to charge towards Fremantle with gale force winds behind us. A tough night but it looks to be a 24-hour bug and most of the crew are now bouncing back. A fun afternoon watch of surfing waves awaits.