Race 10 - Day 32
Crew Diary - Gimme Shelter
20 April
Title : Gimme Shelter
Event: Leg 6, Race 10, Day 32
Name: Steve Lavery
That great Rolling Stones number ‘Gimme Shelter’ blasts through my earphones as I sit here writing this blog, what a track! Oh the storm is breaking… We’re on day 32 of our Pacific crossing on WTC Logistics CV23. It's been another very exhausting but fast night of sailing and the ocean race is very definitely on. The words Gimme Shelter seem so appropriate.
It's been a tough trip but we’ve raced hard all of the way and Dan and Ini have taken the boat and crew to within 700 nm of the finish and an exciting one at that with Unicef and Bemuda on our flanks, it really feels like a race now and we’re pushing the boat to its limits to try and take a podium position. Last night was a fantastic night of helming in 30kts on a beam reach, Black Betty was belting along hitting 15+ knots at times and despite the cold wind and rain biting into your face, there was no doubting the adrenaline rush holding on to the wheel.
This is my Clipper Race second leg having completed the Atlantic Leg 1, pre-covid, two years ago and all the shenanigans that it involved. We finally got to leave Subic Bay for the last time on March 20th and headed out for Seattle. The WTC Logistics team on board have been a great bunch of people, we’ve pulled together well on this trip. It's a long haul of over 6500nm and now as the prospect of actually reaching Seattle draws becomes ever more real, there is a definite excitement starting to build amongst us. Time seems to stand still though, we’ve been saying 4 days for about a week now!! Surely we’ll be there soon?
But there’s some serious sailing to do before we get that first beer, first shower, first steak. The finish is a complex mix of weather and tactics and nerve, will we have held ours? There’s still a way to go, and as they say ‘stuff’ happens. Just this morning our vang shattered and our amazingly resourceful Skip and Bosun created a fix which was quickly dealt with. Some of the situations you find yourself in are so bizarre, you have to be here to believe them sometimes! Standing in the galley with the boat heeled over at 35 degrees, making a pancake breakfast, and hearing the vang explode above your head and then followed by a hack saw repair and then just serving up breakfast as though nothing is happening is really quite surreal!!!!
It's been a long time away, now almost six weeks and I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends back home (not to mention that beer!) and I know that when I do, I will recall this amazing adventure and experience, the challenges, the thrills and excitement, the endurance and fortitude needed and that we all have shown. We have created memories we will never forget.
As Mick and Keef were saying just a few minutes ago, appropriately, it's time …...Gimme Shelter!
Steve Lavery