Hello team,
Brilliant, great to see you there. That was a short but awesome stopover, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did in Oban. It was so good to see some old friends and make some lovely new ones too.
Oban knocked it out of the park with hospitality and welcome. Although I think the Clipper Race crews, past, present and possible future too, took some by surprise, with the work hard, play hard (well maybe play even harder) approach! The licensee of the Whiskey Vaults approached me one afternoon while I was partaking in a wee dramand asked how many people would be likely to be in on Saturday afternoon so he could ensure “he had enough staff to cope with the Clipper Race crews.”
Having been instructed by Dale (Deputy Race Director) to ‘for the final time, lift your lines’ Sunday at midday, we slipped from our berth thinking the next time we are alongside it will be under the Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth, which was the first time we ‘lifted our lines’ on this edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, eleven months ago. As we made our way past the media rib, the crew were in high spirits, singing a song about #1. Not quite sure what words were, but I am sure Hilary and Colin (Maisie's parents) would have been proud – hopefully.
It was great to do a line start again, the last one was not short of 10,000nm way in Newcastle, Australia. The setting was very dramatic, and the close quarter tacking was exciting, I think at one point, we were close enough to be able to read Dare To Lead’s wind instruments as clearly as our own!
The crew have quickly settled back into the routine and have already done some nice smooth evolutions, switching from the Yankee 1 to the Windseeker and Windseeker to the Code 1 as the wind decreases and increases as forecast. I think the next few days are going to see a lot of head sail switches, as we move down the west coast of Ireland, dip below the Fastnet Rock and then slip south of one of my most favourite sailing destination on the planet, the Isles of Scilly.
My departure pep talk was short and to the point. “Enjoy. This is our last six days as a race crew, and we have come along way. Enjoy every moment. Stay safe, look after each other. It's been an emotional journey.” As I sit here writing this blog, I realise if the race runs to schedule, I have ten watches left and two further blogs to submit.
That gives me three opportunities to reach out and ask to help us reach our target of £60k for UNICEF. Before we left yesterday, I checked and our current total was £59,261 which is incredible, and thank you for your support. This team is the only crew, potentially, not to stand on the podium for a race finish, so it would mean a lot for them to hit their self-set target of £60K.
Right, I am going to sign off now, go for a mug of tea and have a Baby Ruth, given to me by a Qingdao supporter who enjoys my blogs apparently. I will not name them in order to maintain harmonist family relationships – thank you so much.
Today (22nd July) is National Hammock Day, something for you to consider while you are hanging around.
Think that’s all for now, standing by this channel.
David, Maisie and there nearly there Bekezela Crew (UTC+1)