It has been a whirlwind 24 hours for us on UNICEF. As an early present from the boat, the kite decided to wrap itself just in time for Christmas. In fact, around midnight on Christmas Eve. The crew rose to the challenge, hauling and working as a team to wrangle our beloved Code 2 down. I took a trip up the mast, which in 30 knots of wind, was a slightly different Christmas Eve to my usual...and certainly one none of us will forget. Our present turned out to be getting it down safely with great relief – a Miracle on the 44th parallel!
Today has been a very merry day. Sue and Ed, under the expertise of our new professional chef we have joining for the rest of world: Adams, cooked up a storm. We had amuse-bouche of salmon crackers, and a lunch with all the trimmings, along with Christmas cake from our current top fan: Jules.
Our crew have been hard at work preparing the boat, particularly Zina and George assuming the role of chief decorators. This year, Mike was Santa, for the 13th year in a row he noted, and the man is a natural, summoning crew up to join him and choose their present. We enjoyed secret Santa and managed to sing our well-rehearsed Christmas carol on VHF to our friends on board Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam.
Christmas at sea has been special, from being up the rig, to seeing a southern right whale surface 5 metres from our deck this morning, to the joy on each of our crewmembers faces as we celebrated this afternoon was a delight. We are now over a quarter of our way around the globe, and loved watching the video from the Comms team, and Felix, with messages from our loved ones, with many of the crew tearing up while watching. Sailing around the world or taking on a leg is a massive achievement for each of us, we are so thankful to our family and friends who support us, enabling us to leave our homes and be miles offshore at such a special time.
We are immensely blessed to be here, at 44 degrees south, racing towards Tasmania on a 70 foot ocean racing yacht. Being out here has given each of us a deep appreciation for the joy of people in our lives, and the luxuries of life on land. We are so excited to see you all and make contact when we reach land in Newcastle in 2024.
Christmas, however, is not always as joyful a time for many people around the world. As the UNICEF team we carry the message for every child with us as we circumnavigate the globe. We were delighted that our team on shore raised over £1200 in two days to hear some Christmas carolling, and we want to encourage each of you, to share our story, or your part in our journey along with our JustGiving link, to see if we could raise £2.5K before New Years, so please if you can, follow our link and share it far and wide this Christmas, so that the joy and hope we share can be shared by children around the globe- donate here.
Merry Christmas, and a huge hug from all of us in the Big Blue Clipper Boat family to everyone on shore, your support means everything to us.
Big Love,
Laura, Dan, Tiger and UNICEF team