Crew Blog

Life couldn’t be better

14 April 2008

We left Hawaii Yacht Club, on Wednesday, the 9th of April, in a drizzle, but by the next day everyone was on deck in shorts and t-shirts, thinking what a great sail we are going to have to Santa Cruz. This was what we signed up for. Fun, laughter, lots of sunshine, fair winds and the privilege of sailing on a big yacht. Life couldn’t be better. Since we are not really racing we were going to do a lot of training to sharpen our skills for the next race from Santa Cruz to Panama. BUT never under estimate the ocean.

Within hours the sun had disappeared and we were caught on the edge of a high pressure weather system, notorious for this part of the Northern Pacific. It was as if we had tacked once too many times and were right smack in the middle of the Southern Ocean. The sea looked the same as those photographs one sees of the hundreds of mountain peeks in the Himalayas taken from the peak of Everest. The sky was steely grey with squalls every few hours. Thirty foot waves going in all directions. Only the most experienced crew helmed at first until they taught the “new” crew how to helm in this kind of weather. This was the stuff for nightmares.

The boat sails up the wave at an angle bearing away from the wind. The waves are taller than the boat and when we get to the top there is a cliff you must get down on. So you swivel the boat a little to windward and down you go at great speed with roaring seas chasing you. The trick is not to slam the bows into the next oncoming wave. Up on deck life was manageable as you can brace yourself for the onslaught. Below deck was a different matter. You don’t know what is coming. The only sounds you hear are rushing water and the wind howls like a freight train, 24 hours a day. Water is pouring over the deck and is finding places to leak into.

Condensation is high with 16 people living in a confined space, EVERYTHING is WET. You, your clothes, the bunk your sleeping bag. This is the only place on earth where you burn calories just by going to the heads. Little did we know this was going to go on for seven more days. We were living at an angle of about 30 degrees. More than one crew member were flung from their bunks or pitched over from the violent motion of the boat. Imagine trying to cook, sleep or helm in this situation (and being seasick at the same time). And not only that, the main sail needed reefing, halyards checked, head sails changed according to the wind conditions, all this on a wildly pitching boat, after all we still have to get to Santa Cruz.

By day three, I was ready to jump ship, only land was two thousand nautical miles away. This was NOT fun anymore. Morale was low under the new leggers and it has become a matter of surviving from one hour to the next. But this is Durban Clipper and we survived and learned much in doing so. Today, Wednesday the 16th of April, we had an awesome sunrise. Everyone is on deck, drying out clothes, wet shoes and themselves. Life on Durban 2010 and Beyond, in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is great again. Fun, laughter, lots of sunshine, fair winds and the privilege of sailing on a big yacht.

LIFE COULDN’T BE BETTER!!

Patricia