Crew Blog

Life on Lucy’s watch

06 June 2008

No-one likes being last and the change of watches for the race to Halifax has allowed us to work on a new race strategy - trim, helm, slick tacks, speedy reefs, trim and trim some more.  At the end of each watch, we’re reviewing what went well and what could have been better. Each set of scheds is poured over to establish what gains we have made against the other Clippers. It seems to be working as we’ve moved up into ninth and we’ve got eighth in our sights.

The New York stopover was short and sweet but has clearly set us up nicely for this race. Most of the crew steered clear of the Hudson River boat tours and the Central Park boating lake, preferring shopping, eating steak and drinking red wine. The exception was Michelle who spent her entire stopover trying to persuade the SA and Canadian embassies to issues emergency passports and visas for Nova Scotia. Mission was finally accomplished by Lizzie at Clipper who managed to sweet talk the right people [Thanks, Lizzie, we owe you one!]

We’ve had plenty of company on this race with sharks, whales and dolphins alongside.  We’re now on the lookout for Northern Rights Whales as we’re in a mandatory reporting zone for this endangered species.

Lucy’s helming lessons are paying off with Steph and Michelle no longer writing their names in the wake. We may need to find an alternative signature tune as Kylie’s ‘I’m spinning around’ is no longer so appropriate!  Post your suggestions on the blog!

Below deck, we’re getting used to living life at 45°. The most important thing to remember is to adjust the angle of dangle of your bunk and then hope that Durban 2010 and Beyond stays on the same tack throughout your sleep. And just imagine trying to successfully use the loo…

With just over a day to go until we reach Halifax, there is a renewed desire to win and we’re all in high spirits.

Lucy, Steph, Michelle, Nigel, Ian and John