Crew Blog

Zen and the Art of the Clipper Race

05 May 2008

Sunday - Whilst struggling with the lack of wind all sorts of activities are underway. Firstly we have the reverse of fishing; usually fishermen sit for hours on the banks of a river waiting for a fish to bite. Here on night watch there is suddenly a thud as a flying fish launches itself at us, then a flapping as it crashes around. Five head torches scan the decks like a WW2 Stalag 13 movie. Next the fish slice is used to try and high flip them over the guardrail and back to sea. Meanwhile someone holding the spinny sheet is yelling “grind”. Even the lightweight spinny last night was in a condition of almost permanent collapse. We sought the wind here, we sought it there, but it was not a dedicated follower of the GRIB files. We have constantly tried to move to where the wind ‘should be’; however, like Moriarty, by the time we arrive it has always vanished to perpetrate crimes elsewhere.

This morning whilst trying to sail on a millpond we tacked at least 30 times in a four hour watch, we have not tacked this frequently since part B training down the estuary. All it resulted in is a muscle building exercise for us, and a mental exercise in the art of dealing with frustration. Whoever wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance needs to write an updated version for the sailing fraternity - life here is not Zen like. As the watch wore on we were voicing more and more ridiculous ideas as to how we could get ourselves moving - however if we list them you may lose faith in our sanity and we want the next set of ‘leggers’ to be waiting in Jamaica. Whilst this debate was occurring a turtle passed swimming in a lugubrious manner and gave us a cheeky wave - thank goodness it was heading in the opposite direction - otherwise we would have had the indignity of being overtaken by a very chilled out turtle. Finally on coming off watch we checked our ETA - we are currently due into Panama in 2013 - no doubt this is why we are called Durban 2010 and Beyond!!

Bank Holiday Monday - As the boat was stationary this morning for a few hours most of us took the opportunity for a refreshing dip in the Ocean - any hint of sunshine in the UK on Bank Holiday does require us to leap white skinned and semi naked into nearby water. The Pacific was warm and revitalising. After a short dip the wind picked up and we hoisted sail and are currently sailing at around 6 knots.

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