Crew Blog

Farewell Singapore

28 January 2008

It’s hard to imagine a better send off than what we received in Singapore. So many crew members not involved in Leg 4 were present, simply out of their own personal enthusiasm. This gave all Clipper participants the rare sight of such a large contingency of team-shirted crew members still on the dock as our boat slipped its lines and pulled away. 

Not content with that departure, the shore-bound crew members sprinted down the length of the dock to find another corner we would pass near.  Not content with that, they sprinted en masse again to the final section of dock available, inspiring skipper Mark to detour a couple hundred metres out of the way to pass within arm’s length of them one last time.

Considering the rough and cold entry we had into Australia at the end of Leg 3, we left Fremantle on the first part of Leg 4 in relatively balmy, calm seas. Just you wait, we round-the-worlders told the others in early January. You’ll see what it’s really like. 

This came true only a few hours out of Singapore as we began the gruelling task of beating 2000+ miles to windward up towards Qingdao.  While the seas were not so terribly rough, the incessant pounding took its toll on many of the leggers and even two of us round-the-worlders. I came as close as I’ve come in the 18,000 miles Uniquely Singapore has covered so far to actually becoming sea sick. Though I did keep my cookies, so to speak, in the end, I still was rather useless for much of the morning of this first full day.

We’re still beating into the wind and waking up to find ourselves unexpectedly rolled against lee cloths half of the time, but in time all of us will become comfortable with the pattern of life on the sea.

A special hello to Leg 1 crew member Howard’s young friend Ben back in England whom, I’ve been informed, is impatient whenever we’re in port for us to get back to sea so that we’ll begin sending updates once more. Yes, the pleasures of the land are distracting, Ben, but we’re happy to be back on the water and writing for you once again. We do miss Howard terribly, however.  If you can convince him to join us for another leg, I’ll promise to write diaries every day we’re in port out of gratitude.

Timothy Ettridge