Clipper Round the World 09-10
It’s been a week since we left our home port, Qingdao. That was a stopover of media madness! Photographs, television cameras, press conferences, radio interviews, autographs, poster singing, lunches, dinners, corporate dos with karaoke – utter craziness, I’ve never spent so much time on national TV! And so it passed in a whirlwind and before we knew it we were back out on the water, all utterly shattered and not totally prepared for the long journey ahead – 5800 miles across the Pacific Ocean.
Two nights ago we had the precursor to the storm. We had spent the afternoon watch preparing in earnest for the coming weather, rigging the trisail on its track on the mast, mending missing sliders and checking over the storm sails for damage to hanks or sail cloth. That night gave us about 25knots true and we coasted along nicely making very good speeds up towards the coastline of Japan, aligning ourselves in second place.
Tonight it’s a different story. We have 45-50knots true, and at the moment are sailing with just the trisail flying; the halyard on the staysail having broken and the clew of the storm staysail having ripped off. I’ve been on the helm for some time trying to hold the boat steady at around a 60 degree wind angle, but with the wind beam on and with virtually no steerage it’s a tricky job and at best we are making only a 90 degree wind angle and are basically just drifting along sideways, rolling with each massive swell that comes through. Each one bigger than the next and with me wondering what happens when the boat doesn’t roll with the wave, it just rolls!
As I write this blog, it’s just gone midnight; the other watch are going up on deck and preparing to hoist the staysail on another halyard. The wind is easing and the seas are calmer and it would appear at least for now, that we may have made it through the worst of this particular weather front.
Becky
The calm before the storm - by Becky Block (Qingdao)
09 March 2010
It’s been a week since we left our home port, Qingdao. That was a stopover of media madness! Photographs, television cameras, press conferences, radio interviews, autographs, poster singing, lunches, dinners, corporate dos with karaoke – utter craziness, I’ve never spent so much time on national TV!
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Last sight of land for a while - by Barbara Grant (Qingdao)
06 March 2010
Where to begin, so much has happened in such a short time, so many demands physically and emotionally. We all left Qingdao in high spirits although feeling rather jaded from all the excitement, publicity and general maintenance on the boat. I have to say even though we had been told it would be a big thing arriving in Qingdao, I don't think any of us ever really realised just how much of a big thing it would be.
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The sea's raw fury unbound - by Chris White (Qingdao)
16 February 2010
We enter the South China Sea with innocence and a smile, the winds rose and the smile wavered, but our innocent outlook remained. We had a lull in our winds where we practiced sail changes once again, but soon after we were greeted with a quick fire succession of reefs and all the sail changes possible it seemed!
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