Race 10 - Day 24
Crew Diary - Race 10 Day 24
20 April

Bye bye Highway 45

Starting the final phase of our race to the Emerald City and I can’t imagine that there is anyone not desperate to get there. Many have stated that the Clipper Race is something you endure rather than enjoy, and this leg more than any other re-enforces that belief. I’m sure from previous blogs you realize this has been a tough one (apologies for any repetition, we don’t get much time to read them). We scorched through the first phase, were frustrated by weather and wind angles on phase 2, and had to repair a mainsail tear and Yankee car failure on phase 3.

Our progress along highway 45 has been a lot better. We have reduced the gap on the rest of the fleet thanks to the make-shift repairs, better wind angles, and a lot of hard graft. The crew is battered, bruised, tired, and frustrated. Everyone hits their low points, but morale is still quite high, and humour still abounds. We’ve been fortunate not to have been hit by any major storms, but overall, this has been a bitterly cold and very wet race. It’s impossible to keep dry above or below deck. Cave lockers are dripping and clothing, cables, etc. that come out of zip locked bags get wet very quickly. There hasn’t been a lot of clear sky and sunshine. Freezing rain and hail makes it uncomfortable anywhere on deck, but particularly on the helm. We try to rotate the roles and allow one of the on-watch to get a few minutes shelter below. However, this final phase has started well, and we are approximately 800 miles from the finish. We’re downwind sailing on a kite and just entered the Ocean Sprint.

I’d like to end this blog with 2 short limerick dedicated to our AQP jokester who I believe has been posting her own little ditties.

There was a young sailor named Bristow,

who had too much fun at the disco.

Following a night on the sauce,

she steered us off course,

on a tack towards San Francisco.