Into the Channel
What a contrast! After the jamboree of St. Katharine Docks and the tour of names from British Maritime history, Greenwich (time), the Cutty Sark, the Goodwin Sands, the White Cliffs of Dover etc., the reality of what we have embarked upon has become apparent. The transition to beating down the Channel in a 25 knot wind with the sea now building to three meters makes even the simplest tasks extremely difficult for this new crew. (Lots of ‘tippy stuff’, forgive the inside joke).
A few cases of seasickness, but the team are in good spirits. In some ways, it's a return to childhood. Crawling around the cockpit on all fours and asking each other for help getting clothes on. We are on a Starboard tack steering somewhere around 250 degress. The current goal/hope is to lay Ushant late this evening without another tack. Que sera sera. Curiously, you know far more about our progress and performance than we do. The race viewer gives you an almost real time update. We can only sail our race. After a good start, we lost a lot of time with a sail in the water, but we believe we are very slowly grinding our way back up the fleet. You might even see pictures of us. A plane just flew over at around 500 ft above?, perhaps the press? I haven’t seen another Clipper Race yacht since dawn. It's late afternoon as I write this.
Once we round Ushant and head south we will be reaching, and as the wind veers north, running. The boat will flatten out and life will become a lot more comfortable…we hope!
If you are reading this, you have an interest in Dare To Lead, so please keep your fingers crossed for each of us, our safety and that of the boat. For our part, we will do our best.
Best wishes, Steve.