Race 9 - Day 22
Crew Diary - Race 9 Day 22: Qingdao to Seattle
14 April
Wildlife and Other Thoughts
Before starting with the title of this blog, I must start with the sailing over the past few days which has been hard going as a member of the crew. The cold, very cold, temperatures both day and night, together with the frequent cold rain showers and the drenching from the waves have a way of lowering your resistance both mentally and physically. The cold chills go straight through to your bones and bite ever deeper as each watch passes as all outer sailing clothing ( foulies and dry suit ) are permanently damp. The sea state over the past few days has been extremely rough, but at the same time awe inspiring with the ferocity and the magnitude of the waves. I have never experienced seas (waves) of this size or intensity and having been on a watch two nights ago when a large wave broke over the port side by the shrouds and lifted everybody in the cockpit off their seats and crashing onto the cockpit floor with such ferocity that three people life vests went off with AIS lights flashing. No injuries, just a complete soaking and a realisation of how powerful the sea can be. Fortunately we were all tethered on twice.
Now you would have thought that there wouldn't be much wildlife in this part of the Pacific and you would be right, but then if you are lucky enough you may catch sight of some unusual birds that seem to appear out of thin air and then fly off into the distance. Unfortunately none of us on our watch had a camera ready to snap that allusive picture of potentially a new and undiscovered species. Firstly there was a shout “ look on port side – is it a penguin?". I can, without hesitation, say that this bird had the body shape, look, colour of a penguin, but no one knew that they could fly. OK, its flapping wings were beating desperately quickly to keep it just above the rough-ish sea state. I didn't think penguins were in the Northern Hemisphere so could this be an escapee from a zoo or could it really be?
One watch member (not to be named ) thinks that she has discovered yet another new bird species which most of us have now also seen, but not at close quarters. But this bird species has been called by Dare To Lead an Eagletross as it looks a cross between an eagle and an albatross and was quite a frequent visitor up till a few days ago. Its majestic flying that swoops and soars with effortless ease just above the waves, but those talons and hooked eagle beak are dangerous weapons that no prey will survive.
Quite remarkable sightings you may say and have we been taking anything with hallucinogenic properties? Just cups of tea! If only we had a camera we could have sent the pictures of potentially new species to David Attenborough and his team at the BBC.
Lastly, one question that has been on many peoples minds is that very annoying car journey question, ''are we nearly near yet?''. The answer is 1400nm.
Hot showers and beer soon!
-brought to you by Charlie Morgan