Race 9 - Day 27
Crew Diary - Race 9 Day 27: Qingdao to Seattle
19 April

So as Leg 6 is nearing its end, I thought it might be worth reflecting upon events.

Overview: for a start, the whole leg has been a long slog starting with incredible frustration at the lack of wind, spending days on end with the sails flogging backward and forward getting nowhere fast. The weather and wind finally getting up. Getting up is an understatement as we've had winds in excess of 60 knots and sea state described as phenomenal, not that many people have been lucky enough to experience such conditions, phenomenal and lucky would not enter my description of the conditions!

One silver lining was we made great progress. On one occasion I was down in the Nav station when we surfed a huge wave. At first, I didn't know what was happening. The best way to describe it was the scene was like a disaster movie where you see the airline pilot in the cockpit of a jet as it nose dives earthward. Well, that was the scene as we hit 32.8 knots! Well done Malcolm for holding it together on the helm. Now here we are, with the good ship Dare To Lead feeling a bit bashed and bruised with the mast track failing twice meaning we can only have the mainsail with a third reef which reduces our power, HotelPlanner.com and PSP Logistics are currently hunting us down.

Oh I forgot to mention I was on the International Date Line. Don't worry Ali, I didn't get any winks. What a weird feeling reliving a day as we crossed 180º latitude - am I a day older ? As I sat reflecting the event, I wondered if this date line intersects an island somewhere and if it did, wouldn't it be funny if I lived on one side of the island and worked on the other side. If so, would I lose a day everyday when I go to work and then gain a day when I go back home? If so, sounds like I could be stuck in perpetuity on a Monday never able to get to Saturday afternoon TTBs (tea time beers) watching Jeff Stelling's Soccer Saturday. A fate worse than death.

As has been mentioned in several blogs, you do have plenty of time to think as you sit on deck and with trepidation I thought I would share this train which lead on from this whole thing of latitude, longitude and top and bottom is that I've come to realise that the number 60 is a great number. Why I hear you ask? (and if you're not bothered then pack up reading this now.) So, there are 60 seconds in a minute and there are 60 minutes in a degree and 360 degrees (divides by 60). Then I thought, well, that's the same as time with seconds and minutes. Who decided 60, why not 40 or 80 or be decimal and go 10's? I'm guessing it was someone like Galileo or someone similar with a brain as big as the universe. I bet he set up a year department and said, "Here lads, I want you to work on the measurement of a year and I want you to get to the answer of 360 days cos it is just in keeping with everything else," but he must have made the fatal mistake and populated the department with sales folk who came up with some inflated naff number of 365. Oh yeah and every four years they tidy up behind the settee and find an odd additional day. I blame the sun or something like that, 360 would have just felt right.

Anyway back to my theme, round the world...and long/lat. So if I'm stood at the north or south pole, I just have to play the old drinking game of circling round a pole with your head down and you will have gone round the earth in around four steps but if you had to go the other way (north to south) it would take you considerably longer. How long I hear you say?

Well back to 360º each degree, I think, is 60 yes SIXTY (that number again) miles so good job I've spent my life using mental maths working out insurance premiums and playing darts. So total miles is 21,600... as I said, considerably longer than four steps the other way.

Ouch, what was that??? It must be my brain hurting… I told you, we have far too much time to think up on deck .

Oh yeah, what's the top score you can get with one dart.... well 60 SIXTY of course, as Sid Widdell (the late great darts commentator) would have said, “That's top o the milk son,” those darts blokes must have been mates of Galileo.

Your Yorkshire Independence Party Correspondent somewhere near, well, cor blimey we are near somewhere...Seattle

(This article accepts no responsibility at all for its accuracy or quoted facts!)