Race 9 - Day 3
Crew Diary - Race 9, Day 2
12 March

Brendan O’Ciobhain
Brendan O’Ciobhain
Team Ha Long Bay, Viet nam
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So we are into the third day of this race and in our second Dell Latitude Rugged Ocean Sprint. It's 1100 LT and I'm in the galley watching the wonderful Jacqui Webb getting lunch ready. In the words of ‘Hello Vietnam’ it's hot. Hot, damn hot. It's probably hitting 32 degrees celsius below deck. We are pretty much constantly perspiring and then the proper sweating kicks in when you start hauling sails, etc.

But it's absolutely beautiful, a clear blue sky with nothing on the horizon other than the sails of other Clipper yachts. As it is a short race we are bunched together more so than on an ocean race.

I have started to remember (and be reminded) of all the things I forgot since level four but the team are a great bunch and the RTWs have some admirable patience. We have been beating upwind on this second sprint, so I have had my first experience of life at an angle which makes climbing into a top bunk more of a mountaineering expedition. Hauling yourself around below decks is a slow process and I am beginning to understand how much more difficult this will be in bigger winds, bigger heels and trying to get in and out of foulies. But that's what we have signed up for and it's going to be wild!

So that's about it from me. Sally, Jake and Harry I hope you are all well and lots of love from me. I hope all is ok back in the office and that stock markets around the world haven't disappeared completely.

Brendan