Race 3 - Day 17
Crew Diary - Race 3, Day 17
08 November

The World's Empty Spaces

Afternoon all,

The world has many vast areas where few of us venture and when we do with some trepidation. The oceans and deserts are two that I have now been fortunate enough to have experienced. During the late 1980's we lived in the UAE and were able to camp during the cooler winter months in the desert between the mountains of Oman and the coast of the Emirates. Now with the help of the Clipper Race organisation, I have experienced the vastness of the South Atlantic and hopefully will also venture into one of the world's most remote areas - the Southern Ocean.

It may be odd to suggest that both deserts and oceans share similar characteristics and generate similar emotions, the vastness of these areas of the earth has an impact on all who have ventured to these extreme environments. Their ability to thrust us into situations of extreme danger in a trance humbles us and generates respect for the amazing power of the forces of nature. The wind being the common driving force that creates the form and frequency of the ever-changing face of both the desert dunes and the waves of the oceans. In the case of the desert, the movement of the dunes is ponderously slow but relentless as the grains of sand are blown from crest to trough. Whereas the waves and swell of the oceans are in a state of constant turbulence. As the wind speed increases the turquoise-tinged snowy-white crests break around us as we surf down the scarp slope of the waves. The excitement it generates in the crew is not unlike the launching your 4x4 over the crest of a dune and 'surfing' down the other side into the trough below.

When first venturing into these environments the impression is one of emptiness but very soon we find that there are other creatures. In the South Atlantic, we are occasionally visited by the occasional albatross glides waves in to inspect the boat before efforts returning to its patrol of the ocean. They really are masters of flight as they skim the crests of the waves and zoom through the troughs with only the slightest of movement of their vast wings. There are also squadrons of smaller birds that feed on the fish stocks of the seas. The boat is frequently under 'attack' from the squid that resides below and chooses to launch themselves on board as did the flying fish that we experienced in the warmer climes further north. The deserts of the UAE were also full of animal and birdlife plus those less welcome to the desert camper - scorpions that had the desire to find the warmest places of your tent. We had to check our boots each morning and shake out our sleeping bags each evening to ensure we had no unwelcome visitors.

As we continue our journey, I am sure that we will see many of nature's wonders that will add to my memories of these amazing areas.

To all my followers take care and stay tuned as one never knows what awaits us over the next crest.

Mike