Race 3 - Day 25
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 25: Cape Town to Fremantle
25 November
The end of an adventure
Hello to my family, friends & HotelPlanner.com supporters.
I woke this morning at about 5am to the familiar sound of the generator firing up and very loudly grunting away, intermingled with the usual snorers playing their part in ruining my slumber! However, I have to admit to a smug grin crossing my face when I realised that I have only one more night to endure on this 'extreme camping with some sailing' experience; As someone recently described it to me.
Yes folks, for me this adventure ends when we arrive at the end of leg 3 in Western Australia. It's just over 3 months since we set sail from Liverpool and raced across half the globe, but it feels a lot longer than that. Though do not for one minute think that I have not enjoyed the adventure. It really has been a wonderful collection of good, bad, sad, dangerous, tragic, happy and exciting times.
I have spent the last couple of days thinking about being back in Old Blighty and amongst other things, wondering how I would reply to the inevitable questions of what it was like. Or perhaps I'm kidding myself and those questions are far from inevitable!! In fact for all I know, no one may have even noticed my absence, let alone be interested in where I may have been since mid August! For the sake of this blog though, I will boldly assume that is not the case. The answer of course is not an easy one, but I will attempt a summary.
Life on board the boat is uncomfortable to say the least and 'extreme camping' is probably a good description. After about a week at sea you become accustomed to the 6 hours on watch, 4 hours off system. You try to deal with the wet and cold conditions by very careful preservation of dry clothing – but that is not always possible depending on what the weather is throwing at you and what part of the boat you might be working, ie helming is a far dryer job than foredeck work (I like helming!). You can find yourself very quickly into a 4 week passage with no dry clothing after the first week and drying salt water soaked wollens is no easy task. Still the only option is to make do. The food on board I found to be surprisingly good, most of the time. This may not just be a reflection of the high calibre (unpaid) amateur chefs we are lucky to have aboard, but more to do with the hunger we generate and quite possibly the sea air heightening the taste buds. Meal times are also one of the few times that we as a 22 strong crew actually spend any time together and are often an entertaining time for banter.
When we are not eating or sleeping (if you can) the focus is on racing the boat. Keeping the speed as high as possible and changing sails or adjusting trim to suit the ever changing weather conditions. This can be very physical and dangerous work especially when its windy.
For me, the key aspect of this adventure has not been the race itself, its been the people. A bit like spending a whole day at Lords watching a test match, the sport itself is just the background noise – the real pleasure is to do with the people you are sharing the experience with. I have found considerable warmth and strength from my team mates (well some of them anyway!) and will not forget the immense contribution they have made to my enjoyment of this adventure.
The sailing itself has at times been fantastically exhilerating. Surfing down massive waves at almost 25 knots in a 30 ton racing boat is something very special indeed. I also enjoyed contributing to the recent successful Ocean Sprint win and as we speak we are closing in on Fremantle with the very real possibility of overtaking 3 or 4 boats – this despite having given the fleet about a 3 day head start following our necessary diversion to Port Elizabeth for a medical evacuation. I have not seen a crew more excited about fighting it out for last place before!
As you may suspect, I will be extremely sad to leave the team behind, but at the same time I feel satisfied that I have had a great adventure. If I could turn back the clock I would definitely do it all over again. Though for now, I really can't wait to be back home with my loved ones.
Many thanks for all your interest.
Mike
Saturday 25th November, 09:10