Race 7 - Day 24
Crew Diary - Race 7 Day 24: Whitsundays to Sanya
23 February
Race Finish à la HotP
Ok, so we're not quite finished yet – 40 miles to the last waypoint, and under 50 miles to finish to be exact at this minute – expecting to arrive into Sanya this afternoon. It's been an eventful morning to say the least. Over the past few days, we've been starting to prepare for our arrival into port, talking schedule, jobs, discussing favourite little comforts and enjoying some lovely, uneventful sailing. How fast things can change!
My watch (starboard) was on the 3-7am shift this morning, and when we came on we were in a drag race with Garmin, who were both on AIS and in view – exciting! About half way through the watch, we gybed to match their move, and we got really excited when we came into a cloud which gave us more wind than they were having. We overtook them! But then, just as we thought we were coming out of the squall and into calmer winds, it intensified and we were hit by a gust of about 24 knots. Unfortunately, our poor Code 1 spinnaker is not designed for such force and it tore right up the centre! The other watch were already having breakfast so they were quick to join us on deck to lend a helping hand bringing down the kite. It was the most intense time I've had on the boat so far, and it's amazing how fast you forget how tired, hungry or uncomfortable you are and how very little you care about getting wet (it was quite wet). All of a sudden what matters the most is the job, and the safety of your crew mates. It took three of us to grab hold of the sail's sheet before it stopped pulling people off the deck, and then five of us to wrestle it down through the boom to pass on to crew waiting in the pit to stuff it down below. Making sure we were all clipped on and no one was in harm's way while we did this was paramount. Though it's of course rather unfortunate, and will give us more work to do in port, I've felt that bond between crew as we fight Mother Nature together cement, particularly as we worked together with the other watch, who we only get to see quickly at watch handovers. We are all safe, without injuries, and we are still racing closely with Garmin, Nasdaq and GREAT Britain for the last few places, and we are looking forward to a warm welcome in Sanya in a few hours' time! The other positive out of this is that being on white sails gives us a taste for the next race, which will be mostly upwind. We are feeling life at a heel, where all of a sudden you have to think about each step and movement and carefully plan things as simple as getting out of bed, and going to the toilet. I need a new strategy to get into my bunk, as this is not the good tack for my location (i.e. I'm being tipped into the hallway, not the wall)! At least we're not actually beating yet as we're still sailing downwind.. that should add more fun to the mix on our way to Qingdao!
Once again, it's amazing how close these races can get – after about 4200 nautical miles at sea for this Forever Tropical Paradise race to Sanya, we are all due to arrive within 24 hours of each other! Just a few days ago, the leading boats were over 300 miles in front of us, something like two days' worth of sailing. I'm especially glad we're arriving in the daytime, even though it's raining, as we're meant to receive quite the welcome in both Chinese ports. It also means we have time to do a bit of boat tidying and get ourselves showered, fed and rested before deep clean tomorrow (a day earlier than planned!). We are all looking forward to our time in Sanya and to seeing or speaking with family and friends again. We'll tell you all about it when we're back into racing on March 4! Til then, stay tuned for our arrival on the Race Viewer and keep an eye on the ClipperRaceLIVE Facebook page for updates!