Race 13 - Day 5
Crew Diary - Derry-Londonderry to Liverpool
26 July

Good evening from a waypoint to the South of the Republic of Ireland. I was fortunate enough to join the crew at the lovely city of Derry (and many thanks to Clipper for facilitating that). This comes with a few issues, apart from the obvious ones that the round the world crew are now thoroughly competent sailors, the boat has also got some well established friendships. In walks me, with just one leg's experience behind me (last year leg 1), and no established friendships, so a good memory and a pair of sharp elbows were required.

We're in quite an unusual position, in that we seem to have been leading and we've been in the top few for some time. A steely determination has cast its shadow on even the most affable and any error, however minor, is being noticed. Mostly this is done in good humour and fortunately no errors have been that dramatic. So, enough of the sailing, what about the food!

Those with an elephantine memory, or a peculiar addiction to reading the blogs, may have recalled that I last blogged about being overweight and how helpful this was in compacting waste and packing sails. Unfortunately, the experience of Clipper left me 2 stone lighter on the first leg, and the result was baggy sacks of waste and uncrushed cans. I have put some of this weight back on, but am determined to get back to my Uruguay weight by the end of the week. This has proved remarkably difficult, because as well as having improved their sailing, the crew has also dramatically improved the onboard catering. Coupled with some excellent fresh Derry provisions, the fare I s irresistible. Resisting second helpings is a Herculean task. I had to resort to sea sickness to aid my diet. The first time I have ever been sick on a sailing boat, not in the wild Atlantic, but the Irish Sea.

This will be my last Blog, a big thank you to Clipper for making this possible and let's party in Liverpool on Saturday.