Race 4 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 4 Day 11: Fremantle to Sydney
13 December
I make no apologies for making this blog more of a personal diary than a detailed account of our sailing activities.
First of all I must acknowledge my family, particularly my grandchildren Thomas, Lola, Violet and little Noah. I miss you all.
This Clipper Race adventure never fails to test you, it has taken over my life for the last 11 months and I am typing this at an angle of 45% on a port tack as we desperately chase the weather patterns that will get us to our goal of reaching Sydney as fast as possible.
I have referred in the past to this Clipper journey being an emotional roller coaster and that continues to be the case especially as just to go to the heads gives you a full body workout and that ignores the fact of getting in and out of your bunk every four hours when on the opposite tack and just moving about the boat.
I am luckier than some as I have a lower bunk, my personal physician Dr Graham is clearly a respector of age (he does the bunk allocation). I do tend to be referred to as the old one on board!
We are nearly two weeks into the first race of this leg and apart from feeling queasy I have avoided the dreaded sea sickness and I am settling into the watch system as much as you ever can, but this late life crisis I am suffering from continues to be an enormous challenge.
On that note I must pay huge respect to all the RTWs who we joined in Freo for leg 4 who welcomed us with open arms and the integration into life onboard was seamless.
Whilst the days merge into one another, the banter between the crew has been priceless and has ensured a wonderful crew morale, nothing less than you would expect of course from Liverpool 2018.
The sheer enormity of the Southern Ocean and everything that has been thrown at us never ceases to amaze me, from the size of the waves to the stars, sunrises and sunsets, whale sightings and the albatrosses. The thought of sailing into probably the most famous harbour in the world keeps us focussed on the job of getting this boat into the most competitive position,something that I can assure all you Liverpool followers we are trying our damnedest, despite some of the setbacks we have had.
Albert the Bear remains in excellent health despite having to deal with a really serious morning strop from our hugely respected skipper who decided that one of the crew had hidden his bag of Cheerios (simple, he had eaten them all!) I am not convinced he has overcome this life changing event.
We are now all very keen to reach Sydney and perhaps give some thought to Christmas.
Happy Christmas to all our followers and don't forget keep THINKING PINK especially all my brilliant staff from SHERIDANS probably the best Estate Agents in the World.
Nick (Sherri) Sheridan
aka Gramps