Race 3 - Day 19
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 19: Cape Town to Fremantle
19 November

Today is a sad day.

This morning, Rob gathered us all together and gave us the tragic news of the death of Simon Speirs on GREAT Britain. The Clipper Race family have lost a team mate and I a good friend.

I first met Simon when we were both on the two week coxswains course. Simon, being a retired solicitor, was a meticulous note taker and every night would write up a bit about the day. One tip I did learn from him was to make a plan of the room and write each person's name on the plan; I do this all the time now as I'm absolutely hopeless at remembering names.

Those of you who knew Simon will know that his favourite drink was a “Dark and Stormy”. The first time we went to the Castle, he ordered it to which I said “What's that beer?”, thinking it was another Adnams beer that I'd missed out on. Little did I know that it didn't come in a pint glass!

When we arrived in Punta Del Este early in the morning, we were walking to the yacht club and there's Simon riding a bike up the road at about 6am with a huge happy smile. Later in the day he was barefoot on the quayside repairing a shredded GREAT Britain spinnaker, always being keen to get stuck in and be involved.

At crew allocation I think Simon's name may have been the first to be shown on the screen and I remember thinking how pleased and excited he would have been since he was always so enthusiastic.

Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and fellow GREAT Britain crew mates on this difficult day.

Andy Greenough