Here we are on Day 5 of Race 14 from Oban to Portsmouth. Having rounded the southern tip of Ireland overnight we are now racing downwind towards the Scilly Isles with our nemeses Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam a mile to starboard and Zhuhai a few miles off our port bow. It’s incredible how after over 44,000 miles of racing, the three boats are all still fighting for the grand prize of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race trophy. All with a podium position secured but in what order?…all still to play for.
I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the previous race and our time in Oban.
Race 13 from Washington DC to Oban, what a race it was. I think Race 13 was special for a number of reasons. For some of us, it was our first ocean crossing. For the RTWers, they became circumnavigators as we crossed 55 degrees West (in line with Punta del Este). For me personally, it was a great feeling returning to the boat after having some disappointment preventing me from taking part in the second half of Leg 7 from Panama to Washington, DC. The race offered everything, starting hot and wind holey, followed by a short spell of heavy upwind conditions but still hot, and some great downwind surfing conditions and still hot, then following the scoring gate we started to head North and things got colder, and upwind and remained that way all the way to the end.
Our arrival in Oban was spectacular, to say the least. As we sailed into the bay one or two boats started to show up to welcome us in, quite a nice touch from the locals to come out like this. Before long, however, it had turned into a small flotilla of boats as well as a fly-by by our very own Hamish (crew on Leg 2 and 5 and resident Scotsman.) After crossing the line in majestic fashion we motored up the Kerrera Sound bumping into none other than Joss’ parents in a Wayfarer dinghy who had been waiting there for three hours! And to top it all off our arrival at the marina was met with some hundreds of family, friends, and local supporters, bagpipes, and a wee dram of the local whisky to top it all off. Quite the emotional end to an incredible and hard-earned race win across the Atlantic. The whole stopover was fantastic, perhaps made sweeter by a win we had been chasing for several legs. The local hospitality was incredible all week and we hope that the energy we brought with us returned that hospitality. I think it was one of the favourite stopovers amongst all of the crew and some of us will certainly be paying another visit to this beautiful corner of Scotland.
Now back on the water, Race 14 has delivered the same mixture of conditions we have seen over Legs 7 and 8. Starting with a fun competitive line start with lots of tacking on our way out of the bay, followed by infuriating wind holes around the North of Ireland, exhilarating heeled-over upwind sailing down the West coast of Ireland, and back to some comfy downwind sailing as we round the South of Ireland and the Scillys with some “wind challenged” areas to contend with.
As I said it is all still to play for and we will keep fighting until the end.
Ragnar and all the Hippy Seadogs past and present.