Race 3 - Day 25
Crew Diary - Cape Town, South Africa to Albany, Australia
25 November
G'Day All from PSP Logistics!
We may have covered over 5000 nautical miles already but last night had to have been my favourite night watch so far on this race. Let me set the scene: 19:00-23:00, scattered clouds, some 20 odd knots of steady wind, facing a brilliantly bright almost full moon dead ahead of us that reflected off the water like a path guiding us into Oz. We had a kite up (heavyweight) and were sailing along at some of the most consistently high speeds (12-13knots) we've had so far.
Every position had to concentrate and do their part as just the smallest lapse of concentration would have had us lost that margin of control we were able to successfully hold. For me at least it was some of the best racing sailing we've done. Simply awesome!
Since we started our approach to Albany I’ve found myself half expecting to see a sign of the great down under just about every time I get up on deck. Clearly that's not happening for a bit longer yet as we're some 20-36 hours to go on this leg (depending on who you ask / their level of optimism / degree of wishful longing for that shower or can of beer...) But I’ve come to terms by now with the fact that being out at sea for prolonged periods of time does at times play tricks with your mind... I now have an entirely different appreciation for how sea legends are created!
Ultimately there’s a bit of a conflict within me between the desire to arrive now that others are in already and place as best as we can on the board, and to just keep the pure enjoyment of the last 25 odd days going that little while longer. For me at least, as a legger about to complete my one and only leg of this Clipper Race this will be the end of my journey and it has been a great one. I reckon that in the past three weeks I’ve had to throw just about every preconceived idea of what this was going to be like out the hatch and to the mercy of the prolific southern ocean winds, and instead start living purely in the moment. And the result has been pretty awesome. I've ended up breaking up this trip into those moments where you just can't help yourself from grinning away like a bit of a lunatic and thinking just how lucky you are to be doing this.
For me those moments have consisted of those 10-30 seconds as you're helming and our boat
(Gloria) emits this sort of low rumble just as you catch the surf and get beyond those 12 knots of boat speed. Or watching the torpedo silhouettes of the dolphins that swam alongside us at night some weeks back, causing the plankton in the water to glow in their wake. Even the simple joy of smelling those pancakes or bacon and egg breakfasts waft up from the galley and you know you only have about 10 minutes left on watch after a cold and rather uneventful night shift. There’s been the end of shift sail changes (which happened all too often... thanks Skipper Max!) where everything just clicked despite the conditions around us and we (or at least I) really felt for a short while that we really were pretty decent sailors and not just amateurs. Get this: in such moments even wooling a kite below deck just didn't seem such a pain to me anymore (would never have expected to be saying that back in level 3 training!)
The great thing about this race is that there have been 1000s of these moments (as you may have gathered from the other blogs!). It would take forever to list them all out. But perhaps even all of those listed out wouldn't have the same significance if it wasn't for the fact that to top it all off you get to share the experience with a boatload of people who share the same passion and appreciation for them as you do. That part is priceless - thanks guys for this amazing journey shared!
I'd like to think that we took on and vanquished each condition that the Southern Ocean threw at us, not unlike some ancient sea farers taking on a variety of mythical sea creatures. But the reality of this crossing is that the mighty Southern Ocean acquiesced to our short presence in her midst and simply allowed us safe passage through. She didn't hesitate however to every so often remind us just who is the boss around here - but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!
I wanted to finish on a bit of a personal note with a few shout outs and thank you’s whilst I can still legitimately claim to be in the Southern Ocean: please bear with me! To my family and friends - especially my parents and sister for being so supportive of my decision to do this! I think you know I couldn't have done it without your support! Add Colin and all my mates who then had to put up with listening to me go on about it for months on end. Marian for your incredible patience and support. And as always from the bottom of my heart to the guys in Rome without whom I wouldn't have been here doing this in the first place (you know who you are). Sending loads of love to you all!