Race 12 - Day 7
Crew Diary - Race 12 Day 7: New York to Derry-Londonderry
03 July

Crew Blog 2 July - Catherine North

There is photographic evidence that I have ventured past the middle of the boat on this race!

I have discovered a love of trim, and now am quite comfortable heading forward to check on the Yankee and Staysail tell tails, AND, more importantly, am confident enough in my knowledge to offer direction on whether to trim or ease the sheets. This follows from many previous hours sitting in front of a spinnaker winch with the active sheet in my control and making the same decisions there. No pictures yet of me behind the wheel, but I have been steering every watch, including at night. We are still reaching too which is a more difficult point of sail for me to steer in a straight line. Did get a comment, “good speeds Catherine” this morning from Jo who was watching for most of my go. That was a proud moment.

Enough about me. We are sailing along at a very good pace, in the middle of the fleet, 15 miles from the leaders. Cause for worry for some, but not us! We know the boat is prepared and well looked after. We know we are very well prepared for any evolution and that we do them with grace. We still have a very long way to go so time will tell. We all want the same thing, the prize at the end, and are willing and have the skills to work for it. But, there is also a healthy dose of “morale” and the knowledge that this will be a tiny blip in the bigger picture of us sailing the whole way around the world together this past year.

I keep cogitating on this fact, we are Circumnavigators. There are eleven circumnavigators on this boat with a total of 22 people on board. The fact that 10 of us have been on that journey together shows. We have been up and down together and know one another pretty well. The best thing about this crew is that we are using that knowledge for good. We know who drinks what when hot drinks are offered and who does well at what jobs and appreciate all of the differences. Also, whenever we get new crew we work well at integrating them into this culture of care for the boat and each other. Mmmmm...this getting a bit soft. Suffice to say, I love them all.

They are calling me Crash today. We ran into something last night when I was at the wheel. A big thump in the night. Don’t know what, and after many careful checks, no obvious damage done. Will get more thoroughly checked in Derry. See you there!