Race 14 - Day 10
Crew Diary - Race 14 Day 10
08 July

Hi everyone, a few nights back we, on the good yacht Visit Sanya, China, passed the closest we were ever going to, to the area of the sinking of the ill fated passenger ship Titanic. We were, in nautical terms, very close.

We chatted during our watch about what we could do to memorialise the occasion and we decided to re-enact a classic scene in the movie of the same name. I played Rose, adopting lots of theatrical licence as I’m 6 foot 6 inches tall, burly in stature and bearded, and Jack was played by our small but perfectly formed Iranian watch-leader Afshin. The picture below depicts the scene.

If Jack and Rose had joined the Clipper Race instead of embarking on their ship they would have been like we were, tethered to the bow, pressed firmly against the pull-pit and ‘foulied’ to the hilt. Not sure where Rose or Jack would have found any opportunity to have pencilled any life drawing!! LOL. ☺ Afshin’s and my love will go on…

I’ve been helming and as I write we are nearly three-quarters through the race, although I’ve just heard the course is being extended (to everyone’s delight). I can confidently say I’ve successfully helmed a racing yacht mid-Atlantic, something that will end up as a bullet point on my sailing CV. I joined the ‘Over 20 Club’ the day before yesterday as on two separate occasions I achieved speeds over 20 knots – 20.4 early afternoon and then a couple of hours later 20.8 knots. I will get to go faster, I’ll work on that. Everyone’s looking forward to seeing land, which should only be a few days away now.

Bye for now, and best wishes from all the crew aboard Visit Sanya, China.