Race 13 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Lizzy Grim Race 13 Day 4
22 June
Happy Sailstice! Ok fine, for the Northern Hemisphere yesterday was the Solstice but seeing as we are on the boat days don’t really matter unless it’s bacon and eggs Sunday! A quick note again to say hi Mom! Remember taking me to Sailstice out of Shilshole Bay all those years ago? Bet you never thought it would come to this teehee!
First and foremost, to echo the sentiments of other blogs a humongous THANK YOU goes to all involved in the Bermuda stopover. It went above and beyond my expectations in every way. I had an absolute blast enjoying the island and the rum, the dancing, the rum, the people, the rum, and the water! A special shoutout to Andrew at the Gosling’s Cellars and the Clipper Race for what was an absolute dream come true of an experience between the tour and the tastings. Thank you to Bally and Donette and Wayne and the rest of the wonderful staff at RBYC. I WILL come back, Newport to Bermuda 2024 perhaps?
We are settling into life on board Seattle. The green monster for the most part has gone elsewhere, thank goodness. New crew are learning the ropes, starting with the reminder that it is never a rope on a boat! In this race I am grateful to be getting more time on my favourite part of the boat, the pointy end. I pride myself on running the foredeck back home and yesterday I got to knock off a Foredeck Union bucket list item twice as we did two peels! There were two holes in the Code 1 that I told Skipper I was monitoring. When the wind died off he asked me how quickly I thought I could patch them and I said probably a half hour or so. We hoisted the Windseeker, pulled the Code down, I patched and packed it, and then Code 1 went back up all within about 45 minutes! It’s a bit lively to peel on a Clipper 70 but best believe I will be excited to bring the skill home to play with. Yes Mr. Miller, I am talking about on OneLife.
We are continuing to press on with a great amount of focus to arrive in NYC by Friday brunch time. I supposedly have ancestors who came through Ellis Island on a steamship so it will be quite special to come in by water albeit in a different manner than they did. It will also be special to be back on US soil again as this is officially the longest I have ever been away from my home country. It’s hard to believe that this journey is already halfway over for me. After waiting far longer than expected for it to start it feels like it’s going to be over before I even realised it’s really on. Will definitely be spending some time in New York sitting and reflecting on it all as I certainly didn’t slow down much in Bermuda.
Friends back home at Race Week, you are loved and missed. I expect a full report on my desk when I arrive in New York of all the shenanigans I’m missing. Don’t let me down! ;)
Tata for now as I must go back to Mother Duty!
Love,
Sailing Unicorn <3