Race 2 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 4
19 September

Champagne Sailing! Pretty sure I read that in the brochure: Leg 1, Champagne Sailing. Well, it’s been quite on Leg 1 so far. The differences between Race 1 and Race 2, so far, are like the difference between champagne and ginger ale.

Right from the start of Race 2 there have been difference from Race 1. Race 1 started with a drift-fest against the tide in the Thames Estuary. Race 2 had a vigorous, inshore, tacking duel with a little dodge-a-motorboat game thrown in. Very exciting, although I missed most of it with my head down winching like a madman.

Race 1 then developed into a crash and a bang upwind sail down the English Channel, which combined with sleep deprivation and exhaustion led to a record number of crew out with seasickness. Race 2 have introduced us into the calm part of the Atlantic with light wind and flat seas. On Race 1 poor Seattle devolved into a vomit-orium. Race 2 we have become a cough-eteria! No one is seasick but we all are somewhere on the cough-spectrum, from mildly irritating to bunk-rattling, from your boots coughs.

Then on Race 1, we found ourselves in over 30 knot winds surfing down the waves, one of which ulitmately ate our Code 3 Spinnaker. Race 2, not so much. On one night watch, we made a grand total of 1 nautical mile. The only thing broken has been our concentration on trying to keep the wind in the sails.

On Race 1, we saw ships every watch, sometimes just lights on the horizon other times looming remarkable close to us. Since WTC Logistics sailed away from us two days ago, we have seen nothing, not a thing. We are utterly alone. And the radio on Race 1 was alive with maritime chatter, but now we rarely hear the radio, we are out of range of any company.

We saw dolphins and sea and shorebirds every day on Race 1 but, so far, we have seen two birds and one solitary turtle. What a difference.

The relaxed nature of the sailing on Race 2 has allowed us time to talk to one another and we are starting to learn each other’s backstories, family histories and Clipper Race aspirations.

So, last night I found myself leaning back in a bean bag chair trimming the spinnaker in a warm Atlantic breeze, awash in the light of a waning moon, listening to the chuckles of the crew in the cockpit and thinking the only thing that could make this better would be…perhaps a little champagne.

A couple of shout-outs before I sign off. To our crewmate Emma: we are thinking about you all the time and hope you are making a swift recovery! And to Miss Edmonds and the Grade 1 and 2 class of Crestview Public School in Kitchener, Canada: thanks for your support for Seattle, we love your questions, keep them coming.