Race 4 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 4, Day 11
28 November

Team Unicef
Back to Reports View Team Page

Yet to get started

We left Cape Town on 17/11 for the fabled Southern Ocean sleigh ride to Fremantle. 4,500 miles of high adrenaline, cold, wet and hard sailing ahead with a cold beer and bbq waiting at the end. Twelve days in, and we’ve yet to get started! After a relatively gentle start, we were well placed in the fleet after five days. Then, a combination of accidents and illness caused us to have to stop racing and divert to Durban for a medical evacuation. Both victims, Thomas Henkelman and Andy Toms bore their injuries and pain with dignity and without complaint. The decision to divert was immediate and unanimously supported. Thankfully so as we now know that Andy required surgery for his complaint. Thomas is receiving treatment for his injuries and the Unicef boat is proud to have delivered them both safely. We wish them a full and speedy recovery.

After the high of reaching Durban and knowing the decision to divert was absolutely correct, that leaves us pretty much as we started with 4,500 miles of hard ocean racing ahead. The difference is that we’ve already been at sea for twelve days and that takes its toll. Add to that the current lack of wind, slow progress, and the fact that we will not be given redress for the time lost for the medical evacuations, but are still expected to race ( against who and for what?) and the mood on board is, let’s say, stoical. Not where you would want to start from and it would be useful to catch a break. To misquote Nietzsche, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ and we’re a determined bunch, will rise to the challenge and the mood will improve as we get deeper into the journey to Australia. A lot depends on us dispensing with the fiction that we are in a conventional race. The real race for us is to reach Fremantle as quickly and safely as possible to allow time for the ongoing crew to recover and prepare the boat for the next race start on 22/12. That means using all the means at our disposal including, where necessary, the engine to motor through wind holes. It’s still a race but it’s against the clock rather than the fleet. I can’t wait for it to start.