Airlie Beach to Da Nang
I am sitting up on deck, the sun is shining, the temperature is unbearable out of the shade and we are travelling at the impressive speed of about seven knots. We are in the Doldrums just to the east of Papua New Guinea and north west of the Solomon Islands. If it wasn't for the heat life couldn't get much better than this. Sunrises and sunsets are stunning and the moon will be full in a couple of nights time. It does mean the stars are sometimes indistinguishable but it is a privilege to be a witness to it all.
The stopover in Airlie Beach was quite stressful in the Clipper world of UNICEF. No one really knew what was going to happen with respect to Jim and there was lots of talk around the crew not wanting him to get back on the boat. In the end he made the decision not to continue and we were told ninety minutes before we had to slip lines. Not ideal and, for me, came as a big shock as I had accepted the fact he was going to take us to Vietnam. Along with this we had one crew member who became very anxious about getting on the boat and there was a great deal of indecision as to what she was going to do. We were told that Paul A and Drew were going to join us as Skipper and First Mate respectively and would be taking us to Qingdao where Cloughy (Martin) would come back as our Skipper for Legs 6, 7 and 8 and take us back to London. At last a decision and plan for the rest of the race. Paul was Mate on my Level 3 training back in Gosport in June last year and never did I expect to sail with him again - so a lovely surprise. Drew is based in Australia and does quite a bit of Clipper training out of Sydney. Both great sailors/trainers and I am looking forward to learning from them.
Cloughy then came back on board for the parade of sail during which Anne, Andrew and Christopher (cousin plus sons) followed us in a yacht sailed by a local Yacht Club member. The weather wasn't very nice - wet and windy - but we went round a cruise liner anchored just offshore from the marina before heading back to pick up Paul and Drew and dropping a very anxious and tearful new Legger. It was then catch up the rest of the fleet who were motoring 150 nM to the start position on the eastern side of the Great Barrier Reef.
A Le Mans start the following day saw us all line up and then race of in various directions. Unfortunately we had trouble hoisting the spinnaker due, we found out later after Henry had climbed the mast, to a random sail tie that had got caught in the halyard block at the top of the mast. How that happened we will never know but it probably took a couple of hours to sort out before we got under way again.
We are now on Day 7, it is hot with light and variable winds and we are sailing through the Solomon Sea to the west of Bougainville trying desperately to go north towards New Britain and out into the Pacific. Travel is frustratingly slow and the heat is becoming difficult to deal with. Crew are sleeping in the sail locker where a temporary 'wind scoop' has been rigged up using a pole and random sleeping bag that has been on the boat since St Kats - probably the coolest place on the boat at the moment. I have been lying on my bunk, as still as possible and have been able to get a reasonable amount of sleep. At the moment it is my off watch (10:00 - 14:00), the hottest part of the day and it seems a good time to try and write something rather than try and sleep. Only another couple of hours and we are back on deck. We have changed the hours of the watches so that the six hours on watch are over night (18:00 - 24:00 and 24:00 - 06:00) and we eat our main meal of the day at midnight which seems to be working though it is still early days.
The deck is too hot to stand on in bare feet and the wheel gets too hot to handle, while finding somewhere to sit in the shade can be difficult when the sun is virtually overhead and every shady spot is taken up with someone else. One way of cooling down is to sit or stand with both feet in a bucket of seawater! It reminds me of living in the tropics as a child when I had to run across the sand or drive so that my feet didn't burn. And the time I burnt my feet running across the hospital car park after standing on a bee. Not sure what was the most painful, bee sting or burning feet.
Having Paul and Drew on board is really good as it means we have access to training most of the time. Paul is always up to date with race positions and has introduced 'Happy Hour', a time each day when we all try and get together to be updated on what is going on across the fleet, weather etc and a time to air any concerns, gripes etc. We seem to be a reasonably content boat and in the main get on with each other. There are always going to be those individuals that are 'different' but they seem to be assimilated into the crew without too much difficulty. We had a big change of crew in Airlie Beach with eight leaving and eight new Leggers joining, though having said that one didn't join due to her anxiety attack and another due to illness with Trudi hopefully being OK to come on board in Da Nang. The dynamic always changes with these changes but we somehow seem, so far anyway, to be able to manage it all without too many fall outs.
While the conditions are flat and calm,and the boat is reasonably flat, I am going to try and keep this blog going. Hopefully it won't turn into an incomprehensible ramble but is an opportunity to share thoughts and concerns as we journey forwards.
Someone has just turned the generator off and now all I can hear is the gentle lapping of water against the hull. It would be better if the boat was going faster but for now there is relative peace and quiet. Time for a one hour nap before going back on watch again at 14:00........
It is now many days later, day 17 in fact, and Jean and I are back as 'Mothers' for the day. Chilli con carne and rice for lunch, apple crumble for tea at 18:00 and tuna mayo or chilli wrap for supper at 22:00. All is now prepared and cooked so we can relax a bit before the onslaught of hungry sailors hits the galley.
Since writing earlier we have sailed through the Solomon Sea where winds were light, across the Equator and are now heading up the east coast of the Philippines. The fleet is going much faster than predicted to the extent that a couple of days ago it was announced that it was not possible to get to Da Nang earlier than the 17th February so the race was going to be extended by up to 1000 nM. You can imagine how that went down with the crew as we were all looking forward to a ten day stopover. Still, we just have to get on with it.
I was volunteered as King Neptune again and after a short delay due to some inclement weather and sailing conditions I arrived on deck to a trombone fanfare and duly met with the crew of both polywogs (those who haven't crossed the equator by sea) and shellbacks (those who have). A simple ceremony where polywogs were asked 'talent or forfeit' the later being a taste of what looked like dog food. Unfortunately it was to some people's liking so not much of a deterrent. There was lots of laughter and by the time we had all toasted the crossing with a tot of rum it was time for a watch change and back to the serious job of racing the boat.
In crossing the equator we went from summer to winter almost immediately with temperatures cooling, the winds picking up and the occasional squall and rain shower. The conditions up on deck became very wet with most of us suffering 'yachts botty', a very unpleasant condition brought on by being continually wet. Lots of sudocrem does help to alleviate the pain but I can't wait to get of the boat and into a drier environment. All clothes are wet, either with rain, wave splash or sweat as temperatures have risen again and the conditions are hot and humid. It can be difficult to sleep and tempers become frayed.
We are in 9th place at the moment and could be overtaken if we don't get a move on. We have be sailing with the Code 2 spinnaker (medium weight) for the past 24 hours and have been averaging around 12 knots so hopefully can keep ahead of the others. Only time will tell.
I need to break off now to serve the apple crumble to port watch - hope they like it.
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