It is the night before race start and I am sitting in Starbucks, Marina City, Qingdao, having a quiet time before all the excitement and celebration that is inevitable tomorrow morning. I think it could all be even more manic than our arrival one week ago as we will be twelve boats in total, all leaving at three minute intervals. We are due to slip lines at 1100 but before that there will be speeches, the skippers parade with all of them in their red cloaks, and processing down to our boats behind our boat banner. Whether or not we get to hear our boat song on departure is open to debate as earlier during a rehearsal the UNICEF song was wrong.
Due to the permanent change of skipper and because nobody liked our previous song we have changed it to 'The Bare Necessities' from The Jungle Book. Now, maybe Clipper are too embarrassed to admit that the UNICEF song is from a Disney film, or perhaps the Chinese authorities don't agree to it, but it will be interesting to see whether or not it is played. The whole ceremony is going to be shown on live TV so quite a big thing for Qingdao and perhaps we are not being serious enough.
Earlier during the mass crew briefing we were told about the big waves and strong winds that could be experienced as we cross the Pacific. During the first few days out of China the winds are expected to be light and variable and not due to increase until we round the southern tip of Japan when things could get a bit more bouncy. I don't know if the wind and sea conditions will be any worse than those we have already experienced but I am sure it will be colder and possibly wetter. I am just hoping that the work that has been done on the boat to improve its leakyness has worked and that the top bunks stay dry and the cave lockers remain empty of water.
It has been quite foggy on occasions since we have been here and a very foggy morning could have
quite a severe impact on the parade of sail and race start. As it is we will be taking part in a 'pretend'
start to amuse the locals as for the first 30 +/- nM we won't be racing due to the profusion of fishing nets in the coastal waters around Qingdao. The plan is to 'start' and once out of sight of the spectators to continue under motor for about 35 nM. If still daylight when we get to this point there will be a Le Mans start, otherwise we will continue motoring until around 0800 the following morning (Monday) and then have the Le Mans start. All very complicated and for us not helped by the fact that we don't have a working generator on the boat for this Leg so will be having to use our main engine to charge the batteries etc. This in turn means greater fuel consumption so extra fuel will be needed and Cloughy is considering asking for a tow out to the start line to preserve fuel. Will our bad luck never end.
On a brighter note we won the media prize for best video clip for Leg 5. I don't think anyone could believe it when it was announced but we now have our first pennant that can hang in pride when all the battle flags are raised. Well done to Tzen and Henry!
What will be my memories of Qingdao - warm sunny days, thick fog, police marching in line one behind the other, the Olympic Rings, fireworks, red cloaks and scarves, hotel staff taking part in group exercises to loud music outside my room window, having a horrible cold, beautiful children, a modern city, fishing nets, waiting nine hours before being able to come alongside, lots of phone calls to friends and family, jumping the firewall and being able to use facebook and, I think finally, welcoming a new set of Leggers who will all be an asset to the boat. The atmosphere on the boat is much more positive that it was in both Airlie Beach and Da Nang and hopefully with the confirmation that Cloughy will be taking us back to London we will be able to put all our energy into racing the boat rather than worrying about what might happen next.
Only a few hours to go before we set sail and I am both excited and a little anxious about the journey ahead. There are going to be times when the conditions will be challenging - cold, windy, 45 degree
heel, seasickness, grumpiness, tiredness etc, but by the time I get to Seattle I will have crossed the
International Date Line, repeated a day, be closer to coming home and seeing all my very precious
Lots of love
Kate xxxx
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