The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

So on Christmas Day I set off with my Dad, Rob and his wife Karen, Alan and his wife Prue for a picnic on Bondi Beach... unfortunately it was windy, rainy and cold, so we came straight back and had a picnic lunch at the hotel and in the evening Christmas dinner there as well!

Up early the next morning and ready for the race start, the Clipper fleet paraded in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge before moving a little way up the harbour to be joined by a further 80 yachts including maxi yachts of about 100ft in length, down to smaller yachts of 40ft in length. Although the main prize is for the fastest boat, there is also the Tattersalls Cup which works out a handicap for each boat based on length and sail area etc. 

Having gathered on one of the two start lines it seemed as though we were all in an amphitheatre with hundreds of spectator boats around the edge of the race area. With tensions growing as each canon sounded down to race start, finally the gun went off. The whole fleet charged to the first race marker with the maxi's leading the way and all the large and small spectator boats alongside creating a ferocious wash, it was an electric race start unlike no other and one of my highlights of the whole race so far.

As the race panned out, we were in the middle of the pack and pleased with our position, the maxi yachts pulling quickly away as expected. For the first 24 hours we tacked along the coast with occasionally light winds and we were able to bring out 'Bruce' again since his big repair in Sydney and fly him, later 'Bwian' made a successful appearance for a day and we made speeds of over 20 knots,  as we made our way towards the Bass Strait wind speeds increased and 'The Sydney to Hobart' lived up to its reputation by giving us really hard up wind sailing and very rough conditions, with regular gusts of 60 knots and waves coming from the side, we were into extreme conditions. The final 24 hours involved tacking duels with other boats before making our way to the finish line in Storm Bay to finish the race in a credible of 55th out of 94. With a great welcome at the dock side from not only the Clipper supporters but all the other yachts and the locals, it was a great atmosphere, celebrated in the usual Clipper way with lots to drink!

...and what did Santa bring you ?

Getting ready for Race start

The Big Boys are soon out in front

Can you spot us?

A Great sight

Happy Christmas

 

I have been in Sydney now for over a week and it has been a brilliant stop over so far; spending the first 5 days sorting out the boat and some big repairs to our sails, mixed with parties in the evenings. I then had 3 days off to see some of the sights, first trip to the famous Bondi Beach, then a day on a coach trip out to the Blue Mountains which are about 50 miles to the west and really are blue! The Scenic World Railway and cable car then took us right down in to the valley and back up passing the iconic rock formations called the Three Sisters. After lunch we returned via a wildlife park and saw some of Australia's native animals; Koalas, Kangeroos and Crocodiles, with a chance to cuddle the first two, but not the third!

Last Saturday, my Dad and I took the famous ferry over the Harbour to Manly for the day- with half of Sydney also heading out for the weekend! We then met up with Dave (from Leg 3 who is recovering well from his injury) and some of our crew for drinks and a meal.

While I was having time off, Mission Performance, along with all the other boats, was taken out of the water to have her under side cleaned (by Claire, Neil, Ant and Derek) of all the algae that has accumulated on her since London, followed by applying a coat of anti fouling paint. We also found a piece of rope had become attached to the folding propeller, holding it in an open position and potentially causing extra drag on the boat. Even small things like this can slow us down over the very long distances we have traveled, so it will be interesting to see if we start to perform a little better in the future races having sorted this problem out and one or two minor adjustments to the rudders.

So now back in the water and ready for action we took her out for a Spinnaker shoot (flying our Mission Performance branded Spinnaker under Sydney Harbour Bridge) with photographers capturing the moment, along with my Dad trying to do the same from the bridge.

With 1 day before the Sydney to Hobart Race, tensions are beginning to grow in the marina. The Clipper yachts will be racing in their own class as well as against approximately 75 other boats, with the favourite to win being 'Wild Oats'. This occasion is one of the highlights of the Australian sporting year along side the Melbourne Cup and the Boxing Day test match. So there is a lot of talk in the Press and Television about our participation in the race.

Now the sails are back on board the boat and we are ready for the race. So Matt has given us an easy day on Christmas Day, with a planned trip to Bondi Beach.

Happy Christmas to you all from Sophie, Team Mission Performance, oh and my Dad! 

ARRIVING IN SYDNEY

THE ICONIC SHOT

IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

ONE OF US IS NOT IMPRESSED!

SKIPPY

AT WORK IN THE MARINA

OUR SPINNAKER SHOOT

LOOKS GOOD

BONDI BEACH

It's nice and warm in Sydney

After some slow progress up the coast of Eastern Australia, we finally sailed into Sydney Harbour on Saturday morning to the spectacular sight of; first the Sydney Harbour Bridge and then the Opera House.

We arrived to the clapping of the Team Mission Performance supporters club (my Dad) and cold drinks at Rushcutters Bay, the home of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, then straight down to deep clean the boat and checking in for the next 12 nights at a local hotel as our boat will be lifted out of the water for a jet wash and a coat of anti fouling on her underside. The night before last we had the Prize Giving ceremony at the hotel in which we finished 8th! (Our best position yet!) and then last night we had our crew meal at the yacht club.

So far I have only had chance to have a quick trip to see the Opera House, 'The Bridge' and the Royal Botanical Gardens, as I have been doing a lot of unfortunate sail repairing on 'Bruce' outside in the sun. With this hot climate it doesn't feel like Christmas at all to me! Once I have finished sail repairing tomorrow I will be able to have more free time to see the rest of the sights.

Only 90 miles to go !

Not long now until we arrive in Sydney! Although the wind has dropped, hopefully some time early hours of the 13th, Australian time. It's strange to think this section of Leg 4 is already over and the next race will be the big one: The Sydney-Hobart race in 2 weeks time, where we will probably experience some intense racing. Matt is keen for us all to specialise in some of the jobs on board for this, so we might have our best helmers and sail trimmers etc, doing those jobs. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference to our performance.

In the last 24hours the weather has changed drastically, we have gone from full wet weather gear (including dry suit) to shorts and t-shirt weather! But tonight is our last night watch luckily my watch is on the single, 10pm till 2am watch. The night before was a great watch with a clear starry night and then seeing dolphins darting through the water with the phosphorescent plankton which clings to them was incredible.

More kite katastrophies !

 I'm beginning to think Mission Performance is cursed in terms of flying kites! After a week long repair on 'Thor' in Albany, it was decided that he should be flown for the first time on Sunday, conditions were not bad nothing he couldn't handle and every one was clear on how he was going to be hoisted. Everything went fine and he was flying for about 10 minutes until he flogged and collapsed, then completely ripped across the head, at this point an 'all hands on deck' was called and as I was off watch I made my way up on deck to hear Matt shouting at me not to come up!!! I guessed the worst and sure enough I saw the main part of the kite trailing in the water and the head flying like a flag at the top of the mast! Retrieving him went smoothly as usual (we are now considering that we should set up a kite retrieval business due to the amount of times we have had to pull them out of the water) I assessed him downstairs and surprisingly the majority of our repair in Albany had held, it was a new tear across him! So as we have no sewing machine it looks like I will be spending few days in Sydney repairing him again.

Our current position is 6th place and we are getting some great speeds even though we cant fly 'Thor'. Helming has been brilliant and with some big waves we can still get over 20 knot surfs. Tonight we will be passing just south of Tasmania, then it's north to Sydney where the fleet will have to decide whether to go east or west of the East Australian Current depending on the wind angle, as sailing into the current will greatly reduce speeds. 

I have been on mother duty today and can safely say my cake making abilities have vastly improved especially as we have no recipes and I was guessing ratios I also made sure Nutella was a key ingredient! Other news is that I am well impressed with a bruise I have on my nose and below my eye having been hit by the yankee sheet, my face went numb for a while, but I recovered. Now for a much needed 10 hour sleep (the bonus of doing mother watch!).

Birthday on the boat

It was my 19th birthday yesterday. Strange to think that a year ago I was still at school working on my personal statement for university, A levels still to come and I had only just started to think about doing the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. A lot has changed in the past year! My Birthday started off as normal with our watch on from 6am till midday. In the 'happy hour'  which is our daily lunch time meeting I was given a gift of a pot of Nutella due my addiction to it, (many times I have been caught with a spoon and pot of Nutella in my hand!) and a duck with goggles drawn on him (my nickname on board is 'Biggles' as I have a pair of sailing goggles and hat that make me look like the character Biggles!). The whole crew then sang Happy Birthday to me and they had baked a chocolate and caramel cake, with custard of course! This will be a Birthday I will always remember!

Race start for this leg was very interesting for us; Matt decided to play it safe and not get too in the way of race start in case of collisions! Coincidently two boats did collide causing enough damage to delay them for 24 hours, now they are back racing and hot on our heels. Our first 24 hours back at sea were rough, with up wind sailing, meaning our new and rejoining crew members; Helen, Anthony, Stephen, Fi, Mark and Katherine had to quickly adapt to life at an angle! Over the last few hours the wind has eased off and we are sailing more on a beam reach (the wind at 90 degrees to us) meaning the boat is flatter and life below deck is a lot easier! On this afternoon's watch we saw some dolphins, which was exciting for the new crew members as well as us old ones as the last time we saw dolphins was during leg 2, it makes uneventful watches more interesting and more photos for our huge album!

At the moment we are in 8th place but we are the boat furthest south which is good news in terms of Matt's plans, at some point we will be starting to turn further east and make our way south of Tasmania and then north up to Sydney, this is going to be a short race of around 10 days so I think we are going to have some exciting sailing as we get closer to the coast and I hope less damage to our sails!

Everything's Amazing in Albany

What an amazing finish we had arriving in Albany. We hadn't seen land or another boat for over 3 weeks since leaving Dave Griffin behind in South Africa and at last we saw the coast of Western Australia...... with 3 other Clipper boats heading for the finish! Matt then put us through some intense sailing, after hours of racing against each other and countless head sail changes all of us got to the headland to turn into Albany. We were at the back of the group of 4 in 11th place so had nothing to lose. So we decided to 'welease Bwian' our spinnaker as the other 3 boats had chosen not to use kites for the final push to the finish line. This saw our speed increase considerably and poor Invest Africa became our target to beat, with about 5 minutes to the line we overtook them, but they fought back and blocked our wind that filled our kite so this allowed them to pass us, at this point 'Bwian' filled again and again we picked up speed and just beat them to the line by less than 4 seconds, after 5000 miles! The other boats Old Pulteney and Derry~Londonderry~Doire were less than 4 minutes further ahead. Loads of people came up to us afterwards saying it was the most amazing race finish they had ever seen. For Team Mission Performance; Although we ended up coming 10th out of the 12 boats it was a brilliant result and the highlight of our race so far.

Now recovering in Albany; We have met up with Dave Griffin again who is recovering from his injury but the worst news is that we are going to lose round the World crew member Mick from the boat, he tore ligaments in his knee, not only is he a great guy, he is a very experienced member of the team. He will have to have an operation on it, I do hope he is able to return to the boat later.

So far I have spent a lot of time repairing sails again, the locals have been very kind to us all, along with driving me around town to get things, putting on BBQs and music festivals. Yesterday a few of us were all given surfing lessons which was great fun. On this trip I have been lucky to see Sugar Loaf Mountain and Table Mountain, but Albany has Dog Rock!                                               

           Thank you for all your kindness Amazing Albany!

Records will be broken....and pulpits!

The end of leg 3 is drawing near, with only around 500 nautical miles to go. The last few days have been relatively calm compared to earlier on in the race, but it has still brought us numerous challenges that have clearly made us stronger as a team. One of the tag lines of this race is that 'Records will be broken'. On Mission Performance it's not just records we have been breaking! Flying 'Bwian' has proven difficult, he has been hoisted up a lot over the past week, but quite a few times something has gone wrong. The other morning, he was hoisted and around an hour later the tack line that attaches the bottom corner of the kite to the boat broke due to chafe, this has also happened twice before. In the afternoon we hoisted him again and within 10 minutes the halyard that attaches the top of the kite to the mast snapped, 'Bwian' ended up trailing behind in the water. However within 5 minutes we had pulled him out safely without any damage. We have now decided that 'Bwian' is trying to tell us something and today we have been very wary about hoisting him. From these incidents though, it has been clear that we are definitely a more efficient team in how we all acted calmly in getting the kite out of the water and safely below deck. Another record for us is that the pulpit, which is the barrier at the front of the boat, has broken! This is the 3rd time (once on each leg) so in Albany we will be spending time fixing this. 'Thor' our code 3 kite has also proven difficult to mend, so when I get into Albany I will be spending a lot of time repairing him.

In terms of achieving the goals we had set for the race, this has been good; We do four day challenges of setting mileage targets and trying to reduce the miles between ourselves and the leaders. We have done really well to get to where we are after making the diversion to Port Elizabeth, now we are desperately trying to hold our position. This has definitely  been the toughest race so far for me. I feel the extreme conditions and amount of physical work involved has forced us all to bond quicker and better as a team. We have seen 85 knots of wind, 8-10 metre waves, kites ripping in the water, one of our life rafts exploding on deck and lines shredding. Now I am looking forward to arriving in to 'Amazing Albany' and then prepare for the next race!

Hurricane time

I can now say I have sailed through a hurricane! When we set out on this leg we were told that the Southern and Pacific Oceans were where we were going to see the big challenging seas and yesterday we saw the 'worst' or the 'best' of this. The forecast was for 40 knots of wind, but by lunch time it was double that; hurricane force winds gusting to over 100 mph. We had reduced our mainsail to its smallest size and reduced our head sail to a storm jib. I was at the helm with 6 metre waves coming from the side, right over the boat, this could have easily thrown us off course and several times I had to shout for help to holdfast the wheel, It was all like a scene from a movie, very exciting and a day I will remember for the rest of my life!

Now, the weather is a lot calmer, on every watch we are working really hard to change sails or put in reefs etc. Physically and mentally we are pretty exhausted, our watches are small, sometimes there are only 4 or 5 of us on deck with a lot of jobs to be done. Additionally it has been getting very cold and it doesn't help with some of the wet clothing I have to wear as I have nothing else dry! But at least the end of every watch I can look forward to getting into my massive Gauss sleeping bag for a few hours and that keeps me warm! Morale is still high on board, we have done really well to get up to 7th place and our mindset is on shedding off more miles from the leaders. Matt continuously keeps us updated on positions so it is always in our mind where we are in relation to the rest of the fleet which helps us keep focused and have successful and safe watches!

Although this leg has been incredibly tough, I have realised the importance of 'controlling the controllable' and staying up beat, even though we are all tired, cold and wet, it's all you can do in these conditions!

11/11/11

Even though we are experiencing challenging conditions in the Southern Ocean; strong 30-40 knot winds and big waves, time was still spent today in silence to remember those who have been killed in war. For many of us on board we were in one way or another connected to someone who had been killed in war or affected by it, and having those few minutes to commemorate them after the busy and challenging week we have been having has been very moving. My own thoughts went out to the family of Private Thomas Wroe from Yorkshire, who was 18 (younger than me)  when he was killed in Afghanistan in 2012. Before I set out on this challenge I had an interview with my local BBC TV News station and a piece was broadcast about him before I went on air. Seeing that and my position now, really shows me how fortunate I am. After the silence I read the poem        'In Flanders Field' by John McCrae;      ( In Flanders Field )  a poem I have known well for around 10 years and it has always been moving. It was a reminder that no matter what the circumstances are, remembering is always important. It also in a strange way reminded me of past Remembrance Days at home and school.

Life still continues as normal on Mission Performance. The boat has really been handling the conditions well and we have been getting some great speeds. We are around 50nm behind the next boat and have roughly 3000nm to gain ground on the rest of the fleet. Unfortunately the other night we had some issues when we were changing from Bwian (code 2) to Thor (code 3), Thor ended up in the water, dragging behind the boat and eventually ripping, Bwian also sustained some small damage. Overall repairs may take around 3 days, so again I'll be spending some time below deck repairing. Hopefully our sewing machine will hold out! In other news; on wildlife watch, we have seen a lot of Albatrosses and a few days ago saw some whales. It has also been getting colder as we are now into the Roaring Forties, and again the weather is predicting up to 50 knots of wind and 8-10m waves, so exciting times ahead!

Coast Guard rescue for Dave

Ian Gray, NSRI Port Elizabeth station commander, said: “At 16h00 (Thursday, 07th November) NSRI Port Elizabeth crew launched to rendezvous with the Clipper Yacht Race yacht MISSION PERFORMANCE to casualty evacuate injured sailor David Griffin (aged 40) from Australia, reported to have suffered an injury to his calf after being hit by a wave yesterday while working on the bow of the yacht in rough sea conditions.
“The yacht, sailing on the yacht race leg from Cape Town to Australia had initially called MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) for assistance yesterday when they were 270 nautical miles off-shore of South Africa’s East coast and the skipper of MISSION PERFORMANCE opted to change course and set sail to Port Elizabeth where NSRI Port Elizabeth were tasked to rendezvous with the yacht on her arrival to casualty evacuate the injured sailor.
“We launched our sea rescue craft EIKOS RESCUER IV just after 16h00 and on arrival, just outside the Port of Port Elizabeth, the injured sailor was transferred onto our sea rescue craft and brought to shore where a Guardmed ambulance has transported him to hospital in a stable condition.
“David Griffin appeared to be a bit uncomfortable when we arrived at the yacht but he was in good spirits. The yacht has continued on her voyage to Australia.

Poor Dave

What a 24 hours it has been for Mission Performance, already the Southern Ocean has given us an idea of how important safety is on board! Unfortunately, one of our new leg 3 crew members, Dave, was injured yesterday morning, seriously enough that he had to leave the boat as soon as possible.

The race start from Cape Town was exciting, with us and Jamaica Get All Right making the decision to take the route in the shadow of Table Mountain where there is a notorious wind hole, while the rest of the fleet went all the way round the wind hole and after a few hours we came out near the front of the fleet. The next day the sea state was becoming rough and wind strength was increasing meaning we had to change from our Yankee 2 to our Yankee 3, I had already been swept across the deck twice by large waves but fortunately I was clipped on, a few of us were positioned on the foredeck with Dave on the bow of the boat preparing to take off the hanks of the sail, as he was positioning himself a large wave came over the bow and pushed his calve on to a metal cleat (a horizontal fixing on the boat where you tie lines off) which went straight through his leg. Making his way to the back of the boat it became clear it was quite a serious injury by the amount of blood coming from his trousers. Below deck, Bee, our medic on board, and Matt assessed the injury and it was decided that we had to change our course and sail to Port Elizabeth where Dave would get off.

Towards the afternoon the sea state got rougher, with around 5-6 metre high waves and gusts of wind reaching up to 58 knots! Not many of us had experienced weather like this so at times it was quite scary, especially when it was dark and we couldn't see the waves coming. However, we made it safely to the bay near Port Elizabeth this afternoon where we met a sea rescue rib with 5 rescuers, one of them climbed on board and then helped Dave into the rib. It was very sad saying goodbye to Dave and even though we had only been sailing with him for a few days he was already a key member of our team. For now we have decided that even though we have lost a lot of ground over the past 24 hours, we will try to be as safe as possible but try to push the boat as hard as we can in the hope we can make up the ground lost and say at least we crossed the Southern Ocean.

Kaapstad (the Mother City)

Having been held up in a wind hole our arrival in Cape Town (called Kaapstad in Afrikaans) had to wait until Monday (28th) lunchtime. We came in past Robben Island where Nelson Mandela had been held prisoner for many years during the time of Apartheid, Rob Lewis was on the quayside from Mission Performance with the cold drinks along with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and all the other crews and spectators, so I am sure we got the biggest welcome for all our bad luck with the kites, also there was my dad who had just come from the airport, so being in late allowed him to see us arrive which was great! After clearing immigration and a bit of lunch it was straight down to deep cleaning the boat in the afternoon, then going out that evening to a local bar for a meal and swap stories with the other boat crews about the excitements we all had on the last leg, then I went to a hotel for my own deep clean and bed! 

The next day we had to get our two biggest kites Bwian and Bruce on to the quay and give them a thorough check over, although our sewing machine had broken on the race our hand stitching had held up well but I needed to reinforce these areas with more machine stitching so that took most of the day. Also my cousin Margret who lives in Cape Town came to say hello and see the boats.

My Dad took Me, Jim and Martin on a day trip to the Constantia wine area on the other side of Table mountain, we went to Constantia Uitsig winery and did a wine tasting before going on to Simon's town to see the South African naval base and a colony of penguins at Boulders beach, after that a trip into a Township which was really interesting and we then drove along a coastal road called Chapmans Peak which was spectacular, before coming back via Hout Bay to Cape Town. In the evening there was a prize giving party followed by a fantastic cocktail dinner party put on by the Rickerty Bridge wine company.

On Friday we went to Stellenbosch  about 30 miles from Cape Town and met up for lunch with Rob and Mick before driving through the Bains Kloof Pass (seeing some great scenery and wild baboons on the road side) and onto stay in Franschhoek. On the Saturday morning I walked round the local markets and visited a museum about the Huguenots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenots_in_South_Africa , then more wine tasting at the nearby Rickerty Bridge Wine Estate! When we eventually got back to Cape Town  there was just enough time for a quick sightseeing bus tour, a trip up Table Mountain to get some great views of the Cape and then finish off some last minute jobs on the boat, before an early night.

Up early, it's off to the dock to clear customs and slip lines for a parade of sail in Table Bay before heading off towards Australia and getting to know our new crew members, Alan, Dave, Chris, Maud and Joe, I think this leg is going to be tough with lots of fast surfing along the way and with a bit of luck a good result!

New Team Members

New Friends

Race Start

Two kites in two nights

It has finally happened..... one of our kites, 'Bruce', has had to under go major surgery. In the early hours of Monday morning, although making good progress, helming conditions became very difficult. We were sailing on a beam reach and crash gybed (where the wind catches the sails on the wrong side, forcing them to violently swing over across the boat), although we had lines rigged to stop the sails fully swinging over, the boat needed to be steered to the correct course, however we were then too close to the wind causing Bruce to collapse and flap, at that point I heard a loud snap and the sail suddenly streamed behind the boat in to the water. At the time I was holding the line that trims Bruce and thought that had snapped. We quickly pulled the sail out of the water and I climbed out on to the bow sprit (the pole at the front of the boat) to detach the tack which was holding the sail at the bottom. We got it below deck and after assessing the damage it was clear it was going to be a big job to mend. Straight away a team of 4 of us set up an area in the saloon where we could do the repairs, the head (which is at the top of the sail) had ripped off and then split down either side, Bruce is roughly the size of a tennis court. We set up the sewing machine and stuck patches over the tears, and then began to sew round the patches, unfortunately the machine broke, meaning all 4 of us had to sew by hand around 30m of sail. Working in watch systems and through the night this job has taken us around 40 hours and Bruce is now finally flying again today! A very proud moment for us all; However the tasks are not finished yet as the night after Bruce ripped, Bwian was also damaged, so tomorrow morning (after I have caught up on my sleep) will be spent repairing him, not a huge job but perhaps a tricky one! So I have been pretty much out of all the action on deck for the past 2 days. With the two Kites out of commission the gap between us and the leading group has increased as we have not been able to fly the right sails for the wind conditions. What has been clear is that under difficult circumstances the whole team has managed the situation well and when there have been times of chaos and jobs needing to be done quickly, Matt has been calm and made sure we have worked as a team and understood what needs to be done.

Only a few more days till we get to Cape Town now, we have had such varied conditions on this leg, from cold nights and sunny days, to big waves and strong wind, then little wind!

It's a Marathon Race

As I write this, we are exactly half way in our race across the South Atlantic Ocean and about 200 miles south west of Tristan da Cunha, the remotest inhabited island in the World. Conditions are getting cooler as we cross the 40* south latitude (the Roaring Forties), so on my last night watch I had seven layers of clothes on! The hope is then the wind will pull us up to Cape Town, where at this rate we should have a good long stopover. There is a great vibe on the boat as Skipper Matt is pleased with our progress in relation to his plans, the next few days however will be vital, we need to take advantage of the wind that sees us sailing on a broad reach, steering the boat as best we can and constantly trimming Bruce (our biggest kite) to the point just before he collapses, then we ease the line out when one side of the sail starts to curl, before grinding it in again to catch the wind (in the same way you tug on a toy kite to catch the wind).

Yesterday we were joined by a pod of dolphins which was especially good for the new members of crew to see and we are all on Albatross watch, whom I gather have huge wing spans.

The food on board has been great despite biscuits having to be rationed out! The night before last Neil and Peter made an amazing beef stew with mashed potato and yesterday Kate and I were mothers, serving chorizo sausage, onion and cheese in home made bread rolls for lunch and chilli con carne in the evening, now everyone has recovered from their sea sickness they are able to eat more and luckily we have custard left over from leg 1, so I'm always happy with the puddings! 

Finally, all on Team Mission Performance send best wishes to Stewart Hymas and Principal Julie Lodrick from The Mount school who are both competing in The York Marathon later today! 

Captain Birdseye

It was an amazing sight racing out of Rio de Janeiro and even more incredible when I was hoisted to the top of the mast and had a birds eye view of Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain and all of Rio. After a great sailing start it became clear that conditions for leg 2 were going to be very different from those on Leg 1. The first evening we were sailing close to the wind with quite large waves, wind speeds have been higher than before with it sometimes getting to over 30 knots. All of this has made it hard for the crew who have just joined us, out of the nine people on my watch only myself and one other have not been seasick, which makes things difficult when we need to put reefs in etc. The ill crew have helped out as much as they can, even though I am sure they only want to sleep and recover, but over the next 24 hours they will start to get their sea legs! 

This race will be very exciting for me as I have been given the role of assistant watch leader, this involves assisting Neil our watch leader through sail changes, reefing, making sure we are steering the best course and generally racing the boat while Matt is not on deck, it's going to be a huge learning curve for me as I have never had to lead a group of people before (except at pony club camp)!  It is a task I am really looking forward to. 

What also makes this leg different is that while I am learning, we are teaching the new crew members how the boat runs and how to race her well, there is a new atmosphere on board and we seem to be starting a new cycle again of getting to know each other, which makes the long watches more interesting. It's also now that I realise how much I miss those crew who have left and that Leg 1 was a fantastic experience where I have made some great friends. 

Now we are in 7th place and conditions are still testing, we are getting an average speed of 11 knots, which is good and soon we shall be sailing down wind where we can go even faster and life below deck will be a lot easier on that point of sail.

When at sea I only have access to emails that come about 4 times a day via a special satellite system,  so when I was in Rio it was great to catch up with all the messages on my other email, twitter and facebook accounts, thank you! 

Thanks also to: Roy and Joyce. Jeannie. Christopher and Jill. Sue, Daniel and Family. Robert. Colin, Jane, Tom and Olivia. Jack and Jo. Susie and Priscilla. Kirsty. Paul. Wendy. Helen, Dan, Ben, Josh and Eva. A Gokhan, who have donated to The Contented Dementia Trust, along with help from Ripon Racecourse and special mention to John of Upminster, for the great comments on my Blogs!

Finally, I have set up SeaPupPost, here fellow crew member Rob sends a big hello to Pat Carruthers! and if you think we didn't have any free time in Rio; Here is a picture of us enjoying the view from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain!

Al, Me and Rob

Done Rio!

Well we made it to Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday night, with my Auntie Susie, Dad, Mission Performance support team and many others to welcome us in through the darkness to the Gloria Marina for the first of many cool drinks. We had some good fast sailing for the last day which was a great way to finish the race.

After a good uninterrupted nights sleep, the following day was spent doing a deep clean of the boat and taking stock of what food was needed for the next leg to Cape Town, with an estimated time of 18 days to get there, 11 days less than our last leg (but of course these things can change as King Neptune has been very keen to tell us already!). Having loaded the boat back up I then was able to have a couple of nights in a hotel (fantastic, bed, shower and breakfast; the simple things you miss are amazing).

On Friday there were a few minor repairs to the sails to be done but otherwise there wasn't much damage to the boat, this was followed by a race crew briefing telling us what to expect in the next leg , fast and furious seems to be on the agenda, so that will be fun! Then time to see Rio, I caught a taxi with Alan, Rob and my Dad as guide to Sugarloaf Mountain and up the cable car for some great views with Corcovado looking down over the city, another taxi to the famous Copacabana beach before catching a metro train back to the boat. In the evening the whole crew went out for a super meal (salad, fresh meat and, fruit, more things that you really miss), I got to meet a very nice guy called Martin who is a farmer from Essex and enjoys hunting and horses so we will have lots to talk about as he is racing to Cape Town with us.

So it is off to the boat now, race start is in 4 hours and I have to buy some biscuits to hide on board, watch out next week for some interviews I did for Look North and Radio York when in port.

We are ready to race and get to Cape Town first, so to you all I say...........  #HoldFast,    here We come!

Whale watch

The adventures of my first leg from London to Rio are coming to an end as we hope to arrive there in the early hours of Wednesday. We have been tested in many different ways and experienced many weather conditions but all the time have worked as a team racing the boat, led by Matt and supported by our sponsors; Mission Performance.

The past 24 hours have been interesting; for a few days we have been expecting to hit a big weather front spread across from South Africa to South America, and yesterday morning the consistent wind of around 10 knots died to zero knots in minutes and then kept changing direction, this was the sign that we were approaching the new front so the boat was prepared by getting smaller and stronger sails ready to hoist if needed. A few hours after the wind shift we sailed into the rain and 25 knots of wind, with choppy waters, life below decks became difficult to get around but on deck it has been very exciting; jobs are harder to do and take longer but in return are fun. Kate and I went up on the bow to retrieve a line and returned completely drenched; waves constantly crashing over the bow, we were clipped on and held on with one hand while working with the other, trying not to get washed over board! It is very easy to say that this is better than any roller coaster I have been on! The other crew members had a laugh watching us struggle and get very wet, They will have their turn one day!

In other news we have been on whale watch, at the moment it is whale migration season and this morning we saw around 20 whales over the space of 5 hours, it is incredible watching them fluke and breach, but it became a bit scary when two were only 20 metres away, and at one point we had to change our course, this can be easily done during the day, but at night you can't see them! 4,500 miles done and only 300 miles away from Rio, we are looking forward to turning the boat around to be ready for the next leg, seeing a bit of the City and welcoming our new crew members on board! .

Pollywog to Shellback

So on 1st October at 16:08 UTC Team Mission Performance crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. Of our 20 crew members (including Matt) none had crossed the Equator under sail before apart from one (Ed), so we were known as Pollywogs! Yesterday lunch time we had a ceremony with King Neptune, to pay him respect and to see if we were to be accepted into the Southern Hemisphere, a traditional act amongst sailors! I have heard of previous stories from past races of what they do to the crew members, so that morning I put on clothes I was prepared to throw away. The entire team assembled on to the deck, King Neptune appeared and declared a ceremonial statement and then one by one we were each called to kneel at his feet to receive a flogging, then have old porridge, dirty sink water and what ever else could found poured over us, following this we were made to kiss a dead flying fish (which had landed on the deck the previous night) attached to King Neptune's Staff! Unfortunately for Matt he was flogged by the entire crew and had most of the bucket of porridge tipped over him! Afterwards, we got the fire hose out and had a good rinse in sea water so we didn't smell as bad! Now I am a Shellback, and in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.

At the moment we are in the middle of the Ocean sprint between 5 degrees south and 10 degrees south, there is a chance to gain 2 extra points if we are fastest between these two marks, so we are pushing the boat really hard; as we are sailing close to the wind the boat is constantly at an angle so when I am off watch I sleep on the floor on the high side as any extra weight there can make her go that little bit faster, we also check the trim of the sails every 10 minutes to get the maximum speed. In the past 24 hours we have done 250 nautical miles compared to around 40+nm a day in the Doldrums (1 mile=1.1 nautical mile approx.)! This is great and at this rate we hope to be in Rio by the 7th. We also saw land for the first time yesterday since departing Brest, leaving us all very excited for what Rio de Janeiro is going to be like. 

Tinned fruit and custard

Day 22 and we are out of the Doldrums.... I hope! Between 3 and 5 days was the estimated length of time we were meant to spend in them but instead we have spent over 10. It has been so frustrating watching our position slip down the leader board, however Matt is a great leader and has kept motivating us in our daily briefings to push the boat and try to get the best out of her in the little wind we had been given, sometimes we could do nothing as we sat for hours on end doing zero knots! The team has been looking forward to getting into the Trade winds and yesterday they came and they are still here today so we have been beating upwind averaging around 7 knots, which is good.

Life on board has been very difficult with the extreme heat, but we have all been able to have some fun as well; I have discovered a new love for tinned fruit and custard, so now when ever there is any left over everyone knows who to give it to! Last night Hannah made chocolate brownies for everyone and even if I hadn't spent 22 days on a boat, I would still say they were the best'est I have ever tasted.

I went up the mast the other day to reattach a slider that connects the main sail to the mast track, being winched up by Ed and Chris (repeatedly being told I need to cut out on the custard), I had to go up and down a few times as I dropped the slider down to the one 2 metres below, I got the job done in the end but they were not very happy, haha! At least it gave them a bit more exercise!

With only around one more week before we get to Rio, I will be saying goodbye to a few folk who I've got to know well over the past month, including Hannah; chief baker and a great friend, Alan; my mother buddy, Ross; my singing partner who is always cheerful and Will; who always has me laughing! I hope I stay in touch with all of them in the future, we also say short goodbyes to; David, Andy, Katherine and Mark who will rejoining the boat family on later legs which is great.

So now we are only hours from the Equator, Hannah and I have been making Neptune's costume for tomorrows crossing into the Southern Hemisphere, more about this in my next blog.