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.