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