So after an emotional departure from San Francisco we headed out to Yosemite National Park, about a 4 hour drive. We found the visitor information and got some tips of where to go, then drove through the park to our B&B on the other side. The B&B was a real hippy-ish place and the buildings were all painted purple and orange! It was really cool!
We got up early on the first day and headed back into the park. Aparently we timed it just right because earlier in the year teh park is snow-bound and the trails aren't open, and later in the year it all dries up and becomes scorching. We did a good hike with millions of switch-backs up to the middle of the Yosemite Falls which were in full flow and stunning. The sheer size of the valley walls and the steepness are what really blows you away. On the second day, we went up to the quieter end of the valley and walked upto mirrow lake where you can sea the mountains and scenery reflected in the still waters. Its a really peaceful place to be and makes the valley seem twice as tall. Me and Dad aslo did a 'Ranger Stroll' in the afternoon and learnt all about the glacial geology - woopwoop!
We then flew from there down to Las Vegas to get at the other National Parks we were planning to visit. The airoplane must have seated about 20 people and has propellas on the wings - it looked more like a lego toy! We spent one night in Vegas on the strip in the Flamingo Hotel, which is the oldest casino. I didn't really leave the room and went to bed early in our maaarr hoosive room! Vegas isnt really my scene!
We then headed out towards the Grand Conyon and stopped off at the Hoover Dam. Again, like everything else in America the dam is soopersized. Someting like 400ft across at the bottom and 450 feet tall, it took five years to build, and holds back stupid amounts of water from teh Colorado River to stop it flooding in winter and the drought in summer. We did the tour round the inside of the dam which was really cool, we saw the hydroelectric generators and walked round the observation tunnels where the egineers have marked all the cracks! Nothing to worry about though!
From there we headed out to the Grand Canyon. It was too late to go into the Park when we got there so we found our motel and caught up on some sleep. In the morning we got up early and booked ourselves onto a tour run by the National Goegraphic. The guide was called Jason, or 'Tank', had long hair in a ponytail and liked to drive the bus with no hands. There were only 7 of us on the tour so we really got the most out it. Also, Tank knows all the really cool spots and told us loads about the plant life and wildlife aswell as the Geogrophy and Geology. The Canyon is a real spectacular site, and everyplace you stop at you see it differently. Climbing right out to the edge and dangling your feet over the 2000ft drop is a real thrill! One that Mum refused to even try! Unfortuantly in the afternoon it decided to snow so we couldn't see anything as the clouds were in the Canyon and on top of it, so we headed home and planned our journey to Bryce.
Its important to remember that most of these places are all in the middle of the Sierra Nevada and the Navada Desert. So even though its cold and snowy at the moment, there is very little water in most places and the freeway cuts across some of the hottest and freakiest looking places on earth!
We stayed just outside Bryce Canyon National Park at a B&B caleld Buffalo Sage, run by a lovely lady called Alice. She makes waffles for breakfast. Enough Said. We only had one full day so we made the most of it. Bryce Canyon isn't really a Canyon its just named after a section of it. Its more like cliff face which has been eroded into wierd spits, stacks, collumns and arches which look like soldiers stood to attention. And they are all made out of a bright red limestone that really stands out from the reast of the scenery. We got up early and did a hike which went down into the canyon and weaved in and out of the collumns which are called Hoodoos. Getting up close and personal with them is so much better than seeing them from on top. After a minor detour up a section of trail that we thought was the right way and turned out to be a dead-end at teh top of a very steep and crumbly path, we finally made it back to the car. We spent the afternoon doing the scenic drive and stopping at all the 'vistas'. The sheer number of Hoodoos and the vidvidness of their colours makes Bryce my favourite stop on our tour!
Our suposed last stop was Zion National Park. Its much smaller than the others but is still stunning. The Canyon is sandstone whihc has been eroded by the River which runs through it. We did a gentle hike up to small water falls which fall in three stages and have 'Emerald Pools' at the bottom of each step. We then walked up to the end of the valley where the walls of teh canyon become really narrow and the hike any further you have to go through the river! Dad was well up for it but unfortuantely the trail was closed as the spring floods were in full flow.
All four national parks we visited are completely different to each other and the diversity amazed all of us. Even within each park you can see different levels of development and different plantlife and wildlife. Also, I never really appreciated how huge America was before now. If I was going to sail across it would probably take about 4 weeks! And now we are still stuck in Las Vegas waiting to be told when we can fly home. The boats will be leaving tomorrow evening at 6pm thier time and heading off to the tropics (Jamaica leading of course) whilst we wander around watching all the free stuff and trying not to be conned into loosing fortunes! Unfortunately we have to eat but my tan is getting back to buisness! Have that, Pacific Ocean! xxx
Monday, 19 April 2010
Friday, 16 April 2010
Stranded!!
As I’m sure you have all heard, a volcano has erupted on Iceland leaving a large ash cloud over the UK and Europe, meaning that all flights to and from home have been cancelled. The next possible flight for us to catch home is on the 22nd so we will be back in the UK sometime on the 23rd. This means we have almost a whole weeks extra holiday but not very much to do! Dad is busy trying to sort out hotels, flights, trains etc, whilst Mum is making use of the hotel’s ‘Laundromat’. I’ve decided the best way to spend my time right now is to fill you in what’s been going on.
So, going back in time to what seems like forever ago now, finishing the race! As we went on watch at 4am we saw the mileage to the finish was creeping down. If we keep up good speeds, we thought, we might just make the finish as the watch changes! As it turned out we made it with 30mins to spare. With just 3miles to go, watch leader Matt asks if I want to take the helm! Hell yes! The countdown was exciting and a slightly confused sea made the steering a bit tricky, plus I was being distracted by the other watch constantly asking how have through mouth fulls of bread (still no toaster!) and porridge! Crossing the line was a bit of an anti climax as the waypoint on the GPS didn’t agree with the waypoint on the Seapro so missed the real finish and had to check with Skip and Charles in the Nav Station to make sure we had crossed the line! Still an amazing feeling to know that we’d made it over 6,000 miles across the North Pacific in winter and finally achieved our goal – with another podium as well!
Arriving in San Francisco and entering under the golden gate bridge was a really surreal experience. The weather was so damp and miserable that we couldn’t see it until we were about a mile away! As it slowly loomed out of the mist the size of it blew us away. It made our little boat seem even smaller! Once under the bridge we were met as usual by the media boat with Austin (maintenance) driving, Ian and Carey (media) taking photos and filming, and Joff (race director) doing his usual VHF thing and looking important. We were asked to raise some more sail and head back out towards sea please… WHAT?! Just a ‘quick’ photo shoot later we were rushing into the Marina to catch the customs people before they went home, we would have stuck on the boat otherwise! Lots of people’s family and friends turned up to great them in, but my rents were nowhere to be seen! There excuse was they thought we were in already so there was point in rushing to see us in! However, just half an hour after we landed they were there and there were more than a few tears – most of them from the male rent!
Once I’d been to the hotel, had a shower, put some real clothes on etc it was the usual port drill. Two and two half days boat work, crew meal and prize-giving. In between all this we managed to cycle over the Golden Gate bridge and back which was cool, do some shopping (shocked faces!), and ride the trams and eat at Pier 23. Prize-giving was at the yacht club on our last night there before heading out, with a guest appearance from the American Coastguard who helped with the California rescue. It was quite emotional as I said goodbye to all of my amazing team mates and all our friends of the other boats – especially as it was the first time I’d seen Melissa and Chris off California since waving at them across the water. But all good things must come to end and this has been the best. Ever!
The boats have been delayed departing and are due to leave on the 19/20th April depending on whether Finland will make it in or not. They’re still out there soldiering on! I hope you make it guys! xxx
So, going back in time to what seems like forever ago now, finishing the race! As we went on watch at 4am we saw the mileage to the finish was creeping down. If we keep up good speeds, we thought, we might just make the finish as the watch changes! As it turned out we made it with 30mins to spare. With just 3miles to go, watch leader Matt asks if I want to take the helm! Hell yes! The countdown was exciting and a slightly confused sea made the steering a bit tricky, plus I was being distracted by the other watch constantly asking how have through mouth fulls of bread (still no toaster!) and porridge! Crossing the line was a bit of an anti climax as the waypoint on the GPS didn’t agree with the waypoint on the Seapro so missed the real finish and had to check with Skip and Charles in the Nav Station to make sure we had crossed the line! Still an amazing feeling to know that we’d made it over 6,000 miles across the North Pacific in winter and finally achieved our goal – with another podium as well!
Arriving in San Francisco and entering under the golden gate bridge was a really surreal experience. The weather was so damp and miserable that we couldn’t see it until we were about a mile away! As it slowly loomed out of the mist the size of it blew us away. It made our little boat seem even smaller! Once under the bridge we were met as usual by the media boat with Austin (maintenance) driving, Ian and Carey (media) taking photos and filming, and Joff (race director) doing his usual VHF thing and looking important. We were asked to raise some more sail and head back out towards sea please… WHAT?! Just a ‘quick’ photo shoot later we were rushing into the Marina to catch the customs people before they went home, we would have stuck on the boat otherwise! Lots of people’s family and friends turned up to great them in, but my rents were nowhere to be seen! There excuse was they thought we were in already so there was point in rushing to see us in! However, just half an hour after we landed they were there and there were more than a few tears – most of them from the male rent!
Once I’d been to the hotel, had a shower, put some real clothes on etc it was the usual port drill. Two and two half days boat work, crew meal and prize-giving. In between all this we managed to cycle over the Golden Gate bridge and back which was cool, do some shopping (shocked faces!), and ride the trams and eat at Pier 23. Prize-giving was at the yacht club on our last night there before heading out, with a guest appearance from the American Coastguard who helped with the California rescue. It was quite emotional as I said goodbye to all of my amazing team mates and all our friends of the other boats – especially as it was the first time I’d seen Melissa and Chris off California since waving at them across the water. But all good things must come to end and this has been the best. Ever!
The boats have been delayed departing and are due to leave on the 19/20th April depending on whether Finland will make it in or not. They’re still out there soldiering on! I hope you make it guys! xxx
Arriving under golden gate!
On the pontoon
Celebrating at prize-giving at the Gloden Gate Yacht Club
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Home and dry!
Friday 2/4/10
Dear All,
Lily safely arrived in San Francisco lunchtime today.
3rd over the line but 2nd after redress applied. 4 podium finishes out of 4. What a star!
News and blog update will be posted in a couple of days.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
All Hands on Deck
Wednesday 31/3/10
Position: 037degs 048' 31N 130degs 21' 67W
Boat time: 11:30hrs
Just as I had finally nodded off about 12.30 yesterday lunchtime, Lindsey came running through the accomodation calling 'All hands on deck!' It took a few minutes for what she was saying to register through the sleep, but when it did, I was up, trousers, boots, lifejacket, deck, go,go, go! We had been cruising along all morning making good speeds with the 1st. reef and poled out Yankee 3 when a random side wave rolled the boat over onto the leeward side. The inboard end of the pole gave instantly and wedged itself in the starboard rigging. When I got on deck, the yankee had been brought over to the right side of the boat and they were trying to bring it under control. We untangled the sheets, brought it in and dropped it. The next task was to untangle the pole from the rigging which Charles directed expertly, 'Ease this, take in on that!' and as if by magic the pole was returned to its housing on the deck, a little battered and slightly bent, but still in one piece!
This is only the second all hands we've had since the boat left Hull (worryingly, I have been on board for both!) and the team's reaction was fantastic! Pete was very impressed with the profesional way in which we all coped with the situation. Although at the time your heart is racing and you're trying to keep your breath under control, if anything the morale onboard has been boosted. The pacific has tried its best to knock us down but once again JLB has proved her worth!
My last mother watch is almost over and ther is less than 350mls to the finish! Today me and Bel are making burgers out of a tin for lunch which will be somewhat of a novelty! We had some interesting weather yesterday and as we were huddled into the far corner of the galley, we were still being pelted by hail coming horizontally through the hatch and stinging our ankles! Unfortunately our hatch flap is broken so there is nothing we could do! Would you like one hail or two with your tea?! This is the only Mother I have done on the whole race where I have not taken any stugeron and still survived - the irony really takes the biscuit!
Good speeds mean our ETA is getting sooner and sooner and it looks like we will be in, in the next 24hours! woopwoop!! xxxxxx
Position: 037degs 048' 31N 130degs 21' 67W
Boat time: 11:30hrs
Just as I had finally nodded off about 12.30 yesterday lunchtime, Lindsey came running through the accomodation calling 'All hands on deck!' It took a few minutes for what she was saying to register through the sleep, but when it did, I was up, trousers, boots, lifejacket, deck, go,go, go! We had been cruising along all morning making good speeds with the 1st. reef and poled out Yankee 3 when a random side wave rolled the boat over onto the leeward side. The inboard end of the pole gave instantly and wedged itself in the starboard rigging. When I got on deck, the yankee had been brought over to the right side of the boat and they were trying to bring it under control. We untangled the sheets, brought it in and dropped it. The next task was to untangle the pole from the rigging which Charles directed expertly, 'Ease this, take in on that!' and as if by magic the pole was returned to its housing on the deck, a little battered and slightly bent, but still in one piece!
This is only the second all hands we've had since the boat left Hull (worryingly, I have been on board for both!) and the team's reaction was fantastic! Pete was very impressed with the profesional way in which we all coped with the situation. Although at the time your heart is racing and you're trying to keep your breath under control, if anything the morale onboard has been boosted. The pacific has tried its best to knock us down but once again JLB has proved her worth!
My last mother watch is almost over and ther is less than 350mls to the finish! Today me and Bel are making burgers out of a tin for lunch which will be somewhat of a novelty! We had some interesting weather yesterday and as we were huddled into the far corner of the galley, we were still being pelted by hail coming horizontally through the hatch and stinging our ankles! Unfortunately our hatch flap is broken so there is nothing we could do! Would you like one hail or two with your tea?! This is the only Mother I have done on the whole race where I have not taken any stugeron and still survived - the irony really takes the biscuit!
Good speeds mean our ETA is getting sooner and sooner and it looks like we will be in, in the next 24hours! woopwoop!! xxxxxx
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