Nearly There!

Jamaica racing through the Yellow Sea

Sent: Saturday 20th February 2010

Position: 034degs 36' 14N  121degs 59' 07E

Boat time: 06:30hrs

Less than 100 miles to go and its getting exciting! All the boats are very close and the tactics are really under pressure to pay off. Spirit of Australia is just a few miles ahead and we're trying our bestest to catch them in time! Only 12-ish hours left!

When we arrive in Qingdao the celebrations are expected to be huge! According to Greg, one of the maintenence team in port (and my new best friend after I made flapjacks in Batam on 'maintenence mother'), people treat you like heroes and celebrities! He wasn't even sailing on one of the boats last time round but had his Clipper branded clothes on and somebody just handed him a baby to have his picture taken with! Next thing he knew, there was a whole queue of babies waiting to have their picture taken with him! Apparently, each boat has 4000 drummers and dancers dressed in team colours and a massive firework display on arrival! But if we arrive in the night, for some reason we have to wait until morning to go in. It seems the dancers need to sleep which some of the crew members aren't too happy about but, personally, I think the wait will be worth it!

Its still very chilly and the layers are on. I'm currently wearing 3 base layer leggings (normal, marino wool and cotton) two base layer tops (normal and merino), a thin fleece, my lovely snuggly romper suit-type mid layer trousers, my fab new pink fleecey mid layer jacket, two pairs of socks (cotton and merino!), two hats, gloves and full foulies and I'm still chilly on deck! The problem is it's not really much warmer down below - especially in the crew accomodation. Luckily, I have sussed the layers of my sleeping bag and keeping on the bottom base layer is essential to stay snuggly!

Despite the layers, I appear to be coming down with a bit of a cold. I've got a headache, achey arms and legs, runny nose, sore eyes, and am slightly emotional and grumpy! All in all, it's probably good for everyone that we're nearly there! Looking forward to a couple of days in Beijing whilst in China with some of the crew members and the prize giving ceremony should be fantastic! It's broadcast on Chinese national television so be sure to you-tube it!

Hope England is a little warmer than it is here but I'm still jealous we've not had any snow yet! Fingers crossed we may get some soon - I'm determined to make a Snow Angel on the side deck! Keep your fingers crossed for another top finish position for Jamaica! xxx

Greetings from the East China Sea

Jamaica takes another wave in the China Sea

Sent:: 17th February 2010

Position: 027degs 57'55 N  123degs 05'13 E

Boat time: 11:05hrs

Hello from the East China Sea. And don't we know we've arrived! The last few days have been a roller coaster of big seas, heavy weather and wet evolutions! (sail changes) Not to mention the temperature plummeting rapidly and still on the decrease! Whoop! Whoop! It's been a little while since I last wrote as, for some time, we were having to use 2 keyboards as only half the letters on each one were working! Very, very tedious so it's been a bit quiet in the nav station.

Before the weather started, I managed to get a good few days of learning in. Charles has taught me how to use a sextant to get our position from the sun. I can 'bring the sun down' to the horizon and get a pretty accurate angle reading but the sums which follow afterwards are a little out my league! They will have to wait 'til I'm some where steady and not moving and where I've got several hours to waste! I can follow the gist but would be lost by myself - apparently we're in Kenya.......dohhh!

I've been helping out with a bit of the maintenance around the boat as well. I helped Matt fix the port-side heads (loo) the other day. We took it completely apart, replaced a couple of springs, put in a new rubber washer and put it back together again. It's not working quite perfectly but a lot better than it was! I also helped him replace the diaphragm on the grey water tank pump, too, which was a much simpler procedure just in a trickier place, especially as lunch was being prepared around us as we worked! Then, whilst on the maintenence spree, Skip showed me how to tension the steering cables, something that apparently needed doing quite badly!

The phosphoresence the last few nights has been incredible, possibly because the sea has been rough so the little phosphors have been very agitated! I was trying to work out if it would be possible to catch some and take it home but I dont think American customs (when I get off the boat in San Francisco) would be too impressed: "And whats that large jar of liquid you are carrying Miss?". "Oh, it's just some phosphoresence I caught in the China Sea!" Yeah, that would work!

I'm sure most of you will have heard about Team Finland losing the top section of their mast. Not entirely sure what caused it but everybody is safe with no injuries and they are in a Taiwanese port repairing it as we speak. It is expected that they will sail under jury rig (a sort of heath robinson thing cobbled together from what's left of the rig) and motor to Qingdoa but we don't know if they will be able to rejoin the race yet. However, the newsletter says they had a warm welcome and everybody is in good spirits, joining the local coastgaurds for a bit of karaoke!

We have suffered some minor damage, too, but nothing on a major scale. The other night we lost the top six hanks on the stay sail and ended up having to replace all of them before we could re-hoist. Also, this morning, just as we came on watch at 8am, the snap shackle at the top of the Yankee halyard snapped (thats the bit that holds the foresail up) and it came crashing to the deck. Luckily, we got hold of it before it went over board and we quickly swapped to the spare and re-hoisted.

After spending a couple of days with the minium amount of mainsail (3 reefs in) and the storm jib and stay sail, its a relief to finally have a more normal sail plan! 1 reef in the main, Yankee 3 foresail and stay sail. Some of the waves we've had have been crazy and I've found myself: being physically thrown into the bunk above me as the boat comes crashing down off the back of a wave; clinging to the inner stay trying to get the staysail down; swinging off the lazy sheet to allow it to come down; screaming "Yeehaaa!" as the next wave crashes over us and.....I woke up this morning to the sight of my breath condensing in the air above my face. It's getting very cold! Apparently, this is what we signed up for! But despite how horrific it sounds, I've still possibly had some of the best moments so far! xxx

PS. Thankyou for all the comments. Dad keeps passing them on. It's really great to know that everyone is still so interested and following the race so closely! We'll be getting those points again dont you worry!

Lily update

Dear followers of Lily's blog, I've been trying for several days to get word of Lily and finally got a message from her early this morning. They are in the China Sea and have been suffering severe weather and mountainous seas for the last few days. But she said all is well and they are pushing on for Quingdao. I will post blog in next day or so. Regards, Alan (Lily's Daddy)

Is there anybody out thereee! / The pros and cons of being at sea - Part 2

Sent: 10th February 2010

Position: 016degs 34' 65N 116degs 06' 48E

Boat time: 08:20hrs

Part 2! The pros and cons of life onboard!

Before joining the boat, whether as a round the worlder, a legger or a somewhere-in-betweener (like me!), everybody has thier own ideas of what they expect the boat to be like, how they expect to cope and how they will get on with people. They will also think they know what they want to get out of the race and what they will have acheived by the end of it. For the most part, these ideas are completely changed within the first few days on board. For me, here are some the unexpected things that I didn't necesarily expect......

The bad bit first!:

There is no privacy! Even in the heads (loo) people know what you're doing and hidden away in your bunk people can still see you and talk to you, and sometimes you just want to escape and have a bit of time to yourself;

There is also no escaping the smells of yourself and of other people. Fortunately, over time you build an immunity to the regular smells;

Sometimes - after a hard watch of racing, headsail changes, putting in and shaking out reefs, tough weather and hard work - all you want is a few minutes to catch your breath, relax and re-focus. However you know that when the conditions are like that, then the call for next task will be almost immediate whether it's to repack a sail, rehoist, tack, or any number of tasks, and you know it will keep going until your watch is finally over;

There is no respite from the weather extremes, whether hot or cold. We have fans in our bunks but even with them on when it is really hot they offer little comfort. With cold, after sitting on deck in freezing conditions for 4 hours, even getting into a fully lined ocean sleeping bag has little effect on your frozen toes! When your kit gets wet with salt water it will stay wet until you next get a chance to wash it in fresh water - sometimes not until you get to port - and finding shade from the sun is almost impossible, especially near Midday;

Mother watch! 24hours of being stuck below decks, hot and sweaty, cooking and cleaning for everybody and often feeling ill (although this time I survived a whole Mother with no hiccups or squiffy moments at all - progress!). You can only cook what you are told to cook and you only eat what your given;

Hygiene could be a lot better! Especially in the heads which often leak and, if one is broken, the other has to serve all 18 people onboard sometimes. Smells around the boat are really bad, and showers are few and far between;

Sleep is quite often hard because of conditions above and below deck e.g. too hot or cold, too rough, the other watch doing a noisey evolution (sail change). Also, when you are told to get up there is no snooze button. you have to get up no matter how tired you are and whatever the conditions. This is possibly one of the hardest bits for me being a teenager!

Being cut off from the outside world can sometimes leave you feeling out of touch with what is going on in the world.

And the good bits:

The team environment is fantastic and there is always somebody around if you need them. I expected to make friends but not as firmly and quickly as has happened;

Everybody onboard has found that it is easiest just to be yourelf completely and there is no pretence;

Keeping us going through the tough moments is the united competetitive spirit and the excitement of the race. There is nothing more satisfying than when the sched (scheduled reports from all the other boats) comes in and you see that we've taken miles out of all the other boats and we know our hard work has paid off;

When the weather is good it's fantastic. With warm sunshine and good breezes an excellent tan is just one of the side effects, one I have not experienced properly before;

Sunrise, sunset, starry nights, phosphoresence, shooting stars, wildlife and sounds of the ocean. Nothing will be able to replace these when I get home! My favourite time of day is from about an hour before dawn until the sun is about half way up. The colours of dawn are much more subtle and relaxing than sunset and the gentle, fresh sunlight on your face as it just appears over the horizon on a clear morning is one of the best feelings ever;

We have seen quite a lot of wildlife including dolphins, whales, tuna, flying fish and a variety of birds. When you see these animals you are always over come by a great sense of privilege that you have been lucky enough to see them in the wild;

Mother watch means you only have to cook and clean once a week and the rest of the time you have somebody else attending to your every need! Also, when you do Mother watch you are allowed your weekly shower!!!

No one cares if you wear the same t-shirt for a week because everybody does anyway;

Exactly half your time is dedicated to eating or sleeping so you can usually find time somewhere to catch up;

Being cut off from the internet, mobiles, cars, rush hour etc is really refreshing. Sometimes in port, you miss the peace and quiet of being on the boat;

On watch is never boring! whether you're chatting, playing games (eye-spy, the name game, I went to ... and I bought ...), enjoying the scenery, lots of tea, coffee, biscuits and chocolate, or whether learning skills from rope work to cooking to coping with life on board in general. There is always plenty going on.

And of course, the most important 'pro' of them all:

We are sailing round the world and nothing can beat that!

Thanks for all your comments on the blog. It's really nice to know you're all out there following our progress. Don't stop posting comments. Dad copies them all back to me and I can't tell you how nice it to hear from people and what a lift I get when I read the messages.

Things have been fairly quiet sailing wise since we left 'Singers' but I've a feeling it's about to change with some stronger NE winds setting in that mean big seas and a rough ride.

Keep an eye on the blog and do visit: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ for regular race updates. Lily x

Is there anybody out thereee! / The pros and cons of being at sea - Part 1

So this blog comes in two parts. I was going to write about the pros and cons of life at sea but that will now have to wait for the morning as I have compeltely lost all train thought! This is why...

Sent: 10th February 2010

Position: 015degs 42' 07 N  115degs 14'03 E

Boat time: 23:10hrs

Part 1 - Is there anybody out thereeeee!?!

Last night one of the spookiest things happened so far on the race. We were talking about haunted houses and such things and chatting away on the Midnight 'til 4am night watch, when a line of lights appeared on the water. We thought at first that they were far away and on the horizon but suddenly they were very close. We couldn't tell what they were - whether they were a line of lit bouys or small boats or what? Then one of the lights grew another light which started shining at us like a spotlight and seemed to be getting closer. We then got out our bigger spotlight and shined it at the lights to try and determine what it was. We saw a small boat coming towards us and we tried to intimidate it with our own spotlight. We couldn't get a much of a visual on the vessel but it stopped coming towards us at any rate and we passed by undisturbed.

Tonight we have seen more of these lights. They form in perfectly straight lines which makes us think that they are little Phillipino fishing boats. Even though the boats seem impossibly small to be 240 miles from land, they line themsleves up in absolutely dead straight lines and as you go past they all flash their torches to let you know they are there. it is one of the most surreal and beautiful sights to see strings of the boats all prefectly lined up in the pitch dark.

Tonight we passed about 30 metres from one as he didn't have his light on and only had a torch at the last minute. But it confirmed how small the boats are and we saw at least one person in it. Not a job I would like, that's for sure!

  

Read the next blog to get a feel for what's good and what's bad about living on board a thoroughbred racing yacht with 17 other people.

All aboard the good ship 'Jamaica'

Jamaica Lightning Bolt in light winds off Singapore

Sent: Saturday 6th February 2010

Position:

006degs 10' 99N   108degs 35' 33E

Boat time: 08:30hrs

All aboard the good ship 'Jamaica' for the time of your life! Watch the subtle dawns and gentle sunrises, stunning sunets and star-filled nights. Be gently rocked to sleep by little rollers. Chill out on deck during the day listening to your faviourite tunes as you take the helm and relax afterwards with an ice cold drink in the sun!.....Well almost, Pingu, the ice maker, is having a bit of a melt down (excuse the pun!) so ice is in short supply. But apart from that, the story so far pretty much fills this picture.

Occasionally, we have to stir our stumps and put in a quick tack. Sometimes four or five per watch - which can also disturb your sleep if you're off watch as you get rolled to the other side of your almost level bunk! - but then its straight back to relaxing. Thankfully, the weather is starting to cool off a little bit, especially at night, and I managed a full watch in bed without my bunk fan buzzing away in the backgroud. The days are still roasting but less humid than before so a bit more bearable.

The last few days have been an improvement for me as I have been much more involved in the sailing of the boat. Being given a chance in the snake pit (central workstation for all the halyards and other ropes) on the last race, and having passed my 'pit proficeincy test', means that I am now allowed to do more than hold sail ties during evolutions! (sail changes). My new watch leader, Matt, is very good at sharing the jobs around so we're not all doing the same thing all the time. I've spent lots of time on the helm, too, an hour yesterday morning and a stint on both night watches last night - in the dark! Things must be improving!

With the weather set to stay like this until we reach Taiwan, morale is high and everybody is enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere onboard. Like, 'Peace, Man', and keep reading dudes xxx

Singapore Slings and Calm Seas

Lily on radar watch

Sent: 3rd February 2010

Boat time: 22:10hrs

Position:

001degs 54' 71N (Yes, back in the Northern hemisphere heading for winter!)

106degs 49' 81E

So here we are back on the water. How time flies when we're having fun! Can't believe we were in port for almost as long as we were in Oz. 15 days in total. Singapore is an interesting place with lots going on. I wasn't a fan of the main commercial areas such as Orchard Road and Clarke Quay. Orchard Road must have at least 5 Armani shops, 7 Gucci and 12 Prada! as well as all the normal Topshop, River Island etc! There are shops on ground, above ground, behind ground, below ground, to the side of ground...... everywhere! Some people might like it but none of the shops seemed useful! I did eventually find what I was looking for (a mid-layer jacket) in one the malls nearer the marina.

If you are prepared to look around a bit, there are lots of other parts to Singapore which are fabulous! China Town is one of my favourite places ever! At night there is a street market with a whole road dedicated to food, which is the cheapest and yummiest place to eat ever! We ate there twice and and never spent more than 10 dollars - about £4 or £5! - and it's so much nicer than the big restaurants, too. The next best place to eat was Little India. When you step out of the tube station, the smell of spices hits you straight away! The market there is smaller but much more colourful. But my favourite part of Singapore, though, was definitely the Botanic Gardens. They're massive and each section is stunning. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go into the national orchid gardens but they are supposed to be the best display of orchids in the world.

Of course, whilst in Singapore, we went to Raffles. As a belated birthday treat, my very lovely crew treated me to a Singapore Sling in the long bar and afternoon tea in the tea room. The afternoon tea was definitely nicer than the Singapore Sling. Not really sure I'm a fan of the cherry liqueur they put in it!

Leaving 'Singers' was a great show. Cleared customs at 6am then a complimentary brekky buffet put on by the marina - choccy muffins, noodles, dragon fuit (my favourite!) and all sorts of other bits! We then met the ex-Prime Minister and walked down the pontoon as a team back to the boat as our boat songs played. When we slipped our berth, we headed out of the marina and had to cross the TSS (shipping lanes) before we could start. There was no wind at the planned start location so we moved further towards Nogsapura (where we stayed in Batam) and started there. It was hard on the wind for the start but, with so little of it, no-one moved very quickly over the line! We tacked all the way out of the Singapore Straits and into open water where we are still tacking as we try and make against the wind towards our next stop, Qingdao.

It should be upwind all the way to China but whether it is a welcome change is doubtful matter! At the moment we are enjoying nice gentle weather and flat seas. But, as we learnt on the last race, it can all change very quickly! The further north we go the weather will change from hot and steamy summer to cold and icy winter by the time we reach Qingdao. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, as we head up the China Sea, we will sail into stronger head winds from the north east and this, coupled with currents in the opposite direction, all makes for rough seas and a rough passsage! Hopefully, though, we won't see too much snow until we're on final approach for Qingdao. The last couple of days, maybe! Quingdao is about 2,500NM and it should take us about 3 weeks to get there.

In case you didn't know, Clipper have told us that Cork (who had to abandon their boat in the Java Sea during the race up to Singapore) are getting a replacement boat but it won't be available until May in Panama. So, until then, Cork crew have all been taken in by the other boats. The Cork thing was scary but one of the really nice things about this race is that, although we are competing against each other, actually, we are all one big family and we all look out for one another be it at sea or ashore! I first learnt the value of this ethic when I was at junior school in Dodleston. Education accepted, we were always encouraged to look out for and help the other children in the school. It's been with me ever since.

For now, it's night watch. The stars are out, the sails are nicely filled and I've got my shorts and t-shirt on! The last 3-hourly report in to the race office showed that, after a poor start, we had climbed into 5th place and eveybody is happy! COME ON, JAMAICA! xxx

PS. If you are reading my Blog, I'd love it if you posted a comment for me. I feel rather lonely when nobody puts any comments on. Love, Lily x

And, don't forget, you can follow the race in detail at: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/

Beautiful Batam!

On arrival in any port there is always loads of work to do on the boat. We start with the deep clean where everything is moved, cleaned and repacked, all the floorboards come out, all the cushions and mattresses are cleaned, all the sails are put on deck and the bilges are washed out too. This normally takes the full crew a full days work, and the next day we are all needed again for maintenance. This time I got the lucky job of being ‘maintenance mother’ and spent the day making teas, coffees and juice instead of playing with tools and bits of boat. Luckily I managed to keep myself entertained by making Lindsey’s birthday cake (with eggs begged from the omlette-chef at brekky!) and using up the last of the porridge oats, raisins and syrup to make flap-jack! My new best friends are now Jay and Greg the maintenance guys who work for clipper and help us with the bigger jobs! Apparently they got into trouble though for staying on Jamaica longer than they needed!

Chef at Tapanyaki restuarant for crew meal

After all the work is finished our time is our own and there are lots of things to do in Batam. The marina is part of a resorts which has two hotels on sites next to each other and both have beautiful pools and facilities. After a couple of days just relaxing by the pool, greeting the other boats as they came in, hearing the stories about Cork and getting back to normal, we decided to do some of the activities organised by the hotels. On my birthday we did a ‘cultural tour’ into the main town/city. It was about a 40 minute drive into the town where we abandoned by our driver, who spoke no English except to say he would be back in half an hour, next to a strange looking mini arena with a decorated dragon and some white elephants. This place was completely empty except for a small child who looked completely non-plussed by the site of us and continued to play with her kinder-egg toy. As we were wondering around and wondering what to do a couple of men dressed in khaki appeared and began to put on some kind of traditional costume and vaguely gestured for us to take a seat of the benches surrounding the arena. There then appeared a couple more people who started playing the drums and the men in costume began their traditional dancing. When this was done they disappeared behind the dragon and came back with some props – a tray of flaming coals, a large wine glass, and a burning ring. They then took it in turns to leap through the ring – which I doubt would have fitted round my middle – eat the wine glass and eat the burning coals. After finishing their meal the declared they had finished and gestured back to out bus where our driver was waiting for us. A very strange experience!

Dragon at the 'cultural experience'

cultural dancers

We were then taken to a shopping mall which looked the same as any other European shopping centre so we asked if he could take us to the town centre. He seemed to understand and dropped us off outside a large hotel. We wandered around for a few minutes and found some streets that looked quite busy. On further inspection I think we might have stumbled across the red light district but the boys were keeping very quiet if we had! Our driver was waiting for us when we got back to the bus and we simply said home and off we went – minus Johnny G, Pav and Dave who decided they might quite like a better look around! When we got to the hotel it was time for my birthday pool party with the crew of Jamaica and anybody else who wanted to join in! I took the celebrating slightly easy as I had accidently found myself in the bar at midnight the night before after trying to skype home, and some friends of Cape Breton, realising it was after midnight and therefore the 20th of January, started buying me double malibu and cokes! Luckily they were already quite tired and I ‘escaped’ fairly quickly!



The one thing about Batam that I can’t wait grasp is the number of scooters on the roads! Its worse than anywhere I’ve heard about in France or Italy, there are literally hundreds of them. At every set or traffic lights at least 30 or 40 of them line up in front of you. Some times you see whole families piled onto them with a weeks worth of food shopping as well, and people as young as 14 are allowed to drive to them!



The following day we (Chris, Charles, Pav, Dave and I) had booked ourselves onto a jungle trek and kayak. We were picked up from the hotel with our guide, Ilman, at Turi Beach and driven about 5 minutes out the resort. We then trekked through the jungle for about an hour and a half, going up rock scrambles, through swamps, across mini canyons on a plank bridge, down steep paths with ropes to help us and eventually we came to a little jetty where we rested and drank lots and lots of water. Its amazing how much more humid the jungle is from the beach, and the sounds and smells are different to anything I’ve experienced. There is a small bug that lives there which is similar to a cicada but the noise it makes is like a very loud dentist’s drill! If you happen to upset a lot of them at once the noise becomes almost unbearable. It seems like the perfect defence from predators – just be as annoying as you can! When we got to Australia we started to smell bush fires before we came within sight of land, and going through the Sundra straights its smelt of forest, wood smoke and nutmeg. I now recognise this as the smell of the jungle.

Dave and Pav crossing the swamp

going down a steep bit!

charles scrambling up the rocks!

our kayaks arriving at the jetty

the kayaking expedition

charles, me, chris, dave, pav

Ilman

At the jetty we waited for a speed boat to bring our kayaks and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The boat brought two single kayaks and two doubles. Chris and Dave took the singles, Pav and Ilman took one double and Charles and I took the other. We kayaked up the river through the mangroves and on a couple of occasions got up close and personal with them! It is deffinatly the twistiest river I’ve ever seen and seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Gradually it got wider until eventually we reached the ferry terminal visible from the resort. We had a rest here on a sand bank and then continued out to sea and round the coast back to Turi Beach. It got quite exciting as we went over the shoals at the entrance to the marina as we trying to go side-on to the waves, luckily for Charles I was taking the worst of the splashes at the front of the kayak!



Back at the beach we were given a lunch of traditional dishes – the only one I recognised was the rice and prawn crackers, but it all tasted lovely! The rest of the group then went off on ‘Mangrove Experience’ while I went on the climbing wall with Ilman. There are two different courses and both are 4 or 5 stories high up the side of the hotel. After 5 climbs, hours of kayaking and trekking, and lots of late nights (or early mornings) that was me done for the day! I wandered back to Nongsa Point and collapsed by the pool for the rest of the afternoon with fellow lazy Jamaicans!

on the climbing wall

jamaica pool games!

As a fair well from the resort, both hotels did a complimentary buffet party for us, and at the Turi Beach one there was a rather embarrassing round of karaoki. It started with Luke of Cape Breton (one of the culprits for my dunking and birthday celebrating) standing up to go the bar at just the wrong moment! Luckily the rest of his team felt sorry for him and joined him on stage. There were then several challengers, the best of which was deffinatly the Jamaican rendition of Dancing Queen done by Bel, Elaine, Lindsey and me (unfortunately minus the moves carefully coreographed for Amy’s birthday!) The Nongsa point party was slightly less lively as most people were sensible enough to realise that as were slipping lines at 5 the next morning an early night was in order. Some, however, still didn’t manage to avoid a final dunking from her lovely friends of CBI and Edinburgh! Great!

the Tuir Beach party

nongsa marina

Keep reading for updates from Singapore! x

Tributes to Neptune and Arriving in Batam

Position: 000degs 00’.000 105degsE 20’.74




Crossing the equator for any sailor is supposed to be a be a big issue as paying tribute to Neptune is supposed to ensure safe sailing where ever you go. However, most of the Jamaica crew took the crossing with a little less enthusiasm than I expected. Apparently this is because when they crossed it in the Atlantic they celebrated a little too much and lost 10 miles in one sched! Despite this, the equator novices were determined to do things properly. Dave Harper was the most prepared and brought a hula costume all the way from England for the occasion, and finished it off with my stripey bikini top and a boat rasta hat– very fetching! Dave’s sacrifice to the sea was his home made red hot chilli oil which he applies in serious amounts to all his meals, even breakfast! Matt sacrificed his last chocolate bar and I (having run out of chocolate days ago!) had to improvise and made some oragami Lilies and offered those to the sea. Most of them managed to land upside and didn’t quite achieve the effect I was going for!

Dave and me on the equator

on the equator

dave in his hula dress

Having crossed the equator with a very quick celebration and a very quick, very out of tune rendition of ‘One Love’ (our boat song) it was back to mother watch for me. At first it was thought that Chris and I would only have a short mother watch and would get away with having to make lunch or even breakfast on the last day. This dream became less and less likely as we painstakingly slowly drew closer to the finish. Dinner was served late because of the equator and hot, bumpy conditions, lunch was served as we crossed the finish line, and we were volunteered to carry on mother until we reached port as there was ‘no point in the new mothers starting now’. So the mother of all mother watches ended up lasting for around 30 hours, and ended in arriving in Batam. In terms of the race finish there was little excitement as we knew that we would be third over the line and that all the boats behind us were motor sailing. However, when we got to Batam, to Nongsa Point Marina Resort, the welcome was fantastic. People were waiting for us on the pontoon as we got off and presented us with garlands, there was then a reception up at the hotel with a stage where we had our pictures taken and the traditional bottle of champers for Skip to shake all over us, and a complimentary hot dog! Just what we needed!



Cape Breton Island were the first to arrive and quickly set-up camp with their boom banner draped across the island in the swimming pool. Apparently when we arrived, however, the bar looked more inviting than the island and they unwittingly left the banner unattended. Not surprising, it didn’t stay there very long as the mischeivious crew from Jamaica decided it would look better on the boom of Australia, the 2nd boat to arrive! Unfortunately it was discovered quite quickly as it wasn’t quite dark and they weren’t quite as drunk as we thought. They discovered the person who did the actual retrieving of the banner and I got firemans-lifted by ‘Big Phil’ (who is roughly twice my height!) straight into the deep end! After 30 hours on mother watch, the galley being like a sauna and very little sleep the night before, the dip was a welcome refreshment, no matter how much I might have protested!

Team jamaica in Batam

The Sunda Straits and the Java Sea or, 'From Krakatoa to Cork!'

Saturday 16th January 2010

Position: 000degs 50'252S   106degs 59'000E

Boat time: 04:50hrs

What an eventful few days we've been having! I suppose the best place to start would be the beginning! I never thought I would love and hate cloud so much at the same time! Apart from a clear night tonight it has been cloudy since the final approaches to the Sunda Straits. And with the cloud has come the wind, a welcome relief from the heat but squalls and gusts can be worrying. As we approached the Straits we were heeled over, close-hauled and screaming along with 3 reefs in the mainsail and yankee 2 (foresail) bashing into the waves. Sitting on the high side or on station in the snake pit. we were getting soaked by wave after wave! Luckily, the water felt about the temperature of a nice bath so I didn't mind too much being stuck in my foulie bottoms and t-shirt! As we got really close and tucked into the land before bearing away into the Straits, some of the gusts were incredible and there was someone stationed on all the sheets (ropes) .......'In case we get knocked-down', the Skipper casually mentioned!........ One wave, while I waited by the staysail sheet, managed to completely fill the snake pit (the working point for most of the ropes) and I was washed forwards but found myself still on my feet although I was up to my waste in water! Luckily, I don't think I could have been and wetter anyway! It's a miracle my lifejacket didn't inflate!

We passed Krakatoa in the dark that night and all we saw was a dark lump a little way off on the horizon. I had asked the Skip if he could arrange passing it by day but he said night time would be better because we'd see it all lit up. Ha! it was just another lump of rock on the horizon - very disappointed! Bearing away (turning down wind) into the Straits calmed the waves down and we had a fairly peaceful off-watch and managed to get ourselves dry if not our clothes!

One sight I will never forget is seeing the southern tip of Sumatra outlined against the dusk with a line of eerie glows like giant fireflies waiting to pop up over the horizon. In reality, they were a line a squid fishing boats which use super bright lights to attract the squiddies, but the lights make the boats visible before they are over the horizon. We have seen loads of these in the last few nights as well as lots of other shipping traffic - from little rowing boats to a mini junk to tugs with 1000m long tows! We had a close call with a towing tug last night. The tug was lit up and we went to pass behind it leaving plenty of room only to discover, in the nick of time, that there was an unlit barge attached to the back of it on a long tow and with no warning! A quick 'bear-away' by the helm, though, meant all was ok!

Night watch has been particularly nerve racking too. At night the only way we can see a squall is on the radar and, only then, if there is rain in it which there often isn't. On watch the other night, moments after the all clear was given on the radar, a massive gust hit with no warning at all. Little Pete was on the helm and fought the wheel to bear away but the boat had other ideas and almost laid itself down flat on the water. We can't count it as a real knock down as the mast didn't get wet but we must have been heeled over at about 80degs! The other watch were rudely woken up to find themselves being acquainted with either their side locker (personal storage pocket in the hull down the length of your berth) or their lee cloths (a piece of material stretched across the outside of your bunk to stop you rolling out)! Yesterday morning was another bad watch for the others and they had a bad squall too. Unfortunately, they got rain as well! They were headed up but managed to recover in time to prevent a knock-down although the gust did blow 3 of the mainsail sliders out of the track on the mast. So all the sails had to be dropped while these were repaired. If anybody was watching us on the race veiwer, that was what the crazy figure of eight we did was all about! We spent about 2 hours with no sails up and then a typical 'calm after the storm' lasted most of the morning.

Jamaica Lightning Bolt hove to in the Java Sea carrying out Mainsail repairs

Since entering the Straits we have been treated to fantastic displays of lightning every night. Usually in the distance, but last night was a spectacular show with sheets of lightning lighting up the sky all around us at very regular intervals! I hasten to add that the boats are fully earthed but we have not even been close to being struck!

Less than 24hours to go before we cross the finish line and everybody is getting very excited! It's been very close between us, Cape Breton and Spirit of Australia. We have passed very close to both of them on a few occasions. The closest was with the Australian boat when we were only about 50 metres away - close enough to give our fanous 'lightning bolt' signs and call 'Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy!' and for Belinda to wave to her beloved Mike on the Austalia boat!

Unfortunately, not all the boats are enjoying the racing as much as we are. There are two messages you don't want to hear on the radio from a boat at sea. They are 'Mayday', which means a life-threatening emergency, and 'Pan Pan', which means emergency but with no immediate threat to life. When the 'Pan Pan' message from the Cork boat was heard over the radio, we all went very quiet because we knew instantly there was something seriously wrong. Cork had gone aground and was stuck fast on a reef close to a small island we had to pass on our route to Singapore. The closest boat, Team Finland, immediately went to the scene to give assistance followed by some of the other boats as they came up to the island. Our offer to assist was stood down as we were too far away and other boats were already there. The island is unlit and the depths around it on the chart are a bit vague so the race organisers set a mandatory way-point to ensure boats kept clear of it. We gave it a very wide berth but Cork must have cut it fine and hit an uncharted rock. Eventually, the crew had to abandon to the life rafts as the boat was heeled over too far to be safe and they were picked up by Team Finland and California. We were so relieved to hear that everyone was safe and, as far as we know, no-one was injured. Many of us on a rather subdued Jamaica, I'm sure, were thinking 'It could have been any one of us!' As racing resumes, it is being assesed whether Cork can be salvaged or not. One thing is certain, if it can, it will not ready in time for the next leg of the race.

Cork lying aground and abandoned

Plans for the equator are slowly coming together and I'm sure that Jamaica will be celebrating with style - even if half the crew are a bit blase about it, having done it already! I will be on Mother watch and plan to make a special 'Equator-cake!'

Keep watching the race as it is still very close between us, Cape Breton and Australia. The other two are certainly keeping us on our toes and it is still anyone's race!

Night Watches and Tropical Heat

Tuesday 12th January 2010
Position: 07degs 37'700S 105degs 01'277E          Boat time: 05:35hrs

Having left the steady predictable waters of Western Australia behind, we are now in what is known as the 'Monsoon Trench'. Its a deep sea trench just outside the Sunda Straits where squalls and heavy down pours are a regular occurence. This makes the sail plans very difficult to manage as the weather information we recieve is often made unreliable by localised weather systems. On watch yesterday, due to squalls and wind shifts, we ended up hoisting and dropping 3 kites in 6 hours! this alone would not be a problem but after every drop the kite has to be packed. This takes the whole watch working in pairs to role it up, tie it with wool and then store it in its bag. Simple enough but with the heat below decks it's almost unbearable!

At night we are now keeping regular radar watches to try and see if any squalls are imminent (as rain shows up on the radar) and if there is any shipping to worry about. So far, we have only seen a couple of ships on the horizon which have crossed our bows at high speed. However, we have seen loads of squid fishing vessels which normally present themselves as a glow on the horizon. One did come quite close. They're easy to spot at night as they shine bright lights on the water to attract the squid and are, therefore, all lit up like a Christmas tree! At the moment there are about 5 'glows' around us at various points just over the horizom so a keen look out is being kept. As we approach the Sunda Straits, we're expecting to sea a lot more traffic as they are the 2nd busiest shipping lanes in the world - after our English Channel, that is!

Night watches are very eventful at the moment not only with evolutions (sail changes) and shipping, but also lightning is a regular occurance. At first, we thought it was the spinnaker illuminated by the steaming light playing tricks on the water. But then the biggest flash ever came from directly behind us! Luckily, none of the lightning so far has been close to us and it only seems to occur at night when we can see where it is. Other than the lightning, the nights at the moment are almost pitch black and it is impossible to see anything! On watch last night, at about half 2, there was a sudden thud just behind where April and I were sitting. I could see a large dark shape on the deck. I assumed it was another flying fish and put my hand on it to throw it back overboard. But I quickly removed my hand and squealed maybe a bit too loudly as it was not what I expected! Instead of feeling wet but fairly solid and scaly, it was slimy, squishy, very slippery and definitely not a flying fish! A torch was shone on the spot and there was a big sea bird lying stunned on the deck, one wing folded in. After a quick discussion it was decided that it would probably float the right way up and, anyway, it was only slowing us down! So April bravely did the honours, picked the poor thing up and threw it overboard into the darkness. we can only hope we right about it floating!

Although busy and with lots of things to do, the last couple of days have been particularly hard for me. The heat on deck has been just about bearable but any kind of activity drains you and everybody's tempers are wearing thin. Sleep is also difficult with the fans going in the bunks and the other watch doing noisy sail changes. Trying to escape the stifling heat below decks is almost impossible. Mother watch the other day was particularly difficult due to the heat and the interferaece of spinnaker packers. After waking up to go on watch at 8 last night (after being woken 3 times by conversations - not even a real excuse like sail changes!), I was completely shattered and feeling very tired and testy. Luckily, Michelle was on Mother and fed me rehydration sachets and fruit mintoes! A real life saver!

Hopefully it should be a bit quieter on deck now with a more constant breeze and I'll be able to catch up on some much needed sleep! That said, the racing is still exciting and we're up at the front of the fleet! Come on Jamaica!

Look out for the next exciting installment! Lily x

Indian Ocean cruising

Thursday
7th January 2010

Position:

17degs 05'469S
105degs 54'815E

Boat Time:
19:15hrs

The last couple of days have been pretty perfect from a cruising point of veiw - its been hot, sunny, and we've been carrying the medium weight kite constantly for the last 48 hours at least! I've been on the helm a couple of times and it surprised me to realise that in all my years of sailing millions of types of dinghies etc. that this is the first symetrical spinnaker boat I have helmed! However in light conditions with gentle swells the switch from little and asymetric to huge and symmetrical hasn't been to hard!

The only downer at the moment is that we're slowly losing ground and places on the other boats as wehead more westwards following the wind and its looks like we won't be making it to the scoring gate in time for any points. But not to worry as I'm m sure the 'Come-back Kids' will have something up their sleeves for tactics on the next part of the race! Skipper Pete has a cunning plan!

On night watch last-night we had a whole load of Dolphins with us for about 15 minutes. They were chasing the boat and playing in the bow waves. When you see them coming towards you through the water they look

like silver torpedoes and probably move twice as fast! They love jumping out the water, it seems, just so they can have a look at who's onboard and if there's anything interesting going on! We've also seen loads of flying fish, in the water during the day and on deck at night! During the day its not uncommon to see shoals of up to 50 fish take to the air at once, skimming over the waves.

This leg is a definite change from the Southern Ocean! The water is a different colour and feels different when it happens to go down your neck! - although that is much less common on this leg! Sitting on deck at 4 o'clock in the morning in t-shirt and shorts and moon-bathing is a pretty surreal experience. The nights have been stunning so far, although not very clear, only a few stars here and there, but when the moon rises and pops out from behind a cloud the whole sea becomes a great silver surface, and we can see almost as clearly as day light!

Skipper Pete has fitted and wired bunk fans up front which is a life saver at the moment! Altough the heat is bearable on deck with the constant breeze, downstairs has a definite sauna feel to it and its only going to get hotter as we head towards the Sundra Straits, Krakatoa, the Java Sea and the Equator!

Hope everybody at home is enjoying the snow! I must admit I'm quite a lot jealous that the one winter I spend away from home, it snows properly for the first time in forever! That said, I'd still rather be here! Wrap up warm and keep reading! Lily x

Here we go again!

Tuesday 5th January 2010

Position: 109degs 08'329 S   23degs 31'377 E

Boat time: 09:51hrs

Well here we are back on the water, back where we belong! It was a close start and most boats stayed in sight of each other until last night. It's still a very close race though with only a few miles between all the boats. We're currently flying the mid-weight kite to try and make up some miles lost through the night. Morale on-board is high as we finally start to settle into the watch system. So far so good and no seasickness from any of the crew - even me!

As part of our thanks to Geraldton for hosting us, all the boats had to sail through a manadatory gate laid over HMAS Sydney where it was wrecked in the 2nd World War and where all 645 members of its crew died. At Gerealdton there is a memorial dedicated to the Sydney and one of us off each boat took a wreath up to the sight, and then we laid them in the water as we the sailed over the wreck. The gesture was greatly appreciated by the locals and many people on board. A touching moment when we went up to the memorial was when Paul of Edinburgh read out a letter on behalf of an Ozzy crew member whose Uncle died in the wreck and whose name is remembered on the wall of reflection.

As we head up North and West towards the next scoring gate the fleet is starting to spread out as different tactics come into play. The weather has been windy but mild and overcast and everybody has been enjoying a turn on the helm. Yesterday, I surfed my first wave with a poled-out Yankee 2 foresail, staysail and full main reaching 15.2 knots on the speed instruments and 16.6 knots on the GPS! Everybody says that the instuments are more accurate but I'm inclined to believe the GPS! Either way its my new PB and the speed record, so far, for the leg! Bring it on for making it faster!

Our last night in Geraldton was celebrated with live music on the foreshore and a firework display! Our stay there has been a truly memorable one and, in some ways, I'm sad to leave. However it feels great to be back at sea and I can't wait for the sun to come out! Also, we're all set to be in Batam Island (a holding point just before we parade into Singapore) in plenty of time for my birthday!

Happy New Year to everybody and don't forget to you can follow the race on: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/

PS. I put loads of photos on my Facebook page before I left Australia. If you can get on Facebook, look me up and go to my photo page. You can also find the photos through my Dad's Facebook (Alan Whitehead) or my sister Kate's (Kate Whitehead)

An Ozzy Xmas

Morning all! I hope that everybody has had a fabulous christmas and not regreting that extra helping of pudding we all had! As part of our stay in Geraldton is was arranged that a few of the local families would adopted stray clipper crew on christmas day and treat them to a christmas 'ozzy-style'. Lindsey and I were adopted by David and Joanne Shea and we couldn't have had asked for a nicer or more welcoming family. On Christmas eve they took us and Jonny G to their daughter's house where family and friends had gathered to see their christmas lights. Every year there is a competition for the bst decorated house and this year Marika and Scott won first prize. Loads of cars drive past to see the lights which are all choreographed to different Chrsitmas songs, and the kids hand out 'lollies' to the drivers.

When David arranged to pick us up from the boat he said that we would know his car when we saw it as it was the only one of its kind. He wasn't wrong! The car is used to raise money for a children's charity called Variety which provides funds for children's needs.

On Christmas day the whole family was round at their (massive) house and everybody has presents to open - even me and Lindsey had a package to open. Christmas dinner was very traditional with meat and
veg but the crayfish and prawns were slightly less tradition but even more yummy! I can now peel and eat any part of a crayfish or prawn! Joanne loves christmas and the inside of the house is just covered in decorations, its hard to know which way to look because their are father christmases, snowmen, reindeer, bells, and all sorts of christmassy things hidden in every corner and every surface! Like a real Christmas grotto!

We stayed over on Christmas day and john joined us on boxing day morning after spending Christmas with his own adopted family. We then borrowed one of David and Joanne's cars and went down the coast towards Dongera to see a bit of the countryside, the highlight for John was when he over took a road train on its way to the docks at Geraldton! We borrowed the car again yesterday and went North this time towards Kalbarri and the nature reserve up there. On the way we stopped at Port Gregory where their is a lagoon on the beach and a pink lagoon/salt pan just inland. the colours are just incredible adn the pictures don't do them or the size any justice!

The Pink Lagoon

Kalbarri

Cliffs at Kalbarri National Park

Today is a lazy day recovering from Christmas and making sure the boat is nice and tidy - a tricky job as the engine is in pieces again!

G'day from down-under!

Hi Guys! Finally amanaged to get a chance to write an up-date for you all after arriving in Oz! After the initial partying was over on the first night - with free drinks and barbecue - its been hard work on the boat for the last few days! Jobs done include teh deep clean, deck services, safety checks, life jacket checks, repairs to the spinnaker, the boat being lifted for the scrub and anti-fowl and a million and one other little chores! The anti-fowl was the longest job for me as I helped to move the boat to the crane which is about a mile, then helped with the scrubbing and painting, and then helped move it back and again. The anti-foul is like a thick blue paint and when you're painting the underneath of the boat which is now above you its a messy job! 2 days and multiple showers later and I still slightly resemble a smurf! and not just because I'm little! Managed to get a quick look round Geraldton yesterday and everybody is really friendly. They recognise you of the boats and they all have something good to say whether its 'well done' or 'you must be mad'! I have to appologise for the lack of photos but unfortuanetely I can't send them back from the boat, but I see Dad has been doing a great job with the ones off the wedsite!I've atempted to up-load pics onto facebook but with out success so here are couple fo the best from SA and the Southern Ocean! Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year and lots of love you all! Can't wait to get home and share it all with you first hand! xxxxxxx

ElephantsZebras

Minstrels as we arrived in the V and A

  Leaving Cape Town

  Me and Lindsey all wrapped up!

  Replacing hanks on the head sails

  Sunset

  Helming!

 Gorgeous day!

 Shazza and me excited to be in Oz!

  JLB out of the water!

 Skip with his favourite two girls!

Team JLB at prize giving - 3rd PLace!!!Very proud of our pennent!! :D