With just a few hours to go until the race finishes, an update from Steph:
Finally, some wind - not much, but enough to be moving after 2 frustrating days of floundering around with flappy sails.Have made up ground on all boats except NS so not much chance of moving out of last place before end of race tonight.But we haven't given up and are still sailing v competitively.Everyone looking fwd 2 NY.Leaving deep clean 2 Halifax to give RTW crew a much needed break.No corporate work for Durbs so we'll go wild in big apple!Steph x
I've finally finished uploading all the photos I brought back from Hawaii, so you can now see the last set - Race 7, Qingdao to Hawaii - over on Flickr. This of course includes all the pictures taken the day the mast fell off!
Gill should hopefully have brought back the hard drive with the rest of Leg 5 and Leg 6 pictures, so they should be up soon.
For the round the world crew and those who have been on board Durban 2010 and Beyond since Qingdao or earlier, the Jamaica stopover was tantalisingly short but, having sorted out most of the maintenance and deep clean in Panama, they made the most of the two day stopover either bamboo rafting, visiting local beaches or just relaxing in the sunshine. For those of joining the boat for the last leg, Jamaica was a delight with the Jamaica Tourist Board, hoteliers and tour companies pulling out all the stops to ensure that we had a great time.
On leaving Jamaica, we initially had a race start that ultimately decided the line up for the Le Mans start - we got Durban into a great position and reached the windward mark in second setting us up nicely for the restart, after the overnight motor sail to Cuba to find more wind. It has taken us leggers a few days to settle into boat routines. For the last couple of days we’ve had some fairly lumpy seas and this has tested our sea legs (and stomachs). After a squall which seemed to reverse all the positions of the fleet, we’re now playing catch-up. We’ve got Liverpool 08 and Uniquely Singapore in our sights and we’re not going to let them get away. New faces on the helm are learning as much as they can as fast as they can from the more experienced crew. What we leggers lack in experience, we’re making up for in enthusiasm. Hopefully the combination of skills will help us move up through the fleet. No dolphin sightings yet but we’re hopeful that Police’s Greatest Hits might be more to their taste!
Steph
Wondering how the new leggers are getting on? Well Steph tells all ...
V hot and wind dying.Bit of relief after lumpy seas.All leggers except Nige sick as dogs but better now.Ian's bday 2 day so cake cheered everyone up.V close to NS and can see either Sing or Liv on horizon.Trying everything 2 go faster.Loving helming (esp at night) and last night did sail change in dark.Still no dolphins - must be on strike.Getting cooler at night so easier 2 sleep but still bikinis in day time. Now not sick, really loving it ;-) S xx
Update on progress from Lucy:
Busy chasing other boats-wind due to change tomorrow which could result in some fun & games on the leaderboard! Leg 7 guys settling in well after a bit of sickness from them all! Still hot & sticky but determined to re-gain a good place. Spirits high!
News from Steph on the start of Race 11
Had a good start in Jamaica but wind died and we motor-sailed 2 cuba for a le mans start.All went well until all boats except durbs benefited from a squall. Us newbies showered on deck in the rain! Bit sad to be last at mo but we are pushing v hard to improve - just going past Acklins island.All boats are looking fwd 2 NY and hope to be there slightly ahead of schedule for an extra night.
Race 6 photos - Singapore to Qingdao, including the Qingdao stopover, have been added to Flickr.
Start details from Steph:
We'll be slipping our lines at 12:00 local and doing a formation thing in the harbour before having an hour milling around outside the harbour and doing a few practice tacks. The race starts at 2.00pm and apparently we're going to race for about 15 miles and then see what the wind is doing. If there isn't any (predicted) we'll motor sail to Cuba and start the race properly from there.
At the briefing yesterday they showed us pictures of the marina at Sydney, NS. It is currently iced over with a good covering of snow. This was a bit of a shock to me and Charlie as we don't have any seriously warm weather clothes with us. Just have to buy some stuff, I guess.
Good to see Steph already getting to grips with one of the important things to remember during the race - any excuse to go shopping in port :)
Having safely navigated our way through the Panama Canal without too much delay, (some boats have to wait months!), the Clipper fleet assembled some 50 miles north of Colon for its Le Mans start. With all ten boats lined abreast, sailing behind an imaginary line, a countdown commences and on starters orders a hive of activity commences as the crews compete to hoist their headsails and helm their most efficient course towards Jamaica.
Durban 2010 and Beyond, true to its latest form unfortunately only managed to cross the line in 10th position, but gradually after some determined sailing picked its way through the fleet and by nightfall was comfortably placed mid table. During the night, after endeavouring a number of heavy squalls , storms ,rain and some “dodgy” evolutions we found ourselves once again to the back of the field. With the Dawn however came a renewed vigour and determination, with some more precise trimming and helming we soon found ourselves where will belong in the upper half of the table. Nevertheless with this being such a short leg the margins for error are obviously reduced and as I write we are all conscientiously doing our best to “get our act together”.
To all of our followers and especially the little people, thank you once again for all your positive and supportive comments. To the pupils of the “Academy” especially I know that you will have been trying your best recently, in your assessments, and I trust you will be rewarded accordingly. To friends and family, keep blowing those special winds, especially at this final stage into Jamaica; “ Once You Go You Know” and after our 48 hours pit stop in the Land of Bob Marley an Reggae I expect its once you’ve been you’ve seen! And then its New York, New York.
Until the next time when we will be homeward bound, I trust that with fair winds and safe harbours we will see you all again soon, possibly from that Podium position that we all deserve and continue to work hard for.
John (Big Guns)
The latest from Steph in Jamaica
We went down to the marina in the morning to see what needed doing and, apart from putting up the bimini and a couple of other small jobs (gas bottles and rubbish disposal) Durbs is already prepared for racing to NY tomorrow so we effectively got another two days of holiday. We have a full crew for leg 7 so it's going to be a tight squeeze below deck.
We had the crew party last night - sponsored by Red Stripe ;-) It was good fun although I'm not sure that Red Stripe or the Jamaica Tourist Board realised just how much Clipper crews and their friends and families can drink! A detachment of British soldiers arrived in Port Antonio last week and they were also invited to the party. Joff advised them not to enter into any drinking competitions with the sailors because they would definitely lose!
The official briefing for the leg 7 crew is this evening and then we have to report to the boat at 9am tomorrow. The plan was to slip lines at 12:00 and start racing at 14:00. However, I believe that we are actually going to motor sail to Cuba and start racing from there as the winds are a bit light around here. We'll use the motor sail as a training sail and us new leggers will get a chance to remind ourselves which bit of string does what.
