Back home now, and after a couple weeks of enjoying the company of family and friends for Thanksgiving and my birthday I finally had the chance to upload photos from Race 3, as well as a few from earlier in the race.

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I decided during race 3 that Cape Town would be the end of my race due to the ongoing seasickness that I had been experiencing. I simply couldn't know for certain that I would be able to contribute in the way I wanted to when we would turn upwind or when the weather got nasty. Ocean racing is a tough endurance challenge as is without the additional burden of being seasick. I'm disappointed at not getting to complete the entire race - and in particular miss the chance to sail with friends I've met along the way. But happy to be heading home and quite content with the variety of experiences from the first two legs and crossing the Atlantic twice.

On top of that, I got to have an absolutely amazing time staying with my friends Richard and Monique at their house and farm during my stay in Cape Town. It was a fantastic experience that I would have missed if I hadn't been heading home. It was a great lesson that You never know what life has waiting just around the next headland, but I'm excited for it.

I'll post more after I get home to fill in some of the adventures (good and bad). After turkey, of course.

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This of course happened during the peak of the storm that we'd been
anticipating for the last couple of days. To give a sense of what the
conditions were like, when we went on deck for the watch, Pete warned us
to be extra vigilant about staying clipped on at all times, because with
the wind and rain and waves in pitch black, "if you go overboard
tonight, you're dead".

After the wheel came off, the boat turned into the wind, which made the
apparent wind much stronger, something like 45 knots. We got out the
emergency tiller and three of us held onto that to keep the boat from
swinging all over the place while the rest of the crew lashed down the
now-disconnected steering wheel and struggled with getting the mainsail
down. On top of that the staysail halyard broke and the sail went into
the water and had to be brought back onboard. All in all it took a
couple of hours to get the boat to the point where it was moving slowly
but steadily in the wrong direction.

Since then we've rigged up the emergency tiller so that it's steered
from two winches, each manned by two people. One person stands where
the wheel used to be, calling out "starboard" or "port" and then the
people on the winches grind or ease to move the tiller to one side or
the other. With this arrangement we're only currently able to fly the
staysail, so we're going a good deal slower with just one of the three
sails. On top of this it's cold and rainy. On our watches we're
rotating people through the mind and body numbing positions of sitting
in the rain for a couple hours while acting like a machine. I now know
what it feels like to be a powered winch. Good times.

We're going to be in most likely a couple days later, but are
technically still racing. About a thousand miles to go on emergency
steering.

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This has gotten to the crew, who are tired of putting in so much hard
work only to be consistently disappointed in the result. While at least
this time we shouldn't be in days behind the rest of the fleet, taking
part in the race is a big dream for most everyone and too much of our
time has been without the excitement of having a real chance to win
throughout the race. Yesterday the general frustration came to a head
during our daily crew meeting where we debated whether to have
specialists in positions of helm and trimmer which, with our current
conditions, are the only ones that would make a consistent difference in
speed. Most everyone was opposed to the idea, and instead we agreed on
redoubling our efforts and focusing on having the stronger helms-people
train up those who are not as experienced or skilled. Since we are in
close proximity to the Edinburgh boat we have a sort of benchmark to
test our efforts, and so far they seem to have paid off - we are slowly
and steadily reducing the gap between them and us. That's really the
only "game within the game" that we have to play now until we get to
Cape Town, trying for 8th place.

As for myself, I've been seasick a couple more times when we've had more
upwind conditions. This has really worn me down physically and
mentally. I find myself not having the energy or enthusiasm of weeks
ago. Whereas everyone else seems to jump at the chance to change a
headsail or check trim, I feel lethargic and have to will myself to do
everything. I have a constant dull headache and find myself snapping at
people and being short-tempered which I think the crew can tell is
pretty out of character. What I've found is that the day after I'm
sick, I'll feel physically fine, but it seems to still affect me
mentally. When people say "good to see you up and about" it comes
across more as a sarcastic "nice of you to join us, lazy-ass". You
certainly start feeling very divided from those of the crew who never
experience the nausea. I can at times see myself behaving this way even
though I haven't been able to stop it. It would make a fascinating
study if only the subject wasn't me.

We're in a calm patch now for the first time in a few days, and tomorrow
evening should be hitting some pretty intense weather, so this will
likely be my last update for a while. With a lot of luck I won't be
bed-ridden and miserable, but the conditions certainly won't allow for
much time at the computer.

The weather has gotten much colder, and we're wearing our foul weather
gear for the first time in many weeks. I even find myself zipping up my
sleeping bag, which is an amazing change after so many weeks seemingly
spent sweating profusely in the bunk. There are some amazing seabirds
that have been following us the last few days. What we think are
albatrosses, sooty terns, what we're calling "flying penguins", and some
amazing little birds that I call "fighter pilots". One of these birds
must have left us a little gift which we discovered when we shook out a
reef in the mainsail and found a squid lying on the deck.

We have been making good speeds the last few days, and at our current
pace could make it into Cape Town on the 14th, which is a week away.
I'm very much looking forward to our arrival as, for me, the race has
become much more about the destination than the journey.

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At around 9:15pm I was on the helm and though we had light winds, we
planned to fly the spinnaker all night. To date we've only flown a
spinnaker at night once that I can remember, back in race 2 off the
coast of Spain. I asked if we were going to fly it for as long as
possible and skipper's reply was "until Cape Town or until it breaks".
Unfortunately it was the latter. I heard a pop and saw the same
sickening sight of it deflating and falling into the water. This time
we were all more prepared and jumped into action quickly. I threw the
helm over hard to windward before handing over to Pete. As we ran
forward I yelled down the companionway for all hands on deck, and Ian
opened the forward hatch to the crew quarters and did the same. The
off-watch got out of bed and into life jackets and tethers quickly and
we all ran forward to secure the kite.

It was a very good recovery, quickly done and with very minimal damage
to the sail. Nobody was hurt, no significant damage to the kite, and
the repair is being taken care of as I type this. We got the yankee
poled out to minimize the loss of speed and will likely be able to hoist
the spinnaker again in the morning. Initially the cause was thought to
be a broken halyard, but now it seems that the snap shackle at the head
of the sail may have opened, which is very unusual. It seems that
spinnaker just does not want to stay up. Because it is designed for the
most commonly experienced wind conditions, some people call it the
all-purpose kite, and it's the only spinnaker that has Clipper and
California branding on it. Funny that it's our most beat-up one, with
at least four different repairs, blue paint all over, and patches right
through the logos.

Another lesson in perseverance courtesy of the medium weight spinnaker.

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Day four already. The weather has improved, with flatter seas and the
sun making its first appearance. The four newbies and I have emerged
from our bunks so we have our full complement of crew for the first
time. Hopefully we'll get the wind shift we're hoping for and be able
to do some downwind sailing soon. Very much looking forward to making
into Cape Town in the 20 or so days as predicted. After the 33 days we
just did, 19 seems like a breeze. Of course we will need that
consistent breeze to get in on schedule.

We're currently doing well on the race results, but as Pete keeps
reminding us, the results won't be very relevant for another day or so
when the fleet converges a bit more. Still, it beats knowing that
you're showing up on the website as back of the pack, which we have been
by this time in the last couple of races.

The mood on the boat is different than in the last two races. Although
we're doing better, I feel like it's more subdued. I guess that's to be
expected with 15 crew staying the same. The new crew are naturally more
exuberant but the rest of us are sort of back into the routine. The
short stay in Rio probably reinforced that. There isn't the same level
of excitement when someone brings a bag of chocolates or cookies on
deck, or when someone cooks a nice meal. I have to say that the
victualling team has done a nice job with the limitations on budget and
selection they faced in Rio. We've continued to eat well. Had a very
yummy vegetable curry last night with beans, lentils, sweet potatoes,
coconut milk and rice. Oh and exactly one quarter of a slice of chorizo
per bowl :)

Oh, and as a side note I saw a whale breaching while we were preparing
for a sail change a couple days ago. I saw spray and a ship up ahead
and was about to ask Pete (who was on the helm) if he could see the
hovercraft (which makes no sense) when I realized that it was a whale.
Jumped right out of the water at 45 degrees just like you would imagine.
While we finished bagging the sail, Pete said it jumped eight more
times, though I was busy heaving the sail in between heaving over the
side. On the boat we say "2, 6, HEAVE!" to coordinate lifting and
pulling the heavy sails. I think this comes from old british navy
practice of loading cannons.

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The four new crewmembers have all gotten seasick. Quite the
initiation for them. So far I've been okay. Fingers crossed. At the
least it shows how much my body has gotten use to the discomfort.

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Photos for La Rochelle to Rio are up... will upload vids later.

As always, more photos on the flickr site

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One consequence of the many light days we've had, and the somewhat early
end to our race has been all the reading I've been able to do. Unlike
Jenny, I'm not in the habit of reading for pleasure while at home so
to have the time to sit down power through some books has been nice.
The crew share their books after reading them, so there's quite a
variety onboard. Here's what I've read so far.

Long Way Down: Mentioned this in an earlier post. I finally finished it
off. It was okay, but I think the TV program would be more enjoyable.
It's been pretty popular after I donated it to the boat as I've seen a
number of people reading it since.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog: My favorite so far. Bestseller translated
from French. A very simple plot told in the form of short essays on
many random philosophical topics. The author's description of food and
art seem extra poignant on a boat without much of either. When we get
into Rio I'm going to search for some jasmine tea because of one such
passage.

The Island of the Day Before: Another intellectual bestseller,
translated from the original Italian. This one was tough to get into,
but had a few highlights. Interestingly it discusses the same topic as
the Longitude book (which has been very popular amongst the crew).
Ended up being a real page-turner, as in, I started skipping pages just
to get to the end and be done with it.

The Audacity of Hope: I picked up this Barack Obama book in Hull before
we left as I figured the boat could use some good 'ol American
education. When I heard that he had earned the Nobel Peace prize I dug
it out of my bag. I enjoyed his writing and how personal it was, even
though I found some of the politics boring.

Eragon: A fun, easy to read fantasy novel. Hoping to read the sequels
in the future.

Marley and Me: Reading this one now. Has some enjoyable sections so
far, but has basically been rehashing experiences that most every new
puppy owner goes through. A nice break from the earlier "brainier"
books, particularly in this heat we're in now.

I've also been thumbing through a Portuguese phrasebook that someone
has. I won't have much chance to use it with our shortened stopover,
but it's still been fun and brings back memories of the very enjoyable
time that Jenny and I spent in Portugal.

And of course there are some books on sail trim, weather, knots, that
have proven useful in passing the time and upping the general knowledge
level of the crew. I'm hoping to pick up some more educational stuff
along the way to make use of future downtime on this long journey.

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We have just crossed the equator! This is the first time I've ever been
in the southern hemisphere and to have sailed across is fantastic.

As this is the first time I (as well as many of the crew) have crossed
the equator, we were tried in Neptune's court - and found guilty of
course.

My crimes: feeding this fishes a few too many times. Fitting as my
sacrifice to Neptune (something traditionally done when crossing the
equator) was the rest of my seasickness pills.

On the sailing front, we had to fire up the engine for a day or so in
order to get out of the ICTZ (aka doldrums) in order to make it into Rio
on time for the race restart. We have wind now so we should be sailing
the rest of the way. I've taken over as watch leader for our watch and
am implementing some changes that I think the team is excited about.
Now my main concern, as always, is being able to keep from being seasick
and be able to contribute and lead the watch. So far so good. Should
be about a week till we get to Rio. Can't wait.

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement, they mean a lot to me.

Q

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This is my first post directly from the boat. I haven't been posting
because there hasn't been much good news to post thus far, but I
wanted to keep you all up to date in any case.

It's now been 18 days since we left La Rochelle, with maybe 11 days
remaining until Rio. It's amazing to me that 11 more days at sea
doesn't sound like much anymore - before this 4 days was the most I
had been at sea. Unfortunately we are somewhat behind schedule
because of lighter than expected winds so there are still quite a few
miles to cover. We're a couple days away from the Doldrums, and then
have the equator to cross before we can get to the steady tradewinds
that should take us into port.

The trip thus far has been full of challenges for me, just not the
sort I would have imagined. The seas have been mostly calm, and yet
I've yet again had to deal with my seasickness. I've been sick a few
times, once when we hit a patch of more serious weather, the other
two times when the boat was flat calm. Of the 18 people on the boat
my body has certainly been the slowest to adjust.

The last week or so has been pretty good, but I'm still having to be
very mindful and focused when I'm belowdecks or if there's more
motion on the boat, or during night watches when I'm tired and can't
focus on the horizon. I've tried different medicines but my current
plan is to just let my body deal with however it feels. Whereas
earlier in the trip I would recover and immediately try to get back
into the routine of the boat and force my body to adapt, now if I
have any doubt I try to get extra rest and avoid anything that might
spur on further queasiness. The crew have been incredibly supportive
throughout, volunteering to cover my watches so that I can get extra
rest and actually forbidding me from coming down below or spending
time in the galley. Still, having to rely on the support of others
has been difficult to adjust to. I knew joining the race that
teamwork would be essential on the boat, but I hadn't expected the
lessons to come in this form.

We're currently in last place by hundreds of miles, so maintaining
the exuberance and motivation from early in the race has been tough.
At one point we chose, as an entire boat, a high risk/reward strategy
to try to move up from where we were in 8th place. Excitement was
high as we changed course from the rest of the fleet and had 5 days
of challenging sailing while executing the plan. We weren't able to
get the wind directions that we needed to get the most out of it but
still managed to move to within a few miles of 6th place. Then the
wind hole that we had been fighting hard to avoid caught us and we
were basically stuck in place for 3 days while the rest of the fleet
pulled away. We're now making up ground while the others are
entering the doldrums and slowing down, but it was very tough to be
bobbing around in last place in the hot sun with no wind knowing that
everyone else was putting miles in between us.

After we finally got some steady wind to work with we put up our
spinnaker and started making good speed. Then yesterday during our
lunch handover between watches, with everyone on deck, the block
holding the spinnaker halyard at the top of the mast came down and
the entire spinnaker fell into the water and under the boat. Pete
was incredibly calm in directing the crew to recover the sail, which
we did. We managed to get the entire sail back, but with huge tears
in it. It was fairly disheartening at the time after having spent so
much energy just to keep it repaired and flying. Still, there were
positives in that no one was seriously injured while recovering the
sail, and we had another sail up within 40 minutes. Melissa has been
leading the huge repair of the spinnaker, with help from others for
the last day and a half. As I write this there are three people
working on patching it back together.

We're all still focused on making up ground and catching those in
front of us but it is a monumental task and we've all been dealing
with the possibility of a second consecutive last place finish while
having fewer days in port. Still, after a month at sea, I'll be very
happy when we do pull in to Rio.

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