Clipper Race - Leg Eight - Yacht 'Qingdao'

  08.06.2014 - So here I am in the middle of the Atlantic, typing away with the boat
  leaning over at 30 degrees.
 
  New York was pretty hot when we arrived, about 28 deg.C The fleet
  congregated at Liberty Landing in the NJ side of the Hudson; Qingdao was
  still motoring slowly towards NY. After a bit of sightseeing I took the
  ferry over on Tuesday morning to register at the race office just as
  Qingdao arrived so I got some good photos of a very exhausted crew making
  land at last. The afternoon crew meeting was distinguished by a torrential
  thunderstorm that crammed all the new joiners under the awning. On Thursday
  I crewed the boat for a trip on the river with a party of visitors from
  potential sponsors - again it started with a downpour but by the time the
  visitors had found a parking space it cleared up. Friday was free (up the
Rockefeller) then Saturday was departure. Most of the day was taken up
parading up and down past Manhattan for photos - we finally waved goodbye
at 3 and motored out for a Le Mans start off Long Island at 18:30.
 
Long ocean racing is mainly about correctly interpreting the weather
forecasts. This race has been mostly distinguished by light airs: first
three days were hot and sunny and extremely slow for everyone and various
tactics were tried to make best progress. Unfortunately we lost out in
the lottery at this point and have been towards the back ever since. Days 4
and 5 it got windier with a big swell running which made cooking difficult
- we had our turn on day 6. Once past Newfoundland it got extremely cold
and we had to keep a lookout for mini-icebergs - this cold lasted a couple
of days. Lots of sightings of dolphins either fishing or swimming round the
boat; the occasional whale. Then we had another long period of downwind
sailing with the spinnaker up - same tack for several days and nights. Our
path to Ireland is blocked by high pressure systems with no wind so again
the boats are trying different tactics to get through or round them.
 
Life on board is now very routine - 5 watches per day between two half
crews; 600-1200, 1200-1800 day, 1800-2200-0200 night. i get a couple of
hours sleep at the start of every off watch. Getting dressed takes
over 20 minutes with all the layers and lifejacket; undressed about the
same. Going to the loo - 30 minutes. Bunks are shared - not enough to go
around. Unlike training where you practice "evolutions" all the time,
actual racing consists mainly of sitting on the deck as ballast for the
whole watch as the boat continues on the same course for days on end.
Occasionally we change a sail.
 
As I type this we are 10th (boo!) close hauled to the NE with less than
1000 miles to go out of 2950. This wind should remain stable for 2 days
when it is expected to die away and we will have to find some means of
getting round the corner to Derry. As the race is running late we may end
up being cut short and motoring the last few hundred
 
Please do not reply this all goes via satellite phone for which I have to
pay.
 
Michael Soul