CLIPPER RACE 4: MARLOW ROPES SOUTHERN OCEAN SLEIGH RIDE MINI BLOGS
11/22/2019 | posted by Christine Duggan
During this part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, our Marlow ambassador on board ‘Imagine your Korea’ will be sharing weekly mini blogs during the epic Southern Ocean Race from Cape Town to Freemantle.
In the last 72 hours we have had two updates from James which give an intense, exciting view of life on-board whilst racing in the world’s toughest ocean.
SOUTHERN OCEAN BLOG 1: 20.11.19
Unexpected events and close sailing round the start course heralded the start of our Southern Ocean Sleigh Ride as we departed Cape Town. It’s the third full day of sailing at the time of writing this.
New crew and a new skipper with renewed ambition. Bigger watches with some changes to how the boat is managed.
As ever the inevitable curse of seasickness struck members of the crew in the first 48 hours, but all are now recovered and working hard for our team success. We are currently towards the front of the fleet and the energy on board is palpable. Even having to repair our code 2 spinnaker twice in 24 hours hasn’t held us back – it is flying as I type. Some work to do on our code 3 but we are working together while the sun shines (literally) to get this back into use.
Already new crew are settling in and the ongoing crew are sharing lessons learnt, and stories from the first legs. Every now and then you have to remember that some on-going jokes and habits need to be explained.
The refresh of the team and an excellent stopover at Cape Town have been just the thing for us.
We continue to shoot for the stars.
On a leg with such high boat speeds, more regular posts will be coming. Watch this space.
SOUTHERN OCEAN BLOG 2: 22.11.19
Oolong or Kemun was the question. It turns out we almost all drink tea – which makes the late-night hot drinks easier. Much conversation over black tea or with milk but then which speciality tea is preferred prompting the first question.
Being called to the deck to confirm a bird identity rather than asked what it is a treat – and we are graced with Royal Albatrosses. As the most southerly boat we are now officially Penguin hunters, although with the extra clothes for the colder conditions some crew members resemble them as they dress for the weather.
We surf more and more as experience grows and await the full force of the Southern Ocean to go for the Clipper 70 speed record. The much-patched Code 2 spinnaker is holding up well.
Exciting times ahead!
