Around the world with PSP - Martin Woodcock

Guess what?!

Hi PSP’ers,

Guess what? We’re stuck in a wind hole again! and with 670 miles to go to the finish and the lead boats some 60 miles ahead, time is running out for us to catch up and gain a podium place on this our home port race.

Just as forecast the wind died as we approached the windward passage between Cuba and Haiti. Ever since then (about 1 week ago now) the winds have been really fickle and light. Our average boat speed over the past 6-7 days can only be about 5 knots max at a guess, which has made progress sometimes painfully slow and tedious. We’re currently lying 7th but have been as high as 4th over the past week. The variability of the winds has seen boats move back and forward in the leader board. One of our crew likened the race to one of those horse race games that you get at fun fares with the horses moving backwards and forwards along the track and it sometimes does feel like that, only we have little control over what’s moving us along and there’s no handle to turn to speed us up.

I don’t know what we’ve done in a previous life but it’s obvious that the wind gods do not favour our boat despite our best efforts to read their minds and the weather forecasts that we get. We were in sight of Visit Finland and Gold Coast Australia a few days ago (i.e. about 2 miles away from each other). They caught a pick-up in the breeze that we didn’t get and just sailed off into the distance. It’s very frustrating when you see that happen. There’s nothing you can do other than wait for the next breeze to fill in and make the most of what you get when it comes.

Since moving north of Cuba the weather has been somewhat overcast with the temperatures in the high 20s. It’s not so humid either as we’ve come further north. We’ve had a few rain squalls as well. One came through yesterday with about 5 minutes’ notice. There was a rush to get the spinnaker down and Yankee 1 (headsail) up before it arrived with 20 plus knots over the beam. Thankfully we all worked well to get the kite down and secure the boat. Unfortunately it lasted about 20 minutes and went as quickly as it had arrived leaving us once again windless and bobbing about.

The crew are much better at spinnaker gybes and peeling now with all the practice we’ve had over the past few days as we make our way northwards with a following SW breeze and sail changes are being performed much more efficiently than they were at the beginning of the race.

Because we’re not that busy sailing, the crew are finding different ways of making the time on deck pass. We’ve played ‘I spy’ a few times and Alison has been giving lessons of the moonwalk, which Alistair has performed admirably well. Music on deck is a regular feature under these weather conditions and it’s interesting to hear different people’s tastes. We’ve had several sing-a-long sessions and Liz (one of our round the worlders) has started a craze of guess the song by singing the tune in a ‘doo do de doo’ style which brings a few laughs on deck. I have a book of puzzles and another of sudoku that have been with me since the start and am slowly making my way through them both. Others read books in their off watch time.

We’ve just had the schedule from the Race Office for the New York stopover and it looks like we have a busy corporate schedule ahead of us for the stay. We start off in a marina in New Jersey, across the Hudson from Manhattan. There we spend a few days till the 2nd June cleaning, maintaining and re-stocking the boats. Then we transfer to the North Cove Marina on the west side of Manhattan Island, adjacent to the World Trade Center site were we have several corporate days sailing to carry out before we leave again on the 7th June.

My wife, her mother and sister will be in New York to spend some time together and do some sightseeing. I’m very much looking forward to that. My mother in law and sister in law are travelling from New York up to Halifax for a holiday and will be there also to see us arrive in Nova Scotia.

Keep watching our progress on the race viewer and cross everything you can to bring us some much needed luck over these last few days into New York.

Bye for now,

Martin

How many days can I wear these clothes?!

Hi everyone from a position some 30 miles east of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea.

Since my last message, we finally got away from the northern end of the Panama Canal on Sunday evening and motored until late afternoon on Monday when we started Race 11 under ‘Le Mans’ conditions. Unfortunately we didn’t get the best of starts and were towards the back of the pack for the first day and a half. Since then we’ve clawed back a few places and currently are sparring with Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Derry-Londonderry and Singapore for 3rd to 6th place, with little between the four boats at the moment.

It’s now Thursday morning and I’m on mother duty today. I’ve just made some gluten free bread for Sara and hope she likes it. The conditions in the galley have been less than favourable with the heat over the past few days and the roughish sea state hasn’t helped either. Folks aren’t as hungry in these conditions and so there’s less being cooked at breakfast and they seem happy to just have cereal and or bread. I hope it’s not too unbearable during the day.

The weather over the past few days has given us some good breezes to work with (20-30 knots close-hauled) and with choppy seas to contend with too it’s been a real wake up call for all of the crew after the gentle saunter we took to Panama from San Francisco.

It’s amazing how quickly we all forget things and have to work hard to remember how to do headsail changes and put reefs in. It seems to have been particularly hard for the new leggers who haven’t done much sailing since they completed their Level 4 training many months ago and after the benign conditions down to Panama over the past two weeks.

It’s also very, very hot down below and the ‘ghetto’ (crew accommodation) smells like a sweat shop. Folks are finding it difficult to acclimatise to the watch system again with sleep being so difficult to find and some are suffering badly from seasickness under the roughish conditions.

We are back into the same watches that we left San Francisco with and to be honest I’m not particularly enjoying it as an ordinary crew member. I find that you’re less engaged with everything and for that reason the day drags on a bit. There are times when I’d like to step in and get people to do things and be more involved in the decision making but I don’t want to undermine the current watch leader so I’m tending to hold back.

I’m still in the clothes that I left Panama in and might just change them after I write this message. It’s been too hot on deck to wear full foul weather gear so I’ve been wearing my spray jacket and walking trousers instead. They keep off the spray and are good for most things but every now and then a big wave will crash over the deck and soak us from head to feet. Consequently my clothes have been through a wet and dry cycle about 5 or 6 times over the past two days but now there’s so much salt in them they are staying damp so I think it’s time for a change.

The strong breezes that we’re experiencing are forecast to die as we get closer to the windward passage between Cuba and Haiti and there will be some big tactical decisions to make in a day or so as to which side of the passage we go. Let’s hope we choose correctly.

I’m really looking forward to seeing my wife in NY when she arrives on the 2nd June and hope to spend a few days with her seeing the usual sights.

I’ll write again in a few days and hopefully when we’ve gained places on the rest of the fleet. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Bye for now,

Martin

The Panama Canal

Hi Folks,

I’m now waiting with my boat and the rest of the fleet in a marina named Shelter Bay on the northern end of the Panama Canal before we start off on Race 11 to our home port of New York.

The stay on Isla de Flamenco at the Panama City (Pacific) end of the canal was pleasant and during our time there we managed to get a bus tour of Panama City and sample the atmosphere of the place. Panama is a country of 3 million people and gained independence from the USA in 1997 (I think!) It has a Spanish feel to it and there are parts of the old city that are being preserved to retain the typically Spanish hacienda-style buildings. There was a definite sense of organisation about the place despite some squalor and the city itself was full of high rise buildings and banking organisations, all no doubt connected in some way to the operation of the Panama Canal itself.

Some interesting facts for you about the Panama Canal. It handles approximately 14,000 ships annually. The cost of taking a large container vessel fully laden through the canal can range from anything between $150,000 to $350,000. The most expensive transit through the canal to date was a Norwegian container ship and it cost $450,000 to make the eight hour trip. The cost for each of the Clipper yachts is about $1,500. The Panama Canal require payment in full four days before making a transit and it is necessary to book your trip months in advance if you wish to secure a date. There were a good number of cargo ships at anchor at both ends of the canal, presumably all waiting to take their turn through it. The difference in height across the two sets of locks is 85m. The difference in sea level between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean is much less than this and the canal could have been dug without any locks at all. However when designing it the engineers decided to make use of the existing Gatun Lake as part of the waterway and no doubt to reduce the overall extent of digging required to form a channel. This though required the building of locks at each end of the lake to enable ships to climb up and down into and out of its higher water level than that of the adjacent oceans. Each Clipper yacht had its own pilot on board for the transit through each set of locks. We rafted up with Qingdao and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital and accompanied a large, empty container vessel as we entered the first set of locks at Miraflores. Each set of locks is in three stages. You are lifted up some 28m in each stage and it takes about 15 minutes to fill the lock and open the gates at the end. Several million gallons of water are needed to fill the locks each time and the engineering behind it all is quite impressive. To cope with increased demand and ever wider ships the canal authority are currently building a new set of locks adjacent the existing and they are due to open in a few years’ time. There is a live webcam of each of the locks and it was amazing to be on the phone to family at home while they were watching us go through.

We set off at about 0700 on Wednesday morning and completed the full transit arriving at Shelter Bay Marina at about 1800 the same evening. We were in the second of three groups of Clipper yachts to come through the canal and all of the boats have been here since Thursday. Since then we’ve mainly been relaxing around the swimming pool and completing the final preparation of the boat for the next race as well as enjoying a beer or two in the evenings. I think it’s fair to say everyone is ready to get going now and do some proper sailing at last.

It is now Friday evening and we are just waiting for the Race Office to give us the ok to start the next race to New York. Currently it is dependent upon De Lage Landen having a new gear box fitted and tested. The current estimate is that we will leave at 6pm, motor through the night north westwards until tomorrow morning when it gets light. The start will be a ‘Le Mans’ style start similar to the one after we left Qingdao, where the boats are all line abreast with their mainsails up and headsails down but ready for hoisting once the start gun has been ‘fired.’

Wish us all good look as we head north over the next two weeks through the Caribbean and onwards to New York on this 2,100 mile race, where my wife and other family members will be to wave me in. The crew are up for some hard work to get us back on the podium where we belong. Let’s hope the wind gods are favourable towards us.

I’ve attached some pictures of our transit through the canal.

Bye for now,

Martin

continued……

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder earlier this week when climbing out of the lazarette after inspecting the bilges. Rachel very kindly gave it a massage but it’s still quite sore and stiff. Hopefully it will have eased off by tomorrow. The bilge pump in there is not working and we’re taking on water through the rudder stock bearing which means having to hand pump it at least three or four times a day at the moment.

Tuesday night was quiz night and I was quiz master, only because I brought the questions with me and have the answers. So we were back into Port and Starboard watches for that after dinner and the winners got a bottle of wine (only permitted on board for very special occasions and in small doses). So as not to disappoint or insight a riot the losers also got a bottle of wine. As an aside to all the sailing stuff and after all of my two girls’ childhood when I have constantly rejected peanut butter and Nutella as spreads on bread I am now a convert on Nutella. What have I been missing all these years ? The girls on board have made walnut bread these past few days and it tastes great on that. Tamsin (a new legger) celebrated her birthday yesterday (26 I think) and Emma (another new legger) made a wonderful chocolate cake in the shape of a heart for the occasion which went down a treat as we sang her happy birthday. How many people can say they went for a swim in

the middle of the Pacific Ocean on their birthday? We’re all very lucky to be doing this.

Sara (another of the new arrivals, who incidentally only lives a few miles from me at home) is a coeliac (i.e. intolerant to foods with gluten in) and has her own special stock of foods. I thought it would cause problems with meal times and the mothers having to prepare a special meal, but what with the weather being so banal and the race being finished early  it hasn’t been a problem at all and she has been accommodated fairly easily.

I’ve attached some more pictures of the idyllic life we’re currently living on board and nothing like the tough conditions we endured only a few weeks ago.

I’ll also write again when we arrive in Panama where we should get some time ashore to re-stock the boats for the trip up to Halifax and maybe get some time to look around Panama City before embarking on our transit of the canal. Incidentally, each of the boats has to have a pilot on board for the duration of the transit through the canal and the Clipper Race Office will be giving us each a cool box with ice and some drinks for them to have during their time on board.

Bye for now and best wishes from 40 miles off the coast of Costa Rica and some 500ish miles from the entrance to the Panama Canal under a moonlit and tropical 20+ degrees night sky.

Martin

Time to catch up on some sleep!

Hi to Frank, Jo, Alex, all the folks at PSP and its partner companies all over the world and my other followers who are joining me on this epic trip of a lifetime: 40,000 miles around the world across many oceans.

As you all no doubt know by now the race has been finished early by the Race Committee and we’ve been instructed to motor sail at 7 knots in a straight line to the Panama Canal to make sure of our transit dates through the canal. We’re obviously disappointed by our 8th place and in fact, if the Race Committee had based the finish on Distance to Overall Finish rather than time through one of the gates, we would have been in 6th place. Gareth doesn’t think it’s worth us protesting so we’ll just take it on the chin and move on to the next race.

We’ve discussed our poor finish and despite the obvious critical issue of routing (which we’re obviously not the best at) it’s difficult to understand why we don’t do particularly well in these light wind races. There is a general feeling that New York is a slow boat in light airs. I’m not so sure myself. Singapore just piped us to 7th place in the end by 30 minutes and we are now proceeding with them towards Panama and enjoyed some afternoon swims (only permitted when not racing/motor sailing) with their crew earlier in the week.

So we started motor sailing on Monday afternoon and we’ve got about 6 days of this now. The watches have been changed around, so now there are three and the watches are 4 hours on 8 hours off (so that means lots more sleep for everyone if they want it). However not everyone is happy with this as there is no rotation with this system and there aren’t enough bunks for everyone off watch. Stefan is particularly unhappy at the moment as he gets very little access to his bunk at all. Myself, I’m happy to go with the consensus. I’m now with Stefan, Sue, Rachel and Steve. Rachel is our enthusiastic watch leader and we have a list of repairs and maintenance to complete before we arrive in Panama which is keeping us busy at the moment. Otherwise I’ve been lying on my bunk with my newly installed fan keeping me cool whilst listening to music or watching a video.

Alternatively, we have cushions and sails to lie on on-deck and tarpaulins draped over the boom to give us some shade in the very strong, hot sunlight. There’s still very little wind here, so the breeze that we’re generating by motoring is welcome. We also stopped again yesterday for a short while with Singapore to enable everyone to go for a swim and cool down. There were lots of small jelly fish in the water and a few of us got stung lightly by them, but nothing serious. There are lots of turtles swimming around as well in these waters and we get fairly close to them before they dart off under the water. We got soaked earlier today as a small squall blew through dumping a heavy shower all over us, cleaning the decks down and keeping us cool afterwards as we dried off in the ever present sun.

Also this afternoon we caught up with De Lage Landen and Derry-Londonderry and carried out a fuel transfer between the boats to replenish our stocks and ensure we have enough to get us all the way to Panama. This can be done in a number of ways using lines between the boats whilst motoring parallel courses and a set distance apart or more simply by a simple exchange across decks with the boats fendered off each other if the sea state allows. De Lage Landen is currently being towed by Derry-Londonderry as they have gear box problems that can’t be sorted until we arrive in Panama. We left them behind earlier this evening and carried on to motor with Singapore under instruction from the Clipper Race Office.

to be continued…………..