A film star’s welcome
China here we come!
It’s day 4 of Race 8 to Qingdao already. I’ve beaten away those early race sleep deprived feelings and am back into the swing of ocean racing again after a long stopover in Batam and Singapore.
Singapore was an amazing place and, I guess like a lot of the Far East today, is rapidly catching up overtaking and stealing a march on the Western economies. It definitely felt like the place to be for any aspiring entrepreneur.
At Qingdao we’ve been told by Clipper to expect an even bigger welcome than we had at Singapore and to feel like film stars for a while, with everyone wanting their pictures with us and our autographs. PSP will also be hosting trading events of their own at Qingdao and I look forward to helping them out with those and catching up with Frank and the rest of the team over a beer or two….. or four.
So right now we’re in the South China Sea beating slowly northwards in light winds and on a flat, calm sea under still hot and humid conditions. Our position is fluctuating between 4th and 8th depending upon which tack we’re on and we have Edinburgh Inspiring Capital hanging on to our coat tails at the moment. Gareth (skipper) was on the VHF to Gordon (skipper of Edinburgh Inspiring Capital) yesterday and Gordon said he was following us to stay competitive. Let’s hope it works out for both of us.
Last night I was on the VHF radio to a cargo ship that was on a collision course with us. We had what seemed like a concise and accurate conversation where I was expecting them to alter course and go behind us but after about 30-40 mins with no change whatsoever we had to contact them again and reiterate our request.
Again they agreed to go behind us but made no move to alter course for about another 15 mins. Eventually when they were about 3 miles from us they did alter course considerably and the collision was averted. I suspect that is what they planned to do all along but it is a little disconcerting when you are the smaller vessel and the one who is likely to come off worse if a collision did occur. Obviously, if they hadn’t made their move when they did we would have tacked ourselves to avoid them and put the episode down to experience. Just goes to show how important it is to have a good lookout at all times when at sea and to remain vigilant.
After losing two crew at Singapore we have gained Mark Nye from Visit Finland. Mark is an experienced sailor and qualified yachtmaster so will be a very useful member of the team. Unfortunately he gets off at Qingdao so we will make the most of his knowledge for the short few weeks that we have him on board. At Qingdao we welcome some new members on board for the long leg across the Pacific to San Francisco. It will be good to get some new faces and bodies on board for what will probably be one of the toughest legs of the whole race.
For this race I’m still watch leader of Port Watch and have Brian, Stefaan, Mark, Ruth and Rachel in my team. They are a great bunch, we get on well together and have fun whilst we’re trying to get the most out of the boat. Ruth and Rachel are a constant source of laughter and great team players. Stefaan is back with us for the rest of the world after a short trip home, Brian is also a good team player and leaves us after Qingdao and we have Mark with us also to Qingdao with his valuable sailing experience. The guys and girls make it easy for me to lead and don’t need much persuasion to do the ‘dirty’ work on board. They are a pleasure to be
with and work with.
One of the daily hourly tasks that we need to perform on board is pumping out any seawater from the boat’s bilges. The boat isn’t 100% watertight and seawater leaks in from a number of places. This isn’t uncommon and all the boats have the same issue. Up to now we’ve had to do this manually with stirrup pumps and buckets, which if we’re beating in to heavy seas in the middle of the night is not the easiest task to perform and quite arduous. But now we have fitted an electric pump with a long hose that stretches to most parts of the boat and pumping the bilges is a much simpler task, quicker and requires a lot less labour.
Unlike any other race so far or to come we are expecting a dramatic fall in the sea and air temperatures after we get north of Taiwan. When I say dramatic, I mean it. We can expect snow and ice when we arrive in Qingdao so there’s going to be big changes in attire worn on board in about 10 days’ time. We’re all wishing it so at the moment because of the high temperatures and humidity. I’m not so sure we’ll be saying the same thing after the temperatures drop!
I’ve attached a pic of the race start with Gareth at the helm and the crew after our arrival into Marina at Keppel Bay in Singapore. The boats all get close at the start and this time around Gold Coast Australia got a little too close and were over the start line before the gun. Their skipper didn’t contest the issue and decided to go back to start line by way of a penalty which has had little effect on their position as they’re in the lead at this time.
Time to go and organise my bunk and belongings, wash my hair and sweat-soaked clothes.
Looking forward to meeting the PSP crew in 2 weeks’ time. Keep watching and praying to the wind gods for us.
Bye for now,
Martin
