New Zealand was a great place, we had a warm reception and the people were very friendly. Just out of interest the bar/restaurant on the marina was owned by the drummer from AC DC and he turned out in one of his 25 super cars everyday, Ferraris and lambougini etc interesting to find out where people end up. It was lovely to see mum and dad who had travelled via hong kong to see me, it was a slightly longer stop over than we have had before, typical that Mandy was not there for it. I managed to have 2 full days off and the first day visited Fiona an old friend from England who now lives in the beautiful countryside with her family, it was good to catch up and we had a restful afternoon with some excellent home cooking. The following day we went we went to some thermal sulfurous hot springs, we took a helicopter ride over the volcanoes and landed at hells hole, a mud pool and sulferous landscape, fantastic to see and we were the only people there which made it all the more spectacular.
Back to the sailing! Yes the winds were against us again and we had to beat our way up the side of New Zealand, it was beautiful scenery with all the mountains and islands but extremely slow progress, it seemed to take an age to get round the headlands and set a straight course to gold coast.
Paul a good friend of mine on the boat has developed a hernia, so was out of the shift system for the whole race, and Karen injured her shoulder so we were a little short staffed on our watch (Paul was operated on within 24 hours of arrival in Southport and due to key hole surgery should be all right to sail with us on Christmas eve!)
Barry ( baz) on the other shift bought a fishing reel in Tauranga and we attached it to the back of the boat, trawling a squid lure with a bit of salami on. There was much excitement and shouts when an 8 pound blue fin tuna was landed, a magnificent fish. We gutted it and cut it into steaks feeding all 17 of us, fresh tuna for lunch a very welcome change.
The whole clipper race is supposed to follow the winds round the world and be a downwind race, so far we have had very little of this type of sailing, the weather patterns have been abnormal for the time of year. However for once we did put up the kite and sailed with it for nearly 2 days. I got up for the 6 am shift and went straight onto the helm which is usual, we had the spinnaker flying shy (that's not out the front but down the side) down the port side of the boat, the wind was picking up and at times it was hard to stop the boat rounding up to wind. By 6.30am an extra strong gust blew and the boat really rounded up, with the spinnaker up the more she rounds up the more powerful the sails become, within a flash the boat was overpowered, I could not control the wheel and the toe rail dipper into the water. Karen jumped onto the wheel to help but even with full lock on the boat would not come round, it went further and further over until the boom was dragging in the water, skip appeared at the hatch "we're going to breach" (lie flat in the water) there was nothing that could be done, either something had to break or the wind drop a little, allowing the boat to be brought under control, the latter happened and the boat righted itself with a huge adrenaline rush I took some seriously deep breaths and carried on helming!!
3 days before we arrived at gold coast I was on th 10pm until 2 am shift, it was a totally clear night, with all the stars and planets on clear view, we had no idea but someone said what is happening to the moon, over the next hour we watched as there was a total eclipse, it gradually covered over and the moon glowed orange before reappearing white on the other side. Another amazing memory.
After the start of the races the boats seem to disperse across the ocean and we very rarely see any other yachts sometimes until we reach port. This time we were really lucky and on the last morning of the race a yacht could be seen behind us! Yes, for once we were not 10th. New York, with full spinnaker up was clearly gaining, 3 miles and closing. The last 2 hours were really exciting, it felt like we were racing for the first time, we held them off and at the finish line a second yacht Geralton could be seen behind new York, we waited outside the Marina for the other 2 boats to put their sails down and come in together with us at the front! Only 7th was a great feeling for all the crew. Jean and Keith and Catriona were there in team shirts to welcome us in team shirts and the gold coast yacht club gave us a warm reception, the boats are all lined up outside and awaiting being lifted out for cleaning.....more blog coming soon but Happy Christmas if it's not before then!
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