It seems quite surreal, sailing up the south west coast of Australia, especially as most of the journey was by sail. Right now, though, our progress is minimal due to no wind, again!!!

Team GREAT have been fantastically welcoming. The new Leg 4 joiners welcomed me in Freo before GB came in, and then we all pulled together to turn the boat around for the Leg 4 race as those who had been on board took a very necessary period of time off. Yes, the mood was somber following Simon’s death, but spirits lifted once we started and the race progressed.

Simon was a watch leader and GB’s coxswain, and I have taken over those roles. Having been bosun on Greenings, I have now taken over Simon’s role as the one responsible for the sails and sail repairs. This, however, is very much a team role, and Tessa (our doctor) is brilliant. In addition, the Maritime Coastguard Agency, having investigated both Simon’s death and in light of our putting Greenings on the beach, required Clipper to put a mate on board to work alongside and support the skipper.  They initially wanted qualified offshore yacht masters with a commercial endorsement. However, following Clipper’s response, they dropped the need for a commercial endorsement which was key as Clipper had 4 days to get a mate on board each yacht. I am one of three qualified offshore yacht masters in the fleet who were happy to step up to mate, and 8 others were found and arrived the day before race start. In reality, though, this changes little in how GB is run.

I intended to do Leg 4  with Tamsin and then consider completing the race after we got to Airlie Beach. However I am very happy on GB and have come to terms with my own race coming to an end on the beach south of Cape Town. Now, for me, it is about the experience, sailing with some wonderful people and seeing some great sights. I’m enjoying passing on skills and knowledge and helping those new to sailing to ‘join all the dots’. Hannah, our hockey Olympian, still doesn’t quite ‘get’ sailing, though is getting stuck in to all aspects and is developing as a good helm, and finds some of the conditions, such as no wind, very challenging. It has been fascinating talking with her about her training schedule and way of life that led to Gold. Yesterday we had around 50 dolphins in a very large pod come and play with us for a while. The cliffs on the west coast of Tasmania are awesome, and I was totally blown way with the most incredible sunset last night. The colours and patterns in the clouds, and how they changed and developed after the sun had disappeared is a sight many of us will not forget for a long while.

Leg 4 weather has been challenging in its extremes. Approaching Tasmania in the Southern Ocean south of Australia, we were running under full main, our Yankee 1 (the largest one) with winds gusting 43 knots, and surfing up to 18 knots boat speed. Very exciting for those new to these conditions. We also had similar conditions at night, though the situation was worsened by the completed lack of stars, and a sky full of dark clouds resulting in guiding this 35 ton surfboard into inky blackness at crazy speeds with no references apart from a compass in front of you and wind indicator at the top of the mast. The electronic Garmin wind direction indicators have too much delay in them for them to be of any help. The additional help the helm has is a second helm person whose eyes are pretty much glued to the masthead wind indicator and calling “come up”, “hold” or “bear away” as required. These techniques worked for those few of us with helming experience, but was too challenging for the new helms.  One of the biggest difficulties is the transition of daylight helms to helms who can cope with night under difficult conditions. We had two on our watch who took up this scary challenge (first time is terrifying), JP (Janette) and Hannah, and were fantastic. I can only liken it to gaining an instrument rating flying aircraft by flying blind through a storm! The additional challenge is to do this whilst flying a kite. Last night we had to drop the kite soon after dark because of the wind/sea conditions and shortage of night helms.

So, a massive contrast when back on watch today with bugger all wind . . .

Sydney and a wonderful visitor await, and I’m going to have to cope with Tamsin’s success on Sanya . That isn’t a surprise and I am really pleased for her and the crew of Sanya.

Love to all x