It’s just over 9 weeks since I had the operation to repair my rotator cuff, and I hope to lose the sling and start rehab. Having not been able to use it properly for so long means it will be a long recovery period. I carried on after injuring my shoulder between Fremantle and Sydney, vaguely optimistic that it might improve after my visit to A&E in Airlie Beach where they signed me off to carry on with the race. I knew it wasn’t quite right, though, and it wasn’t improving. I found the Pacific leg challenging, difficult to move about, so decided to have it properly checked out in Seattle.  An x-ray didn’t find much, as expected, but an MRI showed I had a “full thickness tear of nearly the entire supraspinatus tendon” which “involves the anterior fibres of the infraspinatus”. In layman’s terms it meant that I could just lift a cup of tea to my mouth, but not a kettle to make one. Also, I was unable to lift my arm above shoulder-height. I asked what the impact would be if I waited until August to have it repaired, and was told that it might not heal as there was “fatty atrophy in the infraspinatus”. It was an easy decision in the end, as I need to have a properly working arm, so after just over 26,000 nautical miles, and an interlude in South Africa, my race was over.

I was disappointed to finish there as I had asked to relinquish the Mate role so I could get back to proper sailing. I was going to be Pip’s assistant watch leader which would have been fun and very rewarding. However, for many reasons, not least that I am now well on the way to recovery before returning to work on the 1st Aug, I am now reconciled to not having done legs 7 and 8. I most likely will return to the 19/20 race to complete Leg 3 from Cape Town to Western Australia, having missed it this time due to our shipwreck on Greenings.

Seattle was a great stopover, made memorable by Seumas and Laura buying a flight for Susan, Seumas’ mum, to come out. Susan and I met in Cape Town at prizegiving. We ‘clicked’ and then corresponded during my S Africa interlude and during the race from Fremantle to Sydney. Susan decided at the last minute to fly out to Sydney to see if we got on as well in company as we did in writing; a wonderful surprise, and we did 🙂 Not expecting to be together again until New York, where Susan had already arranged to come out to see Seumas, her coming to Seattle was a real bonus. Also, Adam and Tiffany came out to Seattle for a holiday and to see me, but also got engaged! (Planning to get married in Sept 19.)

What Susan didn’t expect was for me to return to the UK with her, and move in with her as I wasn’t going to get my house back until 1st August.  She has also been brilliant in keeping me sane and driving everywhere the whole time I have been in a sling. We’ve been to New York and Derry/Londonderry to to join the celebrations (and a bit of sail repair for me) and will be in Liverpool this weekend for race finish.