Send Hannah Sailing

This has been a pretty big race for us all - the first time we experienced the infamous Southern Ocean. We had been warned what to expect (strong winds and waves as big as houses) and this race certainly delivered!

The really noticeable thing about the Southern Ocean is the rate at which the wind changes speed - you can go from a flat calm to 40 knots (gale force) in the space of a minute. We change the sails to account for the different wind strengths - the stronger the wind the less sail we have up. When the wind changes so quickly it is very hard to keep up with the sails. A headsail change at best takes around 20 minutes and is a very physical and tiring task. For exaample most of the sails take at least 3 people to move them along the deck - imagine this with 20ft waves! When we suspect an increase (or decrease in wind) is coming we quite often get the next sail on deck and "hank it on" (clip it to the forestay) ready for the change.

We experienced our first 2 big depressions during this race - one with the wind directly behind us and one with the wind on the beam (our side). The record we saw on our navigation instruments was 59 knots of breeze (5 knots short of a hurricane) which happened when I was on the helm..... Awesome!

Unfortunately as we neared the end of the race we got stuck in a massive high pressure system which had a very bad effect on our position! We all found it quite difficult after the adrenaline fuelled weeks going through storms to deal with little issues such as running out of milk powder and worst of all CHOCOLATE! On the bright side though, the clearer weather meant that we had the most beautiful views of the stars at night. AT one point the water was so calm that the stars were reflected in the sea - not great for sailing but pretty special all the same.

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Since my last blog we have had incredible winds - I have helmed in 38 knots of breeze over monster waves - so I am super happy!  Last night on watch we went from a storm jib and reefed main through all the heads sails and to full main so I am pretty tired - but in a very good way!  The seascape is just incredible!  We even
saw a rainbow made from moonlight the other night - it was in greys rather than colour

Today we have an unexpected break in light winds and we are waiting in hope that our southern strategy pays off with big westerly winds to blow us up to Cape Town.  My finger isn't painful any more although I dont think it will heal until Port now . Hopefully the salt water keeps it clean though.

During last night I accidentally got 2 fingers jammed in a block with the
main sheet.  This means that I can only just use my left hand.  I think I
will lose a fingernail and I have a really deep messy cut.  I nearly
fainted at th time but  I was back up on deck
in 10 mins - I dont think I can remember anything so painful!

Anyway 6 hours later was my first watch as watch leader (I am currently assistant to the watch leader but he was on mother watch).  It was a bit
hairy as we had a force 5/6  a big swell and 3 new members of crew who were
in experienced with the kite.  I set up a mentoring system no the trim with
crew members tat did the last race and supervised the helm.  I also talked
them through an emergency kite drop.  (that was particularly helpful later
on...)  All went well so I went to bed happy but nervous as I could feel
the wind picking up.  I was still in a lot of pain so couldn't really
contribute to sailing other than direction and some
helming.

4 hours later I get back on deck - we have the medium weight kite up still,I did most of the helming for the 1st 2 hours and
basically called the trim on the kite from the back of the boat.  The wind got up some more so skipper came up on deck and we
hardened up on the wind (more upwind) which builds up the apparent wind strength.   Unfortunately this the entire end of the spinnaker pole snaped off and the kite blew out of control.
 I then had to run the kite drop (during which the kite got a MASSIVE rip) and get the headsails up.  Rupert (skipper) was on the helm
and Chris and Jim (the other watch leaders) came on deck to help out but I still ran the manoeuvre which was really cool.  Bit of a baptism of fire!  I had so much adrenaline I forgot all about the finger and as a result it is now a bit
worse as I couldnt feel the pain to stop using it!

Now we have 35+ knots of wind screaming along - the record is 22 knots of boat speed on the most amazingly huge waves.  The
sea is a really deep blue and where the waves crash it looks the same colour as ice - totally what I was hoping for from
this leg - DEFINITELY not easy sailing!

 The race start in the Solent was an incredible experience!  Having spent a week building up to the big event, being interviewed by the media and steadily getting more and more apprehensive about what was to come, the send off couldn't have been more impressive.  Following a procession chaperoned by the Illustrious, we started off the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes (the start line for Cowes week and the annual Round the Island Race).  I was in my favourite position on the boat - bow so any photos of the start - I am the one on the very front!

After the excitement of the Solent and the 100s of spectator boats, as soon as we rounded Bembridge everything became a lot quieter and we started to focus on racing the boat. We were fairly competitive across the channel but next faced our first tactical dilemma:  To go down the Alderney races or not?  The Alderney races is a narrow channel by the island of Alderney through which there is a very strong tidal current which would give us some more speed.  However, going North of Alderney is the less risky strategy as we were to discover.  We missed the strong tide by about 15 minutes and found ourselves with no wind, and dropped our anchor to prevent us running back into the English channel on the tide. 6 hours later we were able to lift our anchor (I wish it was as easy as that sounds) and make our way on to the legendary Bay of Biscay.

I can’t believe how quickly the last couple of months have gone – in less than 24 hours time I will be racing to Madeira!

We have spent the last couple of weeks preparing the boat for the
race.  I am one of the bosuns on the trip so have spent my time familiarising myself with the rigging and learning to splice ropes (making loops by weaving the rope into itself rather than tying knots).

The boats have been moored in Ocean Village – Southampton and the
atmosphere is amazing!  The crew are treated a bit like rockstars, which is fantastic but we all feel like we need to have done some sailing to deserve it!

The picture is from our official naming ceremony – our boat sponsor is
Yorkshire, I am very pleased to be sailing on the English entry.

We are starting the race at 16:30 off the Royal Yacht Squadron in
Cowes tomorrow.  Tonight I am off to the firework display and spend some time with my family before I go – next update from Madeira!

On the 30th of April Clipper held Crew Allocation where I would find out which boat I would be racing on for the next year and more importantly who my skipper and crew are...

This lovely looking lot!

We do not yet have a sponsor - but in the mean time we are the Red Socks.  Rupert (skipper - who I have had the pleasure of sailing with in my level 3 training) chose this theme inspired by Sir Peter Blake, a New Zealand yachtsman who won the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Jules Verne Trophy – setting the fastest time around the world of 74 days 22 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds on catamaran Enza, and led his country to successive victories in the America’s Cup.
Sir Peter and the New Zealand team were famous for their "lucky red socks" (a present from Peter's wife) and this became something of a trademark.

So no pressure then!  In all seriousness this is a pretty hefty sailing legacy and a reminder of the things to come in the next year.  We will be wearing our red socks for luck...  Maybe you could do the same!