Friday 27th July – ‘The end is nigh’

Well the end really and truly is in sight now. I might just have finished my last race helming duties as I think the new watch should complete the remaining miles of the course during their watch.

Matt will probably helm through tomorrow’s sprint finish as it’s only a few hrs.

So we had drizzly rain this morning when I went on watch at 4am. Cloud cover meant that helming was by compass only to start with. Wales has just come into view through the gloom as I write this. Home is within touching distance now.

It’s hard to imagine how much sun you are having when I’m sitting here in full foulies, boots and a hat!

Liverpool will be great and especially to see all the family.

So we’ve had bacon eggs and beans for breakfast. Delicious. My first cup of tea has just arrived. Wonderful.

Friday 27th July – ‘Sitcom Friday’

Well you really couldn’t write this. It has been sitcom Friday here.

The Chinese whisper factory at watch change, 4am, left a lot to be misinterpreted and as a result guess what….the instructions were misinterpreted and we didn’t head as far north west as we should have over the last 4 hrs.

Skipper came up to ask what course we were steering. He got the misinterpreted course answer and promptly went back to bed…..he didn’t seem impressed.

So after 11 months of racing, countless watch changes and many many course instructions later the truth is that communication doesn’t always work.

So where does that leave us. Approx 60 miles to go and then all bar a sprint finish up the Mersey tomorrow this sailing edition of Clipper racing will well and truly be over. Our position will be what we deserve based on the decisions and communications made.

Add to all of this there was a bit of emotion swirling around the boat, for reasons best left unknown, and this morning has been one of those starts to a day where you could really get uptight or you just had to smile and find the funny side in it all.

Me, I chose to ignore a few asides of ‘stating the blindingly obvious’ because they weren’t worth the effort and chose to just see the funny side of what was going on around me. Standing on the helm focussing on doing the job in hand I couldn’t help but laugh inside.

I’ve seen similar on previous Legs and learned then to just let it wash over rather than taking it to heart. After all we’re paying for the privilege of doing this and it’s about getting what I personally want out of this venture and letting others get out of it what they want. Sometimes the best policy is to keep your opinions to yourself and just move on.

You really couldn’t write this stuff…..it truly is priceless!