4 generations of the Lawson family on 1 sofa

The final race of Leg 5 has now reached it’s conclusion and after 10 days of sailing and 8 days of leading PSP managed to perform their favourite manoeuvre and yes, they found a…….. wind hole…..aaargh!! Leading into the closing stages by 25 miles the wind hole struck and Seattle, Sanya and Liverpool all sailed past before PSP managed to limp over the line. The team must have been at their wits end watching everyone pass. It was like the Sydney to Hobart race all over again. As Matt, the skipper commented, ‘5 miles further east and we’d have been ok’. The margins in sailing are that tight.

So no Victors banquet for the Mighty PSP team, more the cold plate of what could have been!

The result now leaves PSP in 4th position in the overall race and 26 points behind the leader, Sanya, on 98 points and Sanya have now played their Joker (which doubles the points for the race it is used on). We are only 13 points behind Qingdao (who have also played their Joker) in 2nd place and 10 points behind Seattle. So it’s still all to play for and an overall podium position is still on the cards. As they say what doesn’t kill you makes you better! So I’m sure the Team will still be focussed on the overall race challenge and will be pushing hard in the remaining 3 Legs.

I must admit watching from the sidelines was excruciating. At least on the boat you can see what’s going on and you can all rally round each other. At home I only had my race viewer and an empty house. You can imagine how quiet it was here!! In fact it’s probably just as well no one could hear me. Bring on Leg 8 when I’ll be back on the boat assuming I can survive the next 2 Legs first.

So back at home we visited my new grand-daughter last weekend. Now christened Edie Lawson Harkins, to which I did say to Beccy, that Lawson Harkins does sounds like the name of a firm of solicitors. Thanks Mia, a long standing family friend for that observation! I think I’d better start saving now because those University fees are going to be huge in 18 years time.

This week had another milestone as I tried to extend my authorship capabilities. I’ve written the first part of a children’s book starring Edie, Wilbur their dog, an Albatross  and me. Thanks to Andie for suggesting I do it and my clients David and Barbara Hardy for encouraging me. So the first 3 pages, 902 words, have gone very well, in fact they only took 15 minutes to pen, but that was after 2 weeks of consideration. Now I’m stuck with writers block which is a bit like finding a wind hole in sailing! Neatly done…start with sailing and end with sailing. How did I manage that?

Oh well I’m off to find some inspiration…..now how do you get out of a wind hole on land…..easy, you just walk out of it. If only sailing was that easy!

Enjoy….wherever you are in the world.

Don’t forget, I’m using my story to raise some money for my chosen charity. To all those who have donated, my sincere thanks. Your donation will help to make a real difference in the fight against kidney disease:

http://www.justgiving.com/chasingthealbatross