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Eventful months at sea

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Nick Woodward

Barnt Green sailor Nick Woodward sent this report on his progress in the Clipper round-the-world yacht race.

Having won the first two races to Madeira and Rio, we managed to maintain our run to Cape Town and to Geraldton, Australia. There is now no doubt in the fleet that our skipper is not merely lucky – he makes his, and our, luck by his talent and determination, and boy did we need both during the latest leg!

The race from Rio saw us get a good start and the fleet stayed pretty close together for the first day but then we and one other boat headed south and away from the fleet.

During the next few days we experienced some heavy weather and some significant breakages on the boat before making up ground, and moving to the head of the fleet – a lead we never lost. Mind you, we did have to take evasive action round some whales on one occasion.

In Cape Town, we and many of our crew stayed at Catherine Rorbye’s hugely welcoming guest house. It was an eventful stay – I needed crowns on two teeth (but received excellent dental care) and my wife Anne had her necklace stolen in a street. Luckily, with the help of some locals I caught the thief and retrieved it. He was jailed for more than five years after we went to court to testify.   

Cape Town to Australia was a very tough month. We chose to go very far south to avoid a high pressure system that contained no wind. We ended up going to 50 degrees south (and were closer to Antarctica than Australia for some time) and sailing some 1,000 miles further than the shortest route.

Needless to say it was very cold, very windy, very rough and generally unpleasant for two or three weeks. However, we survived and because we sailed round the high and everyone else got caught in it, we won by more than a day from the next boat. 

The two races since leaving Geraldton in November were very demanding and very tough on the boats and the crews. The race from Geraldton to Tauranga in the North Island of New Zealand can be split into two distinct parts. The first seven days or so involved some relatively good weather and all the boats making very good progress towards NZ, but then the storms came.

We were warned that the first storm could be very bad, with up to 90 knot (110 mph) gusts, and that we needed to prepare the boat for it. Fortunately it turned out to be nowhere near as bad as that. However, we subsequently went through four more big storms as we sailed up the coast of NZ, including one a couple of days from Tauranga when we thought we had come through them all.

The result was that we staggered into Tauranga with our main sail ripped and unusable, and plenty of other damage to the boat and an exhausted crew. The only bonus was that we won once again.

Anne and I managed to fit in some sightseeing as the break in Tauranga turned out to be longer than anticipated. We then set off in early December for the relatively short trip (1,300 miles) across the Tasman Sea to Australia’s Gold Coast.

Despite the race taking only nine days, it once again proved to be a tough one with more howling gales and bad weather. In the end it was a very tight race and one which we eventually lost by the grand margin of six minutes (about 500 yards). The Visit Finland team sailed a great race and in the end we couldn’t quite pip them to the post.

I must confess that after the past few weeks I really am wondering what I am doing here! However, in our “home” port of Southport on the Gold Coast, we have received a very warm and hospitable welcome.

This represents the halfway point in the race and the completion of 20,000 miles. Unfortunately the weather is unseasonably cool at present, but still allows us out in shorts and T-shirts.

Next stop Singapore…

* Nick wrote this prior to dramatic events in the East China Sea – read more here.

You can see the latest news at https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com