RACE 7 - DAY 25 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

Another day motoring towards the race re-start gate accompanied by Gold Coast Australia and it's been another day of maintenance, cleaning and fun.  We are keeping to the same six hour watch patterns during the day but have a skeleton crew on at night which means that instead of six of the crew working one or two four hour watches each night, three of the crew work one or two three hour watches meaning we all get a chance to catch up on much needed sleep.

The crew are obviously well rested as most people are now staying awake for the majority of the day... although that could also be due to the fact that everyone enjoys our daily stop with Gold Coast Australia so much that they don't want to sleep through it.

Just before our planned stop today the call came over the VHF from Gold Coast Australia that they were out of oil and could we spare some.  There was some concern amongst the crew as we quickly tried to work out how much engine oil we had until they continued talking about their plans for dinner and we realised it was cooking oil that they had run out of.  One of the reasons the boats are paired up to motor together at this time is to give each other support in case of issues - I'm not sure cooking oil was ever imagined to be one of the support issues but Derry-Londonderry are always happy to help, especially where food is concerned as it is one of the major topics of conversation on board... to be honest sometimes it feels like it is the only conversation on board!

We stop each day to give the engine a chance to rest and to cool down so that our engineers for the day can do an engine check. During today's planned stop we decided to raft together (we normally just drift along within a safe distance of each other) and so some of took the opportunity to sit awhile on another boat and have a different view of our Legenderry vessel.  Baz, our Bosun, took the opportunity to grill Chris about our broken sewing machine which is a beast from the Dark Ages needing constant TLC to get it to even consider sewing a stitch.

Ollie also took the opportunity to have Debs , a nurse on board Gold Coast Australia, look at a Christmas Day injury to his head -  not that he doesn't trust Skipper Mark (our medic on board) but the wound was struggling to heal in the hot and humid weather and maybe he thought Deb's hands would be slightly gentler then Mark's! I looked over Deb's shoulder as she worked so I can play nurse over the next few days although I have to be honest that there were times that I looked away - it's much easier dealing with children under five and their bumps and scrapes (as I did in my real life before the Clipper Race) rather than a grown man now affectionately known as 'Scabby'.

I know all the recent blogs have talked about the hot weather but it is relentless - we put up our bimini during the day to give some shade but then this affects the temperature down below as the slight draft that comes through the hatches is halted by the bimini however the shade does allow us to complete our jobs without getting sunburnt and means that we are able to walk on the shaded deck without shoes - the uncovered deck is painful to walk on unless it has had a bucket of water thrown over it.  The ghetto (where we all try to sleep) is like a sauna and although we have a fan that is only a blessing for those who lie in its air current - most of us lie with our feet hanging off our berths trying to find some cool air! Luckily because of our current watch pattern even when we don't sleep for long during our off watch we are not long before we get another off watch to try get a few more hours of fitful humid sleep - because we are all getting more opportunities to sleep we are all fully refreshed and eager to begin racing again.  One of the benefits of this motoring period is that the two watches are spending much more time together and all getting along well.

Much of the talk is about when the race will restart and how we are all going to be ready to start racing hard from the minute we cross that line.

Gold Coast Australia are only an hour and 20 minutes ahead and although we have thoroughly enjoyed our motoring days together we are still determined to chase them down and maybe, just maybe take that top spot.

Send us all your positive vibes our 'Home Watch Crew' - we are very positive and motivated on board but a little extra push from our friends and family might just make the difference.

Love to all at home

L
x

RACE 7 - DAY 11 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

Life on board Derry-Londonderry during the current effects of the Madden Julian Oscillations is challenging to say the least - not only are we having to cope with the intense heat and humidity but also the way the weather will change in a minute and you have to be prepared to quickly down a headsail or put in a reef.  After 10 days of sailing together Starboard Watch have become a well oiled team - the new leggers have shown huge levels of enthusiasm for all aspects of sailing - not only helming, the bow and the snake pit, but also the others roles that are necessary to keep our boat Legenderry - cleaning, bilges, mother and engineer duties.

We all work well together and our evolutions are generally quick slick and quick - we've started to time them so we can see how we can improve and no doubt there will be some competition with Port Watch to see whose evolutions are the most effective.

Today Tom, the media intern who has joined our boat in Gold Coast, gleefully told us that our expected date of arrival into Batam was the 6 June!  This information came from SeaPro Plus - the navigation software which we rely on to give us information about boats in the area, our position, our speed and also gives us computerised charts which we use to plan our route (we also have paper ones on which we log our course).

Another benefit of the navigation software is that you can use it to work out our distance to run, our time to the next way point and, as mentioned above, our estimated time of arrival. Unfortunately when the wind has deserted us and we are only doing one knot an hour the ETA can become rather depressing and although I'm sure the winds will come the thought that we would be another five months at sea meant that the conversation turned once again to food and rather gruesomely to who we would eat first if the food ran out.  Many suggestions were put forward as to how to decide who to eat first but in the end it was decided that first eaten would have to be the person who ate the most - primarily because they would be quite nutritious but also so that they didn't eat too much of our rations.

Hands down it was voted that the person who eats the most of Derry-Londonderry was Graham and so we had our first volunteer (or victim?)  It was also decided that second to be eaten would be Fiona - she must be incredibly healthy because she is a vegetarian and a very healthy eater - we also thought that it would be a waste to keep Fiona alive as, being a vegetarian, she obviously wouldn't want to eat a fellow crew.  This was confirmed as the right decision when Fiona admitted her family had come to the same conclusion in similar discussions!  Anyway we have just had another squall and our ETA now reads 26 January so I'm sure you at home will be glad to know we probably won't be eating your loved ones.

Apart from conversations about food most of the time during our on watch is spent looking at the skies and the far seas to see where the next squall will come from.  A squall can be seen some miles off but it really is a game of chance as to whether the squall will come your way and douse you with torrential rain whilst giving you a huge wind lift that shifts the boat from 1 knot to 10 in as few minutes.  The effects of the squall can be seen on the water - the flat calm of the sea in the hold of the doldrums starts to ripple and you can see the ripples coming closer and closer.

The on watch can watch for a squall for hours - willing one to come our way and not the way of the other boats that can be seen - New York, De Lage Landen and Visit Finland.  Although you don't wish other boats ill you certainly don't want them to catch the benefits of a squall whilst you sit and watch them go by... and we have done an awful lot of sitting and watching recently.  In fact not only is a squall welcomed for the wind but it is also welcomed because whilst in the doldrums there isn't always an awful lot to do but once a squall comes we all leap into action and are kept busy with the sails until the squall passes.  During the quiet windless periods (which sadly are lasting for hours at the moment) the crew look for other ways to pass the hours -  the trim team constantly check the sails to make sure they are working to the max, new strops are made, line ends get whipped so they don't fray and sail ties are made out of old halyards but once those jobs are done there is little to be done and so it was that I found myself cutting Tom's hair - I had refused to cut it at first knowing I had absolutely no talent in that area but there wasn't much else to be done this afternoon and so I finally relented!  The Clipper Race brochures told me I would learn new skills during the race but hair dressing..!  Now I think I did a very fine job but for some reason no one else on the boat wants me to continue to improve my skills on their head - even the skipper would prefer to look like Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining' then let me loose near him with scissors... maybe it is the fact that Tom's hairline at the back of his head is slightly higher at one end then the other - but at least it looks even when the boat is heeled over!

I am surprised by how much I am enjoying this leg – I was dreading the heat and the length of the leg but we have such a great crew on board that time is going very quickly and the squalls bring welcome relief from the heat - no one bothers to put any waterproofs on as it's a delight to be bathed in cool rain water and feel squeaky clean if only for a few minutes.  The heat and humidity IS miserable - you spend most of your time in a muck sweat (worse below deck then above) and even the pleasure of a twice weekly shower passes quickly as by the time you have cleaned out the shower you are sweating, perspiring or glowing just as much as you were before your shower.  This leg is great fun though - the lightening which accompanies the squalls is breathtaking and a sight to behold, the cool rain is a joy as are the faces of your fellow crew as they watch the approaching rain with big smiles on their faces and shower gel in hand!  I'm loving this leg and although it is a challenge it has its rewards and I know I will look back on this leg as one of my favourites.

Love to all at home - I'm sure the fires are lit and the woolies are being worn and you know you are missed. X

RACE 7 - DAY 4 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

Yet another day of champagnes sailing - fair winds, warm sun, good food, good evolutions and great company... life could hardly be better than being on our good ship Derry-Londonderry.

The temperature is climbing every day - today it's been around 35' and expected to get hotter as we go north towards the equator.  The mothers, Michelle and Javier, have been kept busy keeping the crew well hydrated - even below decks there is little respite from the heat (in fact it's hotter than on deck most of the day) so everyone needs to drink lots of fluid.

Everyone's interest in food is dipping as the temperature rises - we are now down to making only two cups of porridge for breakfast - down from our usual four but there are still the porridge stalwarts who eat it every day - Graham, Annie, Tim and myself.

As the day moved into evening the wind started to die as predicted by the GRIB files sent to each boat by the Race Office - we have put our windseeker up and for the past couple of hours we have been struggling to make two knots but thankfully in the past hour we have picked up slightly and are up to around 4.5 knots - a similar speed to Edinburgh who appeared on the AIS an hour ago.  It is very frustrating being windless  - the crew trim as much as possible and sit on the low side to try keep the boat moving and it takes a delicate touch on the helm but without a good wind we are almost powerless to make any headway... 10 nautical miles over the past two hours!  We are thinking of running a 'Weakest Link' competition to identify crew who could maybe swim for land so that we can ditch some weight.

We are carrying extra weight at the moment which is giving the crew great concern - 3 unidentified birds landed on various parts of the boat and have stayed there most of the day - even after a prod from Ollie they refused to move so there is now talk of bird pie for lunch tomorrow although to be honest they look a bit scrawny and not at all tasty to me.

There is a great atmosphere on board at the moment - that isn't saying that we are happy with our position in the race but everyone is willing to work hard to make our way up the positions and we know that we will do this as the race progresses.

RACE 7 - DAY 1 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

It seems an age since we arrived at Southport Yacht Club to a fantastic welcome from the Club members and from our fellow RTW crew.  From day one it was obvious that Gold Coast was going to be a great stopover as Southport Yacht Club and Gold Coast Tourism had gone to great lengths to make sure we all were looked after and had planned many activities for the crew.

Each boat was also sponsored by a local surf club and also by a local café or restaurant all of whom had provided each boat with a hamper on arrival.

 We were sponsored by Glass - a restaurant on Marina Mirage and we were delighted to find that our hamper contained four bottles of Moet & Chandon 'Ice' as well as some other goodies.

In our ten days on the Gold Coast the crew from the good ship Derry-Londonderry have enjoyed all that the area has to offer - helicopter rides, paddle boarding lessons,  a visit to Currumbim Wildlife Sanctuary an Ironman (and woman) demonstration at Northcliffe - our sponsor Surf Club and a wonderful meal at Glass, our sponsor restaurant.

We have also worked hard during the stop over as the boats had to have their usual programme of cleaning and maintenance but in addition all the boast were lifted so that the anti foul could be re-applied.  This was quite a length process as it took two coats of paint but it was great fun to be stood below our beautiful boat and paint her with roller brushes duct taped to broom handles!

In addition we also had a Christmas Carol concert in the park next to Southport YC as well as a Pirate Karaoke Party organised by James and Bambi on Qingdao - all great fun however on Christmas Eve we all put our race heads back on and had a very early start - 6.30 on the boat for a 7.30 departing from the dock.

Race Day was its usual fun but stressful day - more so then normal as it was Christmas Eve and many of us were thinking of our family and friends at home and there quite a few teary hugs being shared out amongst the crew from all the boats.  In fact one of the highlights of the Clipper Race so far is the friendships which are being made and so on Christmas Eve, even though my family were on the other side of the world I was still able to get more then my fair share of Christmas hugs. The couple of hours on the water before Race Start were spent  helping the new crew to settle into 'on deck' roles, doing last minute stowage of gear and then practising tacking and evolutions so everyone knew what would be expected of them once the start gun went off.

The sea state was not overly conducive to our usual race start formation but we still paraded close to the beach trying to spot Northcliffe Surf Club who had organised a BBQ for their members to watch the race start.

Once the race started it was all action as we raced to the first mark 7 miles away before racing back up the beach and then on to our next stop Singapore.  It was great to see how quickly everyone settled together as a new team and it was a good race start for the good ship Derry-Londonderry - although slightly wet but as the saying on board goes .... if you don’t' want to get wet then don't go sailing!

So we are now on our way to Singapore - already we are missing the crew who were on the last leg - Helen, Mary, Neassa, Ali, Omer and Ron but especially Martin whose departure made me cry more than once as he was such a valued member of our Round the World Crew and is already being missed more then he probably knows.

Anyway - time to go back on deck to join Starboard Watch and all the other Clipper Race yachts which surround us as we all race to Singapore.

Safe winds and seas to all yachts and Christmas wishes and hugs to all our friends and family and supporters.  We will miss you on Christmas Day but we will be surrounded by our Derry-Londonderry family and we will have the Christmas Spirit... my pink Santa hat will make sure of that!

RACE 6 - DAY 5 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

It's been an almost perfect day on the good ship Derry-Londonderry.

The sun is out, the sea is blue, the skies are blue and if only the wind would come it would be the perfect day but alas the wind has deserted us today and we are struggling to make more than a handful of knots.  The boats that were in the lower positions yesterday because they to a route further off New Zealand's shores have been able to take advantage of the winds and they have all moved up the ranks whilst we have moved drastically down.  However as there are still nearly a 1000 miles to go we know we can claw back some paces and if today's fantastic spinnaker changes are anything to go by then claw back places we will.

I find flying a spinnaker to be a slightly stressful experience - it's the constant worry that the spinnaker will collapse and wrap itself around a spreader or that it will tear and need an emergency drop which may not go quite to plan and end up with the spinnaker in the water! I know most of the spinnakers on most of the boats carry the scars of tears and rips and washes in the sea as they really are sails that needs a lot of coaxing and loving to fly well. Just in case anything goes wrong whilst we are flying a spinnaker all the crew on each watch have their emergency positions and we all know the role we will play in getting the spinny down safely.  My place is in the snake pit where I am responsible for first controlling the Pole Up (to come down!) and then dropping the spinnaker halyard so it can be gathered in.  I used to avoid the snake pit like the plague as there are so many halyards and other lines controlled from there that you really need to be quite organised and confident in what you are doing... it's only taken three legs but I now love being in the snake pit (and it's not just because it's slightly drier than being on the bow - although that is a definite bonus).

Thankfully there have been no major dramas with our spinnakers today - even when the lightweight got a small hole in it we dropped and gathered it quickly and then put up the medium weight spinnaker.  It wasn't long before Baz the Bosun, aided by Tim, had patched it back together and it was flying again whilst the medium weight was woolled and packed once again.

After a couple more hours with the lightweight spinnaker the wind has picked up and we are now back to flying our medium weight and she is flying beautifully and we are keeping our speed around nine knots and making good direction so we are a happy crew with a happy skipper. Flying the spinnaker is a lot less stressful when the crew are confident in emergency drops but also when the conditions are near perfect for this sail.  We know the wind is going to back overnight which will necessitate a change of sail but for the next few hours we will keep our spinnaker flying and pick up some miles on the boats in front to take us up the rankings.  It hurts going from top three to bottom three but we are working hard and in good spirits so I'm sure we are going to pick up some places.

The mood on board has been very good since we left England all those months ago however over the past couple of days a serious split in the crew is appearing and some rather harsh words have been said.  To be honest it makes me almost want to find a new crew (or at least a new watch) as I have come to realise that I am on a watch with a load of Bah Humbug types who don't absolutely love Christmas, don't enjoy my Christmas singing and don't think that the boat would be improved by a good dose of tinsel, decorations and a tree! Seriously - this is a worry to me as I LOVE Christmas however I refuse to back down and I will continue to sing Christmas songs at the top of my voice in the hope that I will wear Ron, Martin, Robin, Tim and Omer down (thankfully Michelle already has the Christmas Spirit and sings along!)  Ron in particular seems to be a Christmas grump and I have now renamed him The Grinch as he even went so far as to suggest that we would not want turkey on Christmas day as it would be too hot - Christmas...without turkey - he will be saying I don't need Christmas pudding and brandy sauce next!

Anyway rest assured that the Christmas Spirit will prevail just as our racing spirit will - both require full concentration whilst we plan our next moves on our way to Southport, Gold Coast as we are determined to do well in this race and add to our points tally.

Hugs to all at home... and keep singing those Christmas songs at the top of your voice - eventually we will convert the Bah Humbug types and fill them with the Christmas Spirit.

RACE 6 – DAY 2 – by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

Yesterday we left Tauranga after a fantastic stopover.  The crew of Derry-Londonderryhave loved every minute of being in New Zealand especially as it was long enough stopover to get all our jobs on the boat completed and also have time left over to be tourists in New Zealand.

We all feel that Tauranga has been a great addition to the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race as it has on offer everything a crew member could need  - great bars and restaurants, areas of free Wi-Fi (vital for those Skype calls home), lots of outdoor stores (for crew to pick up new thermals for the very cold Qingdao leg which isn't that far off now!) and some lovely hotels and motels where the bed didn't have lee cloths or damp sleeping bags and weren't woken every 4 hours - although most of us seem to wake up every four hours anyway.

The morning of race start, as usual, went very quickly  - no matter how long we have spent on board during the stopover doing jobs there is always something left to do - for us it was to run the new reefing lines in our main (it had been taken off the boat for the huge tear which happened a couple of miles from the finish line to be mended) and we also took some time to stow the galley with the new food that had been bought and make sure our nav area and saloon were tidy and ready for the off.  In addition everyone stowed all their kit in their caves by their bed and made sure all their foulies and boots were ready in case of bad weather,  a good move as it turned out because it wasn't long after the race start that the rain hit and we were all glad of our foulies.

We had a great race start and had a good position until the rounding of the first mark where unfortunately once we tacked we found we couldn't point high enough to clear the mark and had to tack again which cost us valuable time and left us in tenth position.  At the same time the rain was teeming down so the mood on the good ship Derry-Londonderry wasn't the best but as you know whenever we get knocked down we get straight back up again and so we all sat on the high side for the next few hours and made sure all our tacks and reefs happened at ocean yacht racing speed and it wasn't long before we improved our position in the fleet and overnight we joined the leaders.

As I type we can see Visit Finland and Qingdao and Welcome to Yorkshire and like us they are all struggling to make speed (or good direction) as the wind has pretty much deserted us.  The best speeds made by any boat within sight over the past couple of hours has been around 4 knots - not what we planned for during our sprint to the Gold Coast.  We've tried different sail combinations but with only 3 knots of apparent wind there is not a lot we can do.

Every day on Derry-Londonderry we have a crew meeting - today's was rather controversial during the lost property phase (where we have to buy back from Mark any items which he has found lying in the saloon).   Sometimes we get to buy other people's lost property if no one claims it and today Neassa put in a £50 bid for Ben's England Rugby hat - thinking she was joking Mark handed the hat to Neassa only for her to immediately throw it overboard!  Stunned faces all around however the silver lining in the cloud is that our Fine Fund is now £50 better off and so I will be able to buy more bits for the boat (and more Christmas decorations) once we hit Gold Coast.

Finally one of the highlights of our stopover was being moored next to Phil Judd (drummer for ACDC) and after schmoozing with him for some time Robin asked him to autograph our boat 'to the Derry crew'.  Now either Robin doesn't speak very clearly or Phil's hearing has been affected by all the drumming as the autograph says ‘To Derrick and crew let there be rock, Phil Judd’.

.... Skipper Mark isn't getting at all tired of us calling him Derrick!

Love to all at home - the sea is almost blue and the sky is almost grey!

Lizzie Haigh
Crew, Derry-Londonderry

RACE 5 - DAY 8 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

The calm before the storm... What a wonderful phrase that is... but totally misleading! Yesterday and today the Legenderry crew have been preparing for high winds and waves and although the weather was fantastic with sun, great winds and great seas there certainly wasn't a feeling of calm amongst the crew as we knew we had to put in a lot of work to ensure our beautiful boat was as prepared as she could be for the heavy weather.

Our normal 2pm crew brief was bought forward to 8am and Mark took the opportunity to remind everyone about safety and good communication and warned us that when the big winds come the emphasis moves from racing to safety.  The weather forecast was that in 18 hours the winds would be 30 knots, six hours after that they would be 40 knots and six hours after that they would be 50 knots.  These would be the average wind speeds - forecast winds of 50 knots can bring gusts of 60 - 70 knots.  Knowing this weather was on its way meant that everyone had to play a role in preparing the boat; the list of jobs to be done was discussed and they were allocated to individuals to be completed as soon as possible.

Each day on Derry-Londonderry every crew member has a role with jobs to be done within that role but with the forecast extra jobs were added to the list and so, as well as continuing to race the rest of the fleet towards New Zealand, we set about making ourselves and our boat ready.

This leg I am on Starboard Watch and we were the  'on watch' in the morning so most of the preparation fell to us whilst Port Watch caught up on their sleep after having done two 4 hour night watches to our one four hour night watch.  Watch Leader John, Assistant Ben, Martin, Neassa, Michelle, Omer, Robin and myself set about the list of jobs and it gave a great sense of satisfaction to be able to tick off the jobs as we went.  Many of the roles focussed around stowage - making sure that items would not go flying and hurt people in case the boat heeled violently but there were many other jobs as well to keep us busy:

Throughout our six hour watch, as well as putting in a reef, we took responsibility for stowing condiments, cutlery, the fridges, the saloon caves, the shelves and bins in the heads, the nav area, the media laptop, cameras and case, the caves in the mates cabin (tools and bits and pieces are kept here) and all personal gear around our berths.  Checking lifejackets, lifelines, adding extra lifelines to strategic points around the boast, checking the life raft lashings, lashing the spinnaker poles, stowing the spinnaker sheets and guys, checking and locking hatches, sharpening the on deck knives, checking lazerette stowage and putting extra lashings on the gas bottles.

We also ran over MOB procedures and allocated roles for reefs and other evolutions (sail changes) so that everyone knew exactly where they were meant to be.

It was a very busy morning but gave a great sense of achievement to get everything done - all port watch had to do when they came on watch at 2pm was make ready the four long line warps in case they needed to be dragged behind the boat to keep us straight on to the waves and hank on the Yankee 3!

We did get around 12 hours of heavy weather and we were all glad we had made the preparations we did but the next lot of GRIB files received by Mark showed that the worst of the weather was going to miss us - in fact the GRIB files showed such a change that Mark doubted his sanity for a while and thought he had imagined all the bad weather shown by the previous GRIBS.

So here we are a day later - back to full on racing concentration - as I type the final reef is being shaken out and we are back to tracking down the front runners.

We are all safe and happy on board and know it is difficult for family and friends at home watching us sailing into bad weather but believe me - these boats are tough... and so is the Legenderry Crew.  We may get knocked down once in a while but we will always get up again.

Love and hugs to all at home

RACE 5 - DAY 3 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

It's been a few days since we left Geraldton and I'm slightly ashamed to admit that this is our first blog since then.  Now I could give a litany of excuses for this... that some of our leggers have hardly made it out of their bed until today because of sea sickness so we are slightly short handed, that we are now so focussed on racing hard that doing a blog comes lower on the list then on previous legs, that the waves and wind have been so big that being down below is distinctly uncomfortable (and typing with one hand whilst trying to hang on with the other is not something taught at secretarial school!).  Anyway I won't give any excuse but we will try instead to catch up on our blogs and not miss another day.

Geraldton already seems like a lifetime ago even though it was a fantastic stop. I think most of us on the boat were blown away by the warmth of the welcome and the enthusiasm of the Geraldtonians(!).  The streets were lined with Clipper Race flags, most shop windows had posters of the Geraldton boat and there were scores of residents coming to have a tour round the boat (including Jasmin and Jarvis who drew me lovely pictures as a thank you for the tour).  I think the  Clipper 13-14 Race should plan for the boats to have a longer stay there as it really is a great place to recharge the batteries and the Legenderry Crew managed to do that even though we had jobs to do on the boat each day we were in Geraldton.  We lost some great characters and hard workers with leggers leaving and there were lots of hugs all round although I think we may see some of those leggers again as they are now keen to add extra legs to helpDerry-Londonderry on her way (and we will see then in the Derry-Londonderry stopover for sure!)

The start of Race 5 was very exciting with all the boats sailing very close to each other for the first day or two - it gives extra motivation when you can see the other boats and see the distance between then and you getting smaller - indeed we were close enough with Geraldton at one point for some good natured banter to be flowing between the boats.  Since we left the shores of Geraldton we have been battered and bruised by the weather and at night have been double clipped on for extra security. We are always very safety minded on our boat but with the winds we have experienced it had become even more paramount and we have all been looking out for each other especially when on the bow.

The atmosphere on board is very positive and motivated despite the little relaxation time in Geraldton - whilst some of the crew have been bedridden with sea sickness the rest of the crew have been through countless sail changes and have spent hours sitting on the high side trying to eek out every bit of speed from out Legenderry boat - we are currently in third place so we are obviously doing things right at the moment and long may it continue.

The only black mark (besides the sea sick pandemic) was my mother watch yesterday - all was going very well until just before dinner.  My water for the spaghetti was nearly boiling, my bolognaise sauce was as tasty as could be and ready to be served when the boat was hit by a huge wave and half the water and half the bolognaise sauce went flying - now you may think I'm exaggerating when I say that the sauce went everywhere but it really did.  I was covered in hot water and sauce (no burns thank goodness but a lovely bolognaise smell on my clothes), every surface in the galley was covered, the condiment bottles on a high shelf were all covered, handfuls of sauce could be found under the galley sink and every bottle in there was covered, bowls when flying as far as the heads and covered the galley floor (sadly some didn't survive), and the floor became an ice rink with the slippiest surface known to man!  Thankfully for me Skipper Mark was on hand to help clean up as my other mother, Barry, was doing some sail repair at that time.  It took Mark and I an hour or so to clean up and I know there is still sauce to be found but the silver lining in that dark cloud was that with so many sea sick people there was still enough pasta sauce left in the pan to feed everyone!

Now we are four days into the race the only boat we can see is Visit Finland - over the course of today we have been chasing them down and got within 0.4 nautical miles.  At the moment they seem to be one step ahead of us in their sail plan and they are now 1.6 nms ahead but we are determined to chase them down before the scoring gate.

We get knocked down but we get up again....always!

RACE 4 - DAY 9 - by Lizzie Haigh and Sarah Varney (Derry-Londonderry)

 Remember you snooze you lose! After a somewhat stressful forty eight hours of sailing documented in previous blogs we on the good ship Legenderry have entered a slightly calmer day. Well as calm as can be expected in the roaring forties, which I feel should actually be named the freezing forties. We have seen a distinct drop in the temperature on board. Gloves have been vital as on deck your hands seem to feel the bitter cold quickest when pulling ropes and although to stay warm we have many motion songs (such as Head Shoulders Knees and Toee , the Hokey Kokey and the Lizzie and Sarah Special known as the Penguin Dance) to warm us up many of us dream of the warmth of our bunks.  Therefore breakfast chit chat often reverts to focusing on sleeping bags! You may wonder how this conversation can last so long well let me tell you.

There are two main contenders for the best sleeping bags for Ocean Racing both of which prior to the Southern Ocean leg were mainly used as expensive mattresses or complained about as they were like sleeping in the sun. The most popular choice on the boat being the Gauss a two layer set up with a thick waterproof shell and a thick fleece inner removable lining (Barry also mentioned to me an additional luxury silk lining!) The second being the Ocean Sleeper this has a outer waterproof shell with thick fleece lining and an additional thicker fleece lining which can be added. Heaven pity the poor individual who has the common household sleeping bag (of which I was one on the last leg but I was the lucky recipient of an abandoned Ocean Sleeper thank goodness) We have all praised the level of warmth, snugness and surprising luxuriousness of our sleeping bags.

However there is a down side to both sleeping bags and that is the inability to get out of them as you are woken for watch, as you slowly pop your head out and realise you can see your breath on the cold air and all you want to do is snuggle back inside the fleecy heaven! To put off the placing your feet on the freezing, damp floor many crew sleep with various clothes with them in their sleeping bags and proceed to do a stressful, struggle into socks, thermals and mid-layers. Once dressed the only challenge then is to locate your cold, damp sailing boots which by some remote chance could be where you left them within easy reach of your bunk, however more than likely they will be under a wet sail bag, have flown ten foot across the boat during and evolution or be on someone else’s feet! Remember this hesitation and getting dress has to happen within about ten minutes as the on watch are waiting for you to relieve them.

Any way now dressed in thermals, socks, mid-layers, an array of hats, buffs, gloves, endured the "Smock Struggle" and put on the ever important life jacket I'm ready to continue living the dream.

This blog was brought to you by Sarah Varney and Lizzie Haigh

RACE 4 - DAY 1 - by Lizzie Haigh (Derry-Londonderry)

It's begun already!  We are not even 24 hours into the race and we are all keen to know what distance has been achieved whilst we've been the off watch and where the other boats are and what is the difference in miles between us all. There are six boats within five nautical miles at the moment and it will be interesting how those distances change today now we all have wind - we are currently doing 9.5 knots which is far better than the 2.5 knots we did for much of yesterday. Table Mountain is a very impressive site but it's also a great wind blocker and it was a frustrating start for many boats.

Cape Town has been a fantastic stop and the RTWers and Leg 2 crew moving onto Leg 3 had three days off to enjoy the sites, shop, speak to family and friends at home and recharge the batteries. The Derry-Londonderry crew definitely took full advantage of all Cape Town had to offer and everywhere we went we got a very friendly welcome. The crew had many adventures in Cape Town...climbing table mountain, visiting Robben Island, drinking on wine tours, admiring the waves at Cape Point and getting very close to wildlife - a bit too close for Graham who didn't notice a seal lying on the pontoon in the dark and got bitten on the bum as he walked back to the boat! How he did not see the seal we will never know as they are huge and noisy - the seal actually drew blood but we are more worried for the health of the seal than Graham and so would like to pay for a tetanus jab if anyone can identify the poor seal! To Graham's children - if your friends don't believe you at school then tell them to read this blog!

Skipper Mark and a skeleton crew spent a day doing two corporate sails - one for Tourism Ireland and one for FG Wilson and it was great to take some of our sponsors out on the water and show them what our lovely boat can do - sadly there wasn't much wind for the morning sail with Tourism Ireland but we still worked the crew hard with hanking on sails and doing some tacks. In the afternoon we had plenty of wind and it was great to see how much other people enjoyed helming our 68ft yacht whilst sailing at wonderful angles. Lunch with Tourism Ireland was a grand affair  with oysters, baby hamburgers and many other canapes which were a delightful treat for a crew more used to tins and tins and more tins. An inspiring speech by Councillor Gerard Driver reminded us all what an important part we are playing in the future of Derry-Londonderry and gave a flavour of the welcome we will receive when we arrive in Derry-Londonderry in July 2012.

The team were also lucky enough to be on land during the Rugby World Cup and were invited by the Irish South African Association to watch the Ireland Italy game. We couldn't have received a warmer welcome from Andrew and the rest of the Association and it was great to shout alongside our hosts whilst eating breakfast pizza and bucks fizz. It was a great result for Ireland and we can't wait to hear how they progress in the next matches.... and I have to be honest and say that some of the crew also watched, with great enthusiasm, the England Scotland game. We were jumping off our seats in the outdoors amphitheatre but thankfully England pulled it off at the last moment.

Once again it was tough saying goodbye to the crew who have left us - not only on our boat but the friends we have made on other boats.  5 of our crew - Lizzie, Stephan, Mark, Rick and Shauna have all returned to the real world and we miss them all already - no more French lessons and only one Lizzie left on the boat after we started with 3 in Southampton!  Thankfully we have 5 new fantastic crew - Alex, Robin, Lou, Jim and Ron who bring a new set of skills to the boat (and stories and jokes thank goodness!)

All those wonderful moments are now mere memories and we are focussed on our journey to Geraldton.  We know it is going to be a tough journey with bigger waves then we have previously faced.  Sir Robin stressed the importance of safety during his talk at the Clipper Race Crew Brief and Skipper Mark has done the same talking about the importance of working together as a team, making sure our deck walks are thorough to pick up any issues before they become a problem  and wearing our safety lines at all times at night and at the appropriate times during the day.