Made it to Oz!

So we crossed the Southern Ocean which is pretty cool, and arriving here in Oz was great. The finish line was a really narrow harbour, so we had to tack up and down to get in. But when we arrived they confirmed that we had made it in third place - which was great. Qingdao's first podium position ever apparently. So we drank some beer and sprayed champagne around!
Oz is v cool, though in reality v hot. I heard that Perth was the hottest place in the world on xmas day, and it was their hottest xmas ever - no wonder I felt like I was going to die at times! We went to the beach for a bar-b-cue on xmas day, which was great - though it is not at all christmassy swimming in the sea and cooking prawns on a bar-b-cue!

Have been to try and swim with the dolphins this week. Sad I know - and also they didn't come and play with us, so a bit of a non-event in the end, as its not as though I haven't seen lots of dolphins off of the boat! In the past few days I have been kitesurfing - which is really cool, though I have only had a few lessons, so am not really wizzing it around yet. But apparently Hawaii is the home of kite surfing, so I can brush up on my skills there.... Tomorrow it is back to the boat before we leave on 1 Jan - so it may have to be a night in on NYE as I deal with all of my kit and get a good sleep in a nice bed before we leave again!

Hope everyone had a great xmas and new year
Love Nicole

Message From nicole

We are a day from Fremantle and I was expecting it to be nice and hot by now - isn't Oz supposed to be hot? But no. It's quite cold still and we are stuck in some savage weather- strong winds and big waves. Sails have been up and down all over the place and I am feeling pretty tired after my last action filled watch. We got hit by so many big waves that in the end it barely seemed worth ducking aound them any more! Helming is pretty crazy in this weather- fun, but also a bit scary when you reach the crest of a wave and there is a huge gaping hole in front of you! Sometimes you can sail down into it. Other times you hit the trough of the wave with a big crash! As you can imagine, I don't think that my course was the straightest! Hope everyone has a great christmas - not sure what I will be up to yet, but it will be my first one in the sun. love Nic

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Message From nicole

Although the wind and waves have been smaller than I expected for the Southern Ocean, this has been a tough leg. The cold makes it more difficult to cope with, especially when there is little to do. And when you do have to leap into action, then I find it really hard to move with all of the layers on! We had a bit of excitement a few nights ago. Firstly on the nightwatch we smelt a fishy smell that is apparently the smell of an iceberg (no I didn't know that either) so we were all shitting it and on full alert to spot the berg. None in sight - maybe it was just some fish! Then on our next watch (now daylight) we spotted the berg on the horizon. Now some claim it was just a cloud but it was sharply defined, and in the sea not the sky, and I am convinced that I saw my first iceberg. Now that is pretty cool! This morning we had a halfway party with beer, as we are now more than half the way to Oz! xx

Message From nicole

Although a number of us now have more than 9000 miles of ocean racing under our belts, we were all still a bit apprehensive about the wilds of the Southern Ocean that lay ahead when leaving Durban. Although we got off to a good start, soon after the winds got up and we were faced with a tough few days of strong winds and large waves crashing over the decks, dousing us all. Everyone had to dig deep as we had no idea whether we were facing 3 weeks of this, with the cold and swell getting worse and worse. Luckily the wind dropped off and we have had a few days of great sailing with decent winds and the sun shining. Now though we have the opposite problem and are stuck in a wind hole barely moving, which is often much harder to cope with! We have had 6 new people join us for this leg and although it is tough on board with so many people, it is great to have some new people to talk to and different dynamics.

Message From nicole

We are now well on the way to Fremantle -only 3500m to go! The first few days have been pretty wet +wild, with lots of strong winds +large waves crashing across our decks. so we have all been pretty soaked. Wind has dropped off a bit now,so am hoping for a chance to dry out a bit! Durban stop was fun. Managed to go to the mountains + to a small game park, though the shoddy weather meant that there were not many chances to make it to the beach. xx

South Africa

So we finally made it to SA -after some periods of no wind intersperssed with squalls of 50knots! It was fun, though a little scary- and Iexpect that the next leg will be a lot scarier - bigger waves and bigger weather. SA has been fun - more rain than you can imagine, which was a little disappointing, but have managed to go to the mountains, and go on a game drive. Now hanging out in my very nice hotel! Is so good to have a good bed and a bath....! Race leaves again on sunday, so hoping that the rain and crazy storms hold off.
Ciao for now
Nicole xx

Message From nicole

How depressing! 200 miles from the finish line and the wind dies so that the notorious Agulhas current is stronger against us than our boat speed, and we are forced to anchor to stop us from going backwards. Everyone is desperate for a beer, a shower, and a whole nights sleep, and there we are just floating around off the South African coast. I nearly cried! Luckily Durban who were close by were having exactly the same problem.
Thankfully, the wind has picked up again now and we are steaming up the coast again. It's actually a pretty beautiful coastline to be sailing along, but Durban are hot on our heels, so although we are all exhausted (I feel like I can barely stand up), we are sailing hard to keep ahead.
We've seen lots of whales in the past few days, some quite close to the boat. The other watch claim to have seen a shark, though I am not sure if they are just trying to make me jealous! xx

Message From nicole

So we are heading up the S African coast, though still 200 miles to go. Have seen some great things over the past few days. Whales, huge schools of dolphins, and the most amazing phosphoresence that you could imagine as we rounded the Cape. Apparently you can see the two oceans meet, as they are diff colours but it was dark for ua. But I think that the different oceans created a crazy light show instead -creating glow in the dark waves and dolphins! x

Message From nicole

Had some action on the bow (front) yesterday, as our bowman was on mother watch (ie doing the cooking +cleaning). Am usually too scared, as its where you get big waves breaking onto the boat. But it wasn't too choppy, so I went up there to do the bow stuff for the spinnaker hoist. Was kind of stressful as I wasn't too sure of what I was doing, but also quite exciting. We are sailing up the S African coast at the mo, and due in in the next day or two. x

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Message From nicole

Less than 100 miles left to the Cape now, so we should round it tonight. Had some small winds recently, so some of the other boats have been catching us. We are expecting the sprint up the coast to Durban to be a pretty exciting race as lots of the boats bunch up closer together. Wind has now picked up again +we are storming along again. Sadly our rounding the Cape whiskey lept to it death a few days ago, but we have managed to find some sloe gin instead!

Message From nicole

Currently burning it along at around 13 knots. The waves have really begun to pick up. The 5m swell is way bigger than anything any of us have seen before. You would think that it would be quite scary, but the Lady Qing (the boat) is loving it. Helming in this weather is pretty exciting. The sun is out and when you hit a wave at speed, you get a huge surge of power as you surf down the other side. The other night was a bit different though. In the gusty winds it felt a bit out of control when steering so we dropped the spinnaker in the middle of the night. It looked quite ropey for our bowman sat out on the pole, although I am sure the phosphorescence, white water and beautiful stars kept him entertained, while we did all the work on deck! Still no sign of the fabled iceberg, though we are all keeping our eyes peeled. And still no positive confirmation of the Southern Cross -so glad to have a real compass!

Message From nicole

Boat is a joy as ever- never has so much crap been discussed in one place! Today we had an interesting discussion about why the women should all start to lactate so that we don't have to use powdered milk.....! (hmmm!) We were all psyched up about Big Friday (big winds were predicted), but it came and went without troubling us. Nights are getting a little chilly now but Orion is still with us every night (+has been since Liverpool). Still leading! xx

Message From nicole

We're the lead boat at the moment, which is pretty cool. Still a long way to go, but its definitely much more fun to be at the front than the back. Winds have been great and we have already clocked up over 1000 miles. Unfortunately though, the excessively large bruise on my bottom (achieved at the end of the last leg) seems only to be getting bigger.... although my klutz like tendencies, whilst still the worst on the boat, may have improved marginally...

Leg 1...

So we finally made it to Brazil..... A few days late but never mind. Brazil is good, I am eating lots of fruit to make up for all that I have missed over the last weeks - oh and a few beers and Caipirinias. Brazil is nice, though lots of pick pockets - my friend already has had her bag snatched. We are now at the beach chilling out for a day or two, though we have to go back to stock up the boat with food tomorrow.
So how was leg 1...? Good and bad. Did some great sailing, with the sun shining, the stars out, and the dolphins playing alongside, spinnaker flying and surfing down the waves. Also had some tough times, with things breaking in the middle of the night, or no wind at all - which is v frustrating for everyone . Have been trying to hone my helming skills, but am still fairly shit - though by no means the worst. We have a great crew, though there are some pretty interesting characters on board, so am doing my best there . Got told off for always being last on watch - though personally I think that the fact that I am not late (not early mind) is pretty bloody good for me - (must try harder, but is pretty hard having to get up every few hours, and I get delayed by all of those decisions about what to wear! - one layer or two, shorts or oilies - is very difficut). Have my second biggest buise ever at the mo, an my bottom, which means that I am looking particularly attractive in my bikini!
So is pretty cool to have made it across the Atlantic. We didn´t get a great placing, but I think we have potential for the future. (Maybe a podium spot in Durban...??) We are good at getting good mileage - but not always in the right direction! Have been making good use of the udder cream, though the one on board has peppermint in it, which gives you a slight tingling feeling in your bottom!
So i´ll leave you with that thought ......
xxx

Message From nicole

So we crossed the equator on Sunday lunchtime. Neptune visited for our equator crossing ceremony and initiated us by throwing either nasty slops or cold porridge on us (luckily I got the porridge which was the better of the two). We then finished off with a very nice bottle of whisky (courtesy of one of our Scotsmen) - some for Neptune + some for us. Now we are bashing down the coast of Brazil (lots of waves + spray) ETA Thurs lunchtime. Bring on Brazil!

Message From nicole

Its getting damn hot now as we continue down towards the equator. Night sailing is now much more fun than day sailing, as you get a nice warm breeze under a starlit sky, instead of the scorchio of the day. Had a party the other day for skipper Marcus' birthday, with hats, balloons, a moustache competition (face paints for the girls, some v dodgy real ones from the boys) and some comedy boobs...! Surprisingly, the boobs have proved to be particularly useful when trimming the spinnaker (as a small cushion)! Saw the coolest thing last night. There were some dolphins swimming alongside the boat, which you coudn't see in the dark, but then you could see these swooshes of phosphoresence as they swam around. The phosphoresence is like little fairly lights in the sea! Our email system is a little shoddy, so if anyone has tried to email me on the boat, then its possible that it hasn't made it, so just try again.

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Message From nicole

Day 16. A question. Why do things always break in the middle of the night? In the daytime, we sail along nicely in the sunshine. At night we sail along under the stars, watching the moon rise, occasionally being hit by a flying fish or two. Then theres a large thud & a sail or something comes crashing to the deck, & we spend the next 2 hours pfaffing around in the dark trying to fix it! Have passed the halfway point now, & heading towards the doldrums. xx

Message From nicole

So we've finally escaped from the lack of wind in the Canaries and heading down to the Cape Verdes. Is hot hot hot and like an oven down below. Just saw a pod of small dolphins. The dolphins love playing in the waves made by the boat, so often come to visit - can do wonders when on a dull watch. Saw another Clipper today. Was WA, though now we can't see them anymore as we have passed them by. haha! Off to cook the dinner in sec, as on mother watch. xx

from the Canaries

'Apologies for lack of updates to the blog but my messages failed to arrive (rubbish email system). Life on board is going well. We are all into the watch routine now. Still rubbish being woken up all the time during the night but am loving the daytime napping opportunities! Last few days have been pretty frustrating, as we hit a dead calm in the Canaries. 0 knots of boat speed is pretty depressing; + a bit of a change from crossing the Bay of Biscay which was choppy, windy + we managed to broach (tip the boat on its side)! Weather is hot now, the bruised legs are out for all to see...'

Off to Brazil

Things have been pretty busy since we got to La Rochelle. Fixing the boat up and obviously eating and drinking a little....
Race one was great. Sadly our tactics didn't pay off and we lost the wind. But we had a great dual for 6th place with Singapore, slowly easing ourselves past them at about one knot. Its pretty crazy doing intense racing when you are barely moving! Anyway have to keep this short as time to rig the boat for the grand Atlantic crossing!
xx

getting ready to go ....

So things went a little crazy for a while... I left my job, moved out of my house, created chaos in my mum and dad's house (sorry mum, I hope that the house isn't too big a wreck from all of my stuff), had a big stress about kit and then left for Liverpool. Managed to get all of my stuff onto the boat while no-one was there (they were all in the pub) - so no awkward questions about the size of my bag (though frankly i have seen other people with bigger bags than me...)
So this week has all been about fixing stuff - protecting parts of the boat from chafing (we should all know that chafe is a big problem) changing all the old lines (ropes) for new ones and servicing all of the clutches (the things that stop the ropes moving in one direction - like a brake). Tomorrow we get a day off before we focus on the first race. People are getting a little tetchy now, so I think that we all just want to get going now.
Liverpool is great - I know that its a bit cliched to say that people are friendlier up north, but everyone has been really nice - and really interested in the race - though I do feel a little like I am in the zoo, as everyone who walks past just stops and stares at the boats.
So this is it from me for now. Next posting I think will be from La Rochelle - the first stop!

training and more training...

So the two weeks of training was fun. My skipper and crew are pretty cool which is the main thing....

The week started with a lot of wind. We got grounded one evening, because of gale force winds (the ones that pretty much trashed the fast net) but we were out and about the rest of the week - crashing through the waves, as it was pretty choppy. Wave surfing is good fun though, esppecially as when you are on the helm as you can see them coming! Week 2 we had a photo shoot. Unfortunatly there, I made a bad choice and chose to go on the foredeck to release the sails for our Le Mons start (we were doing some pretty formation sailing). Anyway, as soon as we got all the sails up (more than we really needed for the conditions, but they wanted to see the logo on the main, so no 3rd reef allowed), things went a bit wrong, as we crashed through the waves and I held on for dear life. I became pretty good friends with my lifeline (which was attaching me to the boat) and the Nicole style screeching was pretty frequent! (Personally I think that it is a good thing as at least they knew I was still there). My lifejacket went off as there was so much water - but frankly I was to busy holding on to notice. Eventually I think that they felt sorry for me, as the main was spilled, and I took the opportunity to crawl (very literally) back to safety. All fun and games as Marcus (the skipper) would say, though I can't say I agreed at the time. Kind of funny looking back though - and there better be some great pictures!
The rest of the week was filled with the standard stuff - practicing everything, though for the third training week there was either too much or two little wind to do much with the spinnaker. A few fire drills (aka water fights) and some cheeky halves, finished off the week. Now I am back at work - only 4 days to go - and still obsessing about kit!
xx

scared...?

I am feeling a little scared at the moment...

Next week is training though, which will either make me feel a lot better, or a lot worse! We will be training on our own boats, so i'll be able to bond with my crew. We are also supposed to be honeing our skills and tactics, but I think that I will try and learn some first!

Anyway, this is also a test to see if I can post directly from the boat... so lets see if it works

udder cream

Just in case you were thinking that this is all very glamourous, so why should you sponsor me to go and visit some really nice places..... Well today my delivery of udder cream came - yes the stuff they use on cows. Mmmm. Lets not think too much about why I really need udder cream. Apparently, nasty things may happen to my bottom!

Changing plans....

So everything has all changed. I got a bit overexcited about the sailing thing and have signed up for the whole race - so I will now be sailing all the way around the world ..... Perhaps a little crazy, or maybe the greatest thing ever??? So it all starts from Liverpool on Sept 16, so come and see me off. Now I just need a new blog name, as I have clealy thrown off my Cameronesque credentials.

We've also now been assigned our boats. I am on Qingdao, the Chinese boat. Not such a surprise there. But I am pretty happy. They all seem really nice, and it is so much better having your own boat.

Anyway got to get to work now. Three weeks left, and counting down the days.
xx

More on fundraising

And here are some pictures from a2i.....

some of the things that you find at the dump




















the dump itself






and one of the children at the physiotherapy project and his mum

Sailing

So in case you are wondering how the sailing is going....

I'm back on training next week, where I am going to learn how to be a racing sailor! Yes, I Know I am phenomenally slow at everything, but you never know. More of that on my return, and if I can work out how to upload pitures onto this site, you may even be able to see some of them
x

Fundraising

So my justgiving site is now up and running, and is imaginatively at www.justgiving.com/nicoleroberts.

The charity that I am supportin is Access2information, or a2i, which is an Amersham-based charity that funds health and education projects for poor children, families and communities in the Philippines and India. They people who run the charity don't take any overheads and all the money they raise goes straight to the projects in Asia:

- Angeles: A pre-school, school meals and community empowerment project for a dumpsite scavenger community in Angeles City. The community lives and works on the dumpsite, collecting recycleable items such as glass or tin cans from the rubbish. Everyone works hard, including the children, picking through rubbish and collecting what can be sold or used. The pre-school, however, gives the children the chance to go to school, have a meal at lunchtime and to learn to read and write, with the chance of a job away from the dumpsite one day. We also fund training for parents, including in community empowerment and leadership, health and hygiene, plus a small revolving loan scheme to help set up small businesses.

- CPREF: A project in the poor Tondo area of Manila, which offers free physiotherapy for children with a range of disabilities, including cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and spinal bifida. The therapists also run a weekly class, allowing the children to get together to learn and play in a safe environment, whilst reducing the families’ isolation and building up a self-help network. Parents are also taught basic therapy techniques for their children.

- The Blessed Hannibal School: a2i funds 12 children’s education - tuition, uniform, books, medical care and a daily school meal – at this ‘multi-level’, or catch-up school. The children all come from a squatter community near the airport and would not have any chance of an education otherwise – some coming to school quite late in childhood to catch up on what they’d missed until then. The school is massively oversubscribed and with more money, many more children could be in school! a2i's pupils are in Grades (Years) 2, 3 and 6 and are thriving, as the smiles in the photo opposite demonstrate!

- Project Hope: a health, hygiene and feeding project in Ludhiana in northern India that improves the health and wellbeing of children from a very poor area by providing free healthcare (by fully registered, qualified doctors) for poor families and also teaching children the basics - such as the importance of washing your hands with soap - right up to how to look after yourself and the family if they're ill. Project Hope also provides remedial feeding and vitamin supplements for malnourished children and trains teachers and local social workers to pass on health messages to improve community health.

Money can go such a long way there, for example:
£30 pays for daily school meals for a week for 30 pre-school children in Angeles (food, cook's salary and cooking fuel)
£40 covers the pre-school teacher’s weekly salary for Angeles
£8 buys a big bottle of vitamin syrup (easier for disabled children to swallow)
£30 pays for a training workshop for parents of disabled children in Tondo (teaching them basic physiotherapy for their children)
£35 covers the salary and expenses for a Tondo physiotherapist for a week
£25 is cost of tuition, uniform and meals for a student at Blessed Hannibal Multilevel School for 4 weeks
£30 covers the salary of a health and social worker in Ludhiana for 2 weeks.

So do please go and visit my fundraising page. I am hoping to go and visit some of the projects during my trip, so I really will be able to tell you how much of a difference your money will make.

Ciao for now
Nicole

First post.....

So if this blog is a bit of a mess it is because I am very technically challenged. Hopefully it will improve as we go along. I hope so.