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