Message From nicole

So we continue to track our way slowly towardsTaiwan.The wind is a good strength but it is coming from where we want to go, meaning that we have to tack (zig zag) our way there. Progress towards the target is therefore slow. For this race we also have two locals from Qingdao joining our crew - one of whom luckily owns one of the best bars in Qingdao! It makes an interesting change, and they speak good English, so no need for me to use my shoddy chinese!

Message From nicole

Had a great time in Singpore, which was v nice place. Had a champagne lunch with my crew -where i imagine that we got through more champagne than most. Then Sarah came out to visit,so I got to be a girl for a while again. We went to a very nice spa, though sadly my manicure hasn't lasted long now I am back on the boat! Had a good start to this race, but sadly hit a wind hole early on, and ended up at the back of the pack - but still a long way to go! xx

Message From nicole

The race for 9th place goes on... Although as the crow flies we do not have too far to go, but as the wind is coming from the direction that we want to go in, we are having to tack (zig zag) our way there - which is taking some time! The last days are always the hardest as however long the race is, everyone is desperate to get there once you are a few days from the end. Today we wil recross the equator, and the Pollywogs (those who have not crossed the equator before) will be initiated. As a Shellback, I am going to be Queen Aphro-something-or-other, which means that i get to chuck the slops over people this time! I am currently rooting around the boat to put some kind of costume together, though unfortunately most of our costume material seems to be halloween based! This time i think that i am most looking forward to some air conditioning, as the boat is beyond hot, and a v cold beer! xx

Message From nicole

Generally when you are sailing across oceans the landscape is fairly similar. You see amazing sunrises and sunsets, millions of stars, and changing sea state and colours; but overall it is mainly sea and sky. Other days though you see really cool stuff. At the moment we have Java on one side of us and Sumatra on the other. We are sailing past Krakatoa, which is just a few miles away, whilst son of Krakatoa is sending up puffs of smoke from its huge crater.

Message From nicole

An exceptional performance from our boat on this leg... sadly we made the choice to go west and the expected wind never arrived. We are now in 10th place..but its a great watch that im on..we chat and laugh all the time [insert by gary]. Actually they can be quite entertaining - we saw a shark the other day, an soon enough we had jaws music on the stereo! so it's not so bad mosying along at a few knots. 9th place is getting closer and closer and I am perfecting my light winds helming! The weather is v hot, so am having deck showers every day - a bucket of water over your head. The boys seem to like the naked showers, though personally I am sticking to bikini ones. Will be entering the pirate area soon, so we will be on the look out for pirates, which is kind of cool, but also bit scary! Luckily yachts are not usually their main target, as i think that they may carry more than parrots! xx

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Message From nicole

I thought that it was about time that I explained properly a little about life on the boat. Sorry if this is all obvious or repeated, but i thought perhaps that I may have just presumed that you all know what it is like on board. The crew is split into two watches of 5-7 people (depending on the overall crew numbers- as on different legs of the race then we have more or less leggers). We then do 4 hours on, 4 hours off 24 hours a day - so yes it is a bit of a nightmare getting up in the middle of the night (the 4am watch is a shocker) and never getting more than 3 hours sleep at a time - though daytime napping is in no way frowned upon in this world! When we are on watch then we steer/helm the boat, trim the sails, and then do any sail changes ie change to a bigger sail when there is less wind, and a smaller one when the wind picks up. We also tend to talk a lot of shit during this time (the qingdao chat...) especially when there is not that much to do. When off watch then we eat, sleep (and read, email etc if you have any spare time). Every day, one person on each watch then drops out of the watch system to do the mother watch - where you do all of the cooking and cleaning for a day- which is a bit rubbish but can be a nice change +the bonus side is that you get to sleep all night for once! And thats pretty much it- in practice its a pretty simple life. x

Message From nicole

The sun was shining, and the crowds were out waving us off, as we left Fremantle for the race to Singapore. We rounded a few buoys in the harbour, sailed up the coast for a few hours, before heading out to the open sea. We were well lined up for a great start, until a boat that we had right of way over pushed us out of the way, and we pretty much stalled on the line, as everyone sailed past us. We were all pretty gutted, but in ocean races the starts are more for the spectators, as with a few thousand miles to race pretty much anything can happen! 6 crew left us in Oz and another 6 joined. The new watches have settled in to sailing life again, +as I have changed watches I've also been getting used to the new regime. We have been sailing downwind since Fremantle, which has been a pleasant change from the last race. The spinnaker is flying and the boat is much more pleasant to live on when it is flatter. xx