On the up..- 30 April

Well, what a turn up for the books. We've blasted up the rankings and now lying 5th or 6th, depending on where Yorkshire are when they pop out of stealth mode. We are now lifted and up for the best helming and trimming to keep us mid fleet for the finish. Although there is great concentration when doing the jobs, in between your turn you can relax and it then feels like a cruise.

We spotted more dolphins and turtles yesterday and we were entertained by a shoal of tuna leaping out of the water. They were presumably being pursued by a predator, but they were too far away to see that.

I think we're all getting more adjusted to the heat and people are gradually getting more relaxed out on deck in swim wear. I had a deck shower in the afternoon, which was great. This is just having someone pour two buckets of sea water over you, while you stand in the snake pit. Although the water is warm (about 30 degrees C), the evaporation is then very cooling.

I've been on the foredeck, mainly doing bow, for several evolutions now and really enjoy it. I suspect however that I'm really a fair weather fore-decker. Time will tell on that in Leg 8, when we cross the Atlantic.

Life in the ghetto is sauna-like. In the afternoon, if the other watch is working on the foredeck and have to close the hatch, the temperature below rises. It would be bliss to sleep on deck now, but of course we can't do that while we're racing.

My new “knot of the day” yesterday was a truckers hitch, which is used to secure the halyards at the mast, if you have no clutch. James was my teacher and Ben had said he couldn't have any cake at 5 o'clock unless I tied it correctly. However it then evolved that three of us had an exam with Ben taking a video of us. Fortunately we all passed!

Night-time continues to be bliss as the temperature is then comfortable on deck and we enjoy the starry skies.

Jeff, who if a superb photographer, got and an amazing sunset photo last night. The sun has a wonderful orange glow, which I gather is something to do with volcanic ash in the atmosphere, from a volcano in Mexico. Suffice to say that I haven't really worried about taking photos as I'll just get Jeff's at the end. He has some brilliant action packed ones of the race start day, all achieved while he was jumping about the deck like a cat.

It's getting hotter - 28th April

Hi all.

We are at about 15 degrees north latitude. I didn't think it could get any hotter but it has. My perception however could be swayed by being on mother watch yesterday (Each day, 1 person from each of the watches is moved to cooking and cleaning duties. They don't have sailing responsibilities, and around the preparation and clearing up of meals, they have more time to catch up on sleep, and attend to other personal chores.) Can you imagine preparing breakfast lunch and dinner for 18 in a sauna? Lunch and dinner are cooked meals so being in the galley with 2 burners going on the hob and an oven on, in a small space that has very little air flow, even with the hatch open, is incredible. James and I needed head bands on and were drinking constantly.

With James in the galley

Occasionally I had slight feeling of dizziness starting and had to pop my head up on deck to just breath for a few minutes. My reward, after a whole morning’s toil, was to sit up at the bow on a folded sail, reading, listening to music on my iPad and enjoying the breeze to be had there. Having a shower and washing my hair was bliss, but the two hours in the galley again afterwards cooking the evening meal felt as if all the benefit was undone.

Night time on deck is now the comfortable time of the day and last night is was positively balmy, just tee shirt and shorts needed.

This morning we've been treated to the sight of another yacht up ahead on the horizon, which means we are closing the gap to them. It has renewed are competitive spirit and we laid down the gauntlet to Nautica watch to catch them up by the lunch time watch change.

I have to do the weekly check on my life jacket, which means inflating it and leaving it for a few hours to check it doesn't go down and checking the gas cylinder, which causes the automatic inflation, if it gets wet, is intact.

At the five o'clock meeting Ben asks all to give one thing we have learned each day and it can be anything, not necessarily to do with the sailing. Some days it’s difficult to come up with something, so I have to make sure I have looked something up or have a sailing point learned. I've taken to learning a new knot on most days, so my collection is growing.

At the moment we are trucking along in a good breeze. Let's hope we can keep in the wind and overtake some of our competitors.

At least we are moving - 27 April

It's difficult keep track of the date and particularly what day of the week it is. It's easier to just keep track that it's day 14 of the race.

The night before last the night sailing was great. We managed to get the boat moving after a period of no wind and then it is wonderful being out under a starry sky with the moon reflection gleaming on the water and all is quiet and peaceful.

Yesterday was a mixed day for the boat in general. The helm on the other watch lost concentration, turned the boat off course and crash gybed, which meant that the kite backed.  Apparently they got it down at break neck speed and so, thankfully, Josie (the nick-name given to the biggest, lightest weight spinnaker on Singapore) has no further damage.

Rotary, my watch then packed the kite and re-launched her, with what our first mate Will described as a text book launch. The afternoon was heavenly. We trucked along at a reasonable 6-7 knots, taking turns on the helm, trimming and grinding. In between, we can sit in a small shady spot on deck and just read and relax. For a few minutes I could forget that we are racing and just enjoy the sailing. There have been several schools of dolphins spotted and one sighting of tuna leaping right out of the water, in front of a small fishing boat.

I'm on mother watch again today, so had a good night’s rest last night and pleased the crew with some lovely scrambled eggs for breakfast. The galley is stifling hot so I'm planning working in short bursts, interspersed with a sit down on deck. My equivalent of a sit down and a fag, is a sit down and a cup of tea, even in this heat.

We are now at just under 15 degrees latitude and have finished the ocean sprint, more like an ocean crawl, but hey-ho. I gather we've gone through the first compulsory gate, so hopefully the officials won't call the race too soon and we have chance to catch up. I don't like being the tail-ender.

Please post any comments or things you would like to hear on the site.

Steve will relay them back to me. Also any news from home would be great to hear.

Hot and windless - 26 April

I have to admit that the heat is really oppressive now. The only breeze is to be enjoyed when we have wind and you go up on the bow. The best time of the day is evening, when it cools a little and is more comfortable on deck. The ghetto and galley are stifling during the day. However I am now at the stage that when I am off watch, I can sleep,  in spite of anything. Night time however is very comfortable on deck with tee shirt, shorts and a light jacket.

I am getting more confident on the foredeck, having done bow for a couple of gybes and a spinnaker hoist. I've got the toddler walk required off to a tee now. Yesterday we had an all-girl team on the foredeck to clip on the yankey, making it ready to go if necessary. It's doing these things that makes me appreciate than I am much stronger than I was last year and all the work in the gym over the winter has paid dividends.

Last night we had no wind for hours and when there was the sniff of a breath, it was not helpful to get us going in the right direction. Despite the frustration of this we all keeping are sense of humour. Thankfully we now have wind and are trucking along at 7 knots in the right direction.

Long may it last.

Wildlife but no wind - 25 April

My spirits are a little higher since my last message. I think I had got very tired. It is so hot in the ghetto (crew sleeping accommodation) during the day that it is difficult to sleep. I managed to get a better period of rest between 6 – 9 this morning and feel better for it.

The wind continues to be light and variable or barely existent, but last night I had a pleasant spell on the helm when the wind was more settled. It was a clear night with lots of stars to help keep the boat going in a straight line.

We have spotted lots of giant turtles in the water. They appear to just float by, sometimes with a bird standing on their back. The birds we have seen include booby birds, a dove and a blue petrel.

The race standings are a little depressing but we plod on. We just have hope we have fewer wind holes than the others to get back in the running. I hope we can at least get into the top five.

Staying focussed - 23 April

Last night we got a good kicking from Ben, the skipper. We had light wind all day. In the early evening I was on the helm, I'm not sure who was trimming, (and I'm too polite to say if I was sure) but we dropped to 2 knots boat speed when Derry were doing 4. Ben came up and eased 2 metres on the sheet and asked me to sail more on a beam reach and we increased the speed to 4.5 knots. He was not a happy man. We kept it up all night and have been rewarded with the news that we are up 6th in the race position. The kicking was well justified. It is very easy to get distracted by the lovely warm weather and jolly conversation.

Yesterday was sweltering at lunchtime. Fortunately there are fans over the bunks. Whereas most of us are now in tee shirts and shorts, Shyamala, one of the Singaporean crew is still in jacket, long trousers and boots.

The last watch, 3 - 6 a.m. we had dolphins very close to the boat but couldn't actually see them in the pitch black, just hear the splashes and see the phosphorescence. Later a flying fish landed on the deck. The previous mornings we've had several squid on the deck.

Go Singapore!

Playing catchup - 22nd April

The past two days have seen us going to lighter winds, meaning great concentration is required on the helm and trimming. We are just under 20° north and it's hot during the day. At night also, there's no need for mid layers now, just a tee shirt and a light jacket.

The 6 a.m. watch now clean the decks, taking it in turn with the trimming, grinding and helming positions so we look spick and span by early morning.

I'm not really ready for breakfast a 5.30 a.m., but aware that I have to eat, it's down to just having fuel in my system.

Having dropped back our position, due to kite wrap, we were aware that we will not catch up just on boat speed, so we needed to make a tactical move and headed off shore to minimize the effect of a patch of lighter winds closer to the coast. Ben noticed also that boats up ahead also turned offshore later, but we are hoping that being the first to do so will get the jump on them.

In between the banter we're having some quite high brow conversations, as Chantal has a degree in classics from Oxford. We also had one night when one watch was reading poetry and the other singing. This is all great at allowing you to unwind in between the concentration of trimming. We have to be quite disciplined not to get distracted by the conversation when one has the turn on each of the sailing positions.

Below deck is hot and no one is sleeping in a sleeping bag now. I'm mainly hot bunking with James, one of two nippers and we each change the sleeping bag to the top for each other so each has the bunk ready to get into when coming off watch. It's like having a turn down service. I've even left some sweets on the pillow a couple of times so it's real five star service!

The nippers; James and Sherlyn are both 20. Sherlyn is doing round the world and James joined the boat in China and we have him to the race end.

We are a happy crew and happiness below decks transfers to cooperation and best performance on deck, so hopefully we can gradually claw back our position.

Recovery – 20 April

The general consensus is that, while the kite wrap is not something we would wish for, the joint efforts of sorting the problem has had the effect of team bonding. It has greatly brought the crew together.

The wind was very fluky in the night, making the helming quite challenging at times. Light wind makes it much more difficult.

I was able to go straight from mother watch into my bunk at 9 p.m. last night and in the two off watches during the night I felt I had properly been asleep for the first time during the trip. I feel much better for it. Gone is that floaty feeling you get when you are short of sleep or jet lagged.

The midnight to 3 a.m. watch was great fun, with my learning a great deal about down-wind sailing which we continue with. Between trimming and helming, I feel much better at interpreting what is going on. We have now had a kite up continuously (other than the wrap) since day 2.

While rotating on the kite trimming and the coffee grinder, which we do every 15mins, we entertained ourselves with singing a variety of songs. Laura sang some spirituals, Bilbo taught us the words to Waltzing Matilda and we had various from the shows like "my Fair Lady".

This morning we have had sighting of whale spout, a pod of what we think were white dolphins, a black footed albatross and a group of seals.

Spinnaker dramas - 19 April

Another day on the big red bus, this time with drama over the last 24 hours. I have largely missed it, as I was asked to swap on to mother watch last night, to cover for Neil, who injured his hand early on in the race. He had a nasty cut over the knuckle and is rather limited by being one handed at the moment.

While I was tucked up in bed at 11pm we got a nasty wrap in Josie, the light weight spinnaker. It took until 8am this morning to get her down, having sent two people up the rig, and a lot of the crew being up all night. I fear it will have set us back in the race standings from being very well placed for a point scoring position at the gate, but Josie is now repaired by our expert sail repairer Mererid.

As I write, lunch is postponed so that we can re-fly her at watch change. A lot of people are tired but recovering from the stress and life is returning normal at least below deck. I have the chocolate cake made for 5pm tea, so I am hoping to have a shower, read a bit and catch up on some sleep this afternoon.

Previously I had had a good day doing a mixture of jobs. Ben, our skipper, gave us a master class in kite trimming in the afternoon. He then went up the rig and Bilbo, one our Ozzy crew went up to the end of the spinnaker pole to fit a temporary guy (control rope for the windward side of the sail), so that the main guy could be brought in to check for sign of chafe. Chafe is the enemy on a long distance ocean racing yacht. The guy was fine and was returned to action in the one operation.

The weather continues to get warmer and I did get into my shorts yesterday. It is bliss not having to spend 10-15 minutes getting dressed or undressed at the beginning and end of each watch.