All over - 22nd July

Crossing the official finish line with Suhali

We had a heroes welcome in to Southampton. A huge flotilla of boats accompanied the Clipper fleet, in race formation, up Southampton Water. It was so exciting and exhilarating. About half way up we came across two tiny little fishing boats who had anchored in the middle of the route. Two guys on each were facing the other way, intent on their fishing. Their faces were a picture when they turned around to see this mass of boats descending on them. It looked really funny seeing them scrabble to move out of the way, but they really needed to. Someone was going to miss them and their boats would just be smashed by larger ones if there was a collision.

A massive flotilla escorted us up Southampton Water

 

As we got to the turning point to go into Ocean Village, one the boats from my sailing club came past and I was shouting and waving frantically. This prompted the reporter from Radio Solent to put his microphone by me to do an interview. He had joined us as we came up the Solent. I was delighted to be able to give a plug for Channel Sailing Club on the radio show, which also came out as a podcast.

As we approach Ocean Village I heard my name called and then make contact with my good friends Jenny & Harold, who had surprised me by coming down to race finish.

A huge crowd waited for the arrival of the boats

The crowds were huge, such a wonderful welcome. As we docked in the marina, lots of familiar family faces and lots of my friends appeared. Steve had kept it a surprise that loads of my friends were there to greet me. The formalities meant that we kept in a holding area behind the stage until it was our turn to go up for the presentations. There we were joined by members of  Team Singapore, who had done previous legs.

A triumphant Team Singapore on stage

  The joy of finishing third overall was brilliant. We have done Keppel proud. In four years they have sponsored, their previous best result was seventh. The boss of Keppel in Belgium was there to congratulate us.

Ben being presented with a momento

On the stage Ben was very emotional. We were all delighted that Jeff won a prize for his photography; very well deserved. He is a superb photographer, most of the photos on this blog are his.

Greeting friends and family

Released out into the crowd, I was able to greet my supporters group. That much needed beer was drunk and then some tours of the boat for friends who wanted to see just how basic the conditions we've lived in were.

Out to eat a celebratory meal

Time was getting short and off we went to have a lovely meal with my family and friends.

Unfortunately after this, my lack of sleep and general exhaustion started to kick in and I just had to crash at only nine in the evening. Just a well we had eaten early so friends could back home and prepare for work the next day.

What an adventure. There are so many wonderful memories to keep. I am going to miss the team so much. There'll be much more sailing to be had, but not like this has been.

The end of race 15 was filled with mixed emotions. We crossed the second gate, the originally planned finish line, in first place, but because we were too early for the organisers, the course was extended. It was crazy and frustrating to be sent round a triangular course in the English Channel, with the length of the legs of the triangle only 12 miles. The Clipper boats are not “round the cans” boats. It meant that the watch system was destroyed and we were set up to have no sleep during the morning of race finish. This, on top of being sleep deprived overnight to keep our place in the race, was very frustrating. The skippers were on the phone to the race office about this and so the next course extension was to send us back to Brighton. The expected dying of the wind happened on the way back from there and we drifted on the tide with zero boat speed for two hours. About half an hour before the finish line there was a trace of wind and I started to trim the wind seeker. Three boats were very close together, the group including DLL, who we had to beat to retain our third position overall. We all hoisted our light weight spinnakers about the same time. Ben, who was bursting with excitement, trimmed the kite while calling instructions to Jonathan, on the helm. When we crossed the finish line, there was not the usual joy and hugs all round because it was so close between the three boats that we didn't know if we had beaten DLL or not. Half an hour later we had the news that we had crossed only seven seconds ahead of them after this 280 mile (plus loops) race.

Oh what great celebration we had. We had finished in third position overall and surpassed the goals the team had set at the very beginning, last July.

The run to the finish

Perfect blue skies in the Solent

The official finishing line

Jubilation!

The finish line had been put in so that the boats could finish the race about 5am and give us time to get up the Solent and prepare for the parades. Therefore we had to raise the medium weight, branded spinnaker for the last time, to cross the official finish line between a Clipper 60 training boat and Sir Robin's Suhali, complete with quarter size canon, to hail us finished.