As with the rest of the Clipper Fleet, air was light in the North Atlantic as 'Invest Africa' crept towards the finish in Derry-Londonderry. Crew members Chris Chart and Peter Sykes write in about Summer Sailstice in the high North Atlantic. (Photo - Crewmember Nqoba Mswazi of South Africa after finishing the Quindao to San Francisco leg):
Invest Africa heads to the starting line for the San Francisco to NY leg.
Well it's June 21, the Summer Solstice, and day 15 of the North Atlantic leg of Clipper Race 2013-14. Today we finally changed our ship's time one more hour forward to British summer time, so our clocks are at the same time as in Derry-Londonderry ,our destination . Over our five time changes across the Atlantic our days have become progressively longer so that last night at our 22:00 watch change it was still almost broad daylight, and tonight that daylight will last an hour longer. The extra daylight is very welcome when you're on deck for large parts of the night, either 18:00-22:00 and 02:00-06:00am, or 22:00 -02:00am depending which watch you're on.
The more light there is the warmer it feels, whether it actually is or not, and every simple little job that needs to be done on deck goes ten times easier and faster when it doesn't have to be done by feel or in semi-darkness. We all have torches with red lenses, but even red lights on deck at night can be very distracting to the helmsmen and so they are only used when absolutely necessary.
Sailing conditions today are quiet, with light winds and calm sea, and so our largest spinnaker, the lightweight, is the order of the day, as well as our main and staysail. Our nearest competitor Qingdao is about six boat lengths to windward of us as I write this, and it's an indication of just how well these boats are matched and how tight the racing is, that after 2,400 miles of ocean racing we are neck and neck. It looks as though we may be fighting a close race with them all the way to the finish line at noon tomorrow.
Chris Chart
Hi All,
Well its day 15 of our race across the North Atlantic Ocean and who could of thought that it could be so close between Qingdao and ourselves. The day started with them on the horizon behind us and slowly they made progress on us as we came back on watch they were in front of us by a few boat lengths. We were concentrating on pointing higher than them and slowly began the long haul to overtake them on the higher side which we did, our spinnaker had a couple of small collapses which put our stomachs in our mouth but as we edged past at 3 -4boat lengths their mainsail began backing as we took their wind. We then bore off and picked up speed perhaps a knot or two but enough to pull away. They took on the challenge and pulled back by going around our stern and the bearing away to at the moment they are a few boat lengths away on our port quarter. This race looks to be set till 12:00 UTC when the race has been called to finish.
There is thousands and thousands of square miles of ocean and this is as exciting as the Sunday afternoon racing on a local reservoir a nail biting finish can be expected between us. On a personal note I am looking forward to Derry-Londonderry and the down time that that will bring in preparation for the race around Scotland to The Netherlands. The Giants Causeway, a guided tour of the only Walled City in Ireland and Bushmills Distillery look favourite on the agenda of things to do. So maybe one more blog to do if not thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing you all soon well after 12 July , Race Finish.
Bye for now
Peter Sykes
