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Howie's
Diary:
Today is a good day for two reasons. Firstly I awoke not to hear
the mind bending sound of flapping sails, but to hear water passing
by the bow. Something I believe they call a bow wave. In fact when
I got out of my bunk I was rather confused to find the boat heeled.
All be it a slight angle. Believe me, when I say this is a massive
improvement on the last couple of days.
And
secondly, we crossed the first of our circumnavigation landmarks
– 360 degrees of longitude. We are now directly south of Liverpool.
The longitude of the starting buoy of the race in the Mersey is
approx. 002 degrees 59.0 minutes West, and this we crossed at approx
13.30 GMT. So TGS Jersey has safely carried Jane, Frank, Tracey,
Val, Stoker and myself around the world. We have seen many things
together. Shared many great experiences together. Celebrated the
highs, and worked together through the lows. And we have always
had great company with us. The next landmark of note is when we
cross our outward bound leg, and 'tie the knot'. That will happen
on our way up to New York. This one feels good, but I look forward
to that one especially.
So
after another painful windhole, Jersey are now bringing up the rear.
Two thousand miles to go. Sound familiar anyone ? A repeat performance
of the last race is, sadly, very unlikely. There are unlikely to
be enough opportunities with weather, and certainly not the same
chance to benefit from strong currents. But, there are several boats
who are realistic targets. And plenty of hard work ahead of us to
do some damage limitation.
Howard
P.S.
Maybe I should add a third reason in there. Frank, for the first
time, free climbed up the mast. He will now no longer be sweated
up, which saves many of us from some hard labour. I will now not
begrudge him eating so much food. However why did he have to wait
to complete a lap of the world, before letting on that he could
do that ?
Marcus' Diary:
Dear All
As
you may recall from my last effort I often spend a fair amount of
time wondering about the theme I am going to apply to my diary entries.
Today no consideration is needed. Today the theme could not be further
from my mind.
Today
we passed the longitude of the race start in Liverpool which means
that those aboard who have sailed since then (the 'Round the Worlders')
have done just that, sailed around the world. This is an amazing
achievement and will soon be complimented by 'tying the knot' (crossing
the path taken on the outward journey).
All
the Round the Worlders aboard are suitably chuffed and quite rightly
so as much has been encountered/endured/enjoyed along the way. However,
my personal feelings area little more bittersweet in that having
joined the race at the beginning of leg 2 (a couple of badly timed
exams stopping me from being there from the outset) I will not get
to enjoy these moments for myself. Onboard the boat and in all other
aspects of Clipperdom I feel like a Round the Worlder, all apart
from that one crucial element - I will not get to sail around the
world!
So,
congrats to all those that have reached this milestone. Right now
it may be difficult for them to appreciate just what they have achieved
but to something as epic as this truly takes some beating.
I will
leave you with this one little warning. If you see me in Liverpool
at the race finish please do not mention the fact that I still have
a few degrees of longitude to go before I can consider myself a
round the world yachtsman. I might not thank you for it.
'till
next time
Marcus
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