The journey begins

 


The race starts this Sunday, 8th January 2023 from Lanzarote. As I fly away from the wintry weather, strikes & NHS crises I feel privileged to have this time escaping to the wilds of nature. I feel fit & prepared having trained for the Weymouth half Ironman in September & just recovered from one of the lousy viruses circulating amongst us all. 


Saying goodbye to loved ones heavily reinforces ‘being safe’, which any sailor knows is rule number 1. Check your life jacket. Clip on. And check others are clipped on too. 


Throwing 10-12 unknown to each other, sleep deprived, amateurs together in a confined moving wet hot space for 18 days is the next challenge! We will vary hugely in experience & to some degree agendas; I have previously found the multinationalism very interesting and inspiring. 

We all meet for the first time tonight, though I have spoken to and arranged good value local shared accommodation with a Canadian osteopath and a German businessman through the wonders of AirBnB and Zoom! 


I wonder to myself what the weather will have in store for us & how deep can the swell be? As I understand it, it is a notoriously fast ‘shorts & T-shirt’ downwind spinnaker run in the moist tropical trade winds. Were being over-powered in the sails can spell disaster in a moment. And the contrasting doldrums can drive anyone crazy.  


I expect that we will all grow as sailors as we expand our experience and take responsibility for our duties. I know that I have mastered the basics over the past 2 years but I am not a natural ‘feeler’ of the wind and conditions, unlike those with thousands of hours of experience. 


Hopefully these 500 hours will bring me closer to that learnt instinct. Before that we have four days of familiarisation and training.

Comments

  1. JaneJanuary 4, 2023 at 10:33 PM

    I am so looking forward to following your blog through the next six months. Have enjoyed the introductions so far. Very exciting times ahead!

    ReplyDelete

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