Life on the high seas

August 28 – the following email was received from BAMO today

“All is well - the seas have eased a bit today and things are a bit easier to do.

We are on our 68 foot platform sailing along with plenty of the things that happen in the suburbs of Sydney happening here as well. Baking bread, washing, reading, listening to music ... the big difference being the effort to do these simple tasks because of the healing over.

And by the way, we are open 24 hours.

We are all looking forward to getting to Rio. Sail changes happen day & night.

Napppy rash** is the only thing that I’m suffering from & the sleep deprivation.

All is good. I will get into more of a routine when the conditions improve.

Thanks Jan for cutting & pasting from the CV5 blog - you know more about the overall picture than me.

Love to you all, talk soon,

BAMO"

**BAMO’s crewmate Nina Zeun gave a brilliant insight into the wet conditions and an explanation of ‘nappy rash’ in her diary entry on the official Clipper website (Race 2 Day 15)

“Being on a boat one might expect to get wet. No big deal right? But trust me, there is wet and then there is WET.

We have by now acquired the latter status and the boat is starting to look like a Chinese laundry. There are clothes swinging from every available hook and cranny.

On our way through the ITCZ - Inter Tropical Convergence Zone AKA the Doldrums - we got quite used to being able to keep us and a shirt or two clean during our standby watches. We'd simply take a bucket up on deck and give both ourselves and some clothes a good rinse. With light winds and burning hot sun it all soon dried. But coming out the other end of the ITCZ we have started to encounter squall after squall.

This means our hatches remain firmly closed and the atmosphere below decks resembles a Finnish sauna more than regular liveable quarters.... The humidity has reached a level where the bulkheads are sweating with us (dripping with the condensation) and to top it all off, with beating into the lately acquired wind, we are getting soaked on deck as well.

So now the boat is draped on any imaginable surface with wet clothes and they don't seem to dry any more. So the pile keeps growing. The generator area is very popular as the heat helps, but bunks and handrails and food nets that have been emptied of their earlier contents are all decorated with shirts, shorts and smalls.

Speaking of those... even getting yourself dry is a challenge. I was on the verge of developing a nappy rash from sitting on the wet high side of the boat (all to make us go faster you understand) and it seemed impossible to get my bottom dry again as I was instantly dripping with sweat when below decks. A helpful crew member had to save me by sharing her talcum powder. Oh the embarrassment! But boy was I glad to be powdered like a six month old. We had to surmise: Wet Bottom Girls do make this rocking boat go round!"

Nina Zeun, 35 from Germany, is a Project Manager - like BAMO she will clock up 40,000 nautical miles as a RTW (Round The Worlder).

Email from Gold Coast Australia yacht 26/8/11

Things are not exactly conducive to sending long emails but will try to give you some snippets now again.

I have no means of sending photos until we are in Rio. The time and what is sent via this computer is monitored re any foreign objects/viruses.

It’s midnight & we are on standby watch until our actual start watch at 4am. Obviously it’s dark outside, with a 20 knot wind blowing us along at about 10 knots. It’s a bit like trying to type in a washing machine - you ought to try it some time.

You are expected to be on deck for your standby and watch. Most of the time on standby you may get a chance to grab some extra sleep. Going on deck is a lot like you see on those docos about seal colonies, with bodies sprawled out, all huddled together trying to keep warm before the next wave washes over you. It’s a tale of human endurance and adjustment as you learn to cope with things that were a doddle at home.

We are happy to be in first place so far on this leg and can’t wait to get to Rio for dry clothes, flushing toilets & hot showers.

Our team spirit is high and there is a strong desire to perform well. Occasionally there are small chinks in the team dynamics, but no blow ups yet. I will work on getting info out to you on a regular basis.

Kind regards,
BAMO

Crossing the equator

In this image from the Clipper website Barry (back row, second from the left) celebrates with the Gold Coast Australia crew
as they cross the equator (ahead of the rest of the field)

Reports from the Clipper website continue to outline the excellent progress of the mighty Gold Coast Australia team. The following excerpts detail the celebrations as the team celebrated the crossing of the equator (a BIG event for 'yachties'). 

"It has been a momentous 24 hours, full of celebrations and memories that will last forever," enthuses Gold Coast Australia's skipper, Richard Hewson.

The leading trio of yachts have crossed the Equator and passed from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, a major milestone for the non-professional crews on board and an important psychological one as their lead over the chasing pack continues to grow.

"Yesterday at midday saw us counting down the final northerly seconds and then cheering as the GPS ticked over from north to south and continued rising again. Gold Coast Australia was then visited by a very comical and well played King Neptune who demanded the crew's identity and then cleansed them of their sins before allowing the motley crew into his kingdom*.

"The party seemed to carry on into the afternoon, with people remaining on deck to chat, listen to music and eat the continuous supply of lollies and chocolate and drinking cans of soft drink that seemed to be appearing from various hiding spots around the boat.

"Morale on Gold Coast Australia has always been quite good, but after yesterday's festivity there is a new buzz in the air. The excitement for racing that we had on day one is back and everybody feels refreshed. Crossing the line came at the perfect time for us and the fact that people were able to relax and enjoy the day has really made a difference to the feeling on board, like having a weekend between two busy weeks at work.

"Throughout the festivities I imagine we lost a bit of ground. As I look at the track from 1300 to 1600 yesterday it is a bit wonky and slow but I think that little investment will pay big dividends as the crew is ready for the next half of the leg to Rio."

Maintaining that focus throughout a three and a half thousand mile race is tough. In no other sport do you find such extended durations where concentration is key.

...... The crew are revived, the boat is dry (well, reasonably) and now it's time for Gold Coast Australia to make some serious ground towards Rio."

*note: A “Crossing the Line” ceremony is often held when a ship crosses the equator. It commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator and usually involves a type of ‘baptism’ of those who have never crossed the Equator before and an initiation into the court of King Neptune.

Video of teams leaving the marina in Southport

Found this fabulous footage from the send-off at the Ocean Village marina in Southampton
- some great music choices by the teams!

Race 1 Images - Southampton to Madeira

BAMO and the Gold Coast Australia team at the farewell function in Southampton

 

Hi 5s

Gold Coast Australia Leg 1 team - Richie the skipper is far left, BAMO is second from right.

BAMO stands back against the rail just prior to Race 1 start

Farewell Southampton!



Gold Coast Australia is dwarfed by HMS Illustrious

 

Relaxing on the rail

 

The magnificent pre-start parade out of Southampton

 

An early glimpse of things to come

Winners are grinners!


Skipper Richie (far right) leads the celebrations for the team's Race 1 win.


Check out the joker in the second row wearing the tea cozy on his head!

Gold Coast Australia heading for the start line

Quick post-race update from Madeira

When BAMO was in Madeira preparing for the next part of the Clipper journey, I asked Chrissie if she could get me some ‘quotable quotes’ for the BLOG. I was wrapped when he rang me at about 5.45pm Friday local time.



He was sounding great .. just the same as always I suppose.

Here are some excerpts from our quick chat from Madeira.

Jan: “WOW BAMO a first place in the first race!!”
BAMO: “It’s great isn’t it. The conditions were all over the place, so it was pretty tricky to get it right tactically.”

Jan: So the whole show is finally on the road?
BAMO: “Yep, and the send off from Southampton was fantastic … really amazing to be part of it.”

Jan: “Tell me more about the race.”
BAMO: “Well I think you guys know more about the race than we do … from what Chrissie has said about the Race Viewer and the Facebook page.”

Jan: “What about the conditions?”
BAMO: “We had just about everything. The start was so frustrating. We had the anchor out on 150m of rope at one stage trying not to move backwards with the tide. We saw this pallet in the water with two seagulls standing on it and they floated past us … they were going faster than us at one point. We were totally becalmed. Not that much later we were sailing into a Force 8. Then we got the best of the conditions … sailing down wind is just SO good.”

Jan: “Have you been seasick?”
BAMO: “Yeah, I think we’ve all been seasick at one point or other. I really don’t like being downstairs in rough seas when it’s my turn to be ‘Mother’.”

Jan: “How about life on board generally?”
BAMO: “Well you do 4 hours on, 4 hours off and 4 hours standby. I’m starting to get into a bit of a rhythm. Mind you, I only had one shower during the first race – we all got just 2 litres of fresh water.”

Jan: “How’s everyone getting on with each other?”
BAMO: “We’re getting on well. There are one or two people who are struggling a bit more than others, but overall it’s good. Richie our skipper is keeping us on track … he’s called the ‘kangaroo on steroids’ you know.”

Jan: “And you can obviously get the job done?”
BAMO: “Yep, I think we’ve definitely got what it takes in terms of crew and the skipper of course, to do really well … maybe even win the whole thing.”

Jan: “What’s Madeira like?”
BAMO: “It’s just a great big volcanic rock really. You know Madeira airport is supposed to be one of the worst in the world … the runway is terrible apparently. Our crew all met the President and he commented to Richie ‘you’ve got a lot of lovely girls on board’ or something along those lines.”

Jan: “And it’s off to Rio now.”
BAMO: “Yeah, we start in about four hours from now. It’s going to physically be hard work … we’ll be sailing hard for about twenty days or more.”

Jan: “It all sounds great BAMO!”
BAMO: “Yep, life is good.”

...... Then the phone went dead. Oh well, Chrissie warned me he was low on his phone card and it was just fantastic to talk with him at all.

No doubt we'll be glued to the Race Viewer for the next 3 weeks or so.

Go BAMO, go team Gold Coast Australia. There are lots of us who are right behind you!!

Australian victory in first race

Just got news from the Clipper website that Barry's boat has WON the first race.

 

Like many others, I've been absolutely GLUED to the Race Viewer on the Clipper website. I can't imagine how many hits the site must be recording!!

Here are excerpts from Clipper's official announcement today re race 1 victory!



"Gold Coast Australia, one of two Australian teams competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race, has secured victory in the first race from Southampton to Madeira, crossing the finish line at 1337 local time (1237GMT). For the final part of the 1,340-mile leg it has been a two-way battle for supremacy between the Gold Coast entry and Visit Finland. The Finnish team are set to take second place and are expected to cross the finish line later this evening.



Shortly after the team pulled alongside at the Quinta Do Lorde Marina, skipper of Gold Coast Australia, 31-year-old Richard Hewson from Tasmania, said, “I feel fantastic and I’m very happy with our result. It’s great to have a podium up on the board this early into the race. It’s a great feeling.” When asked what the secret of the team’s success was, the skipper replied, “Hard work at the start of the race; the crew and I spent a lot of time getting the boat ready and prepared. Tactics also played a big part, I was looking at the pressure and weather systems throughout the race and I saw a nice little bit of wind off the coast of Spain and Portugal and we basically headed over and got straight in to it. We had the kite up from then on, flying along at around 10 to 13 knots. And finally, the third secret to our success was the amount of training we put in. The crew trained really hard for this and they’ve definitely come a long way. Everyone had a go at helming on the way down and considering some of these guys have never sailed before their four weeks’ training it’s just an amazing achievement for everyone.”

Despite an excellent start and leading the Clipper fleet out of the Solent at the beginning of the 40,000-mile race around the world, it hasn’t been plain sailing for the east coast Australian entry. All the teams were caught out on the first night when the wind died, forcing the crews to drop their kedge anchors to prevent their boats going backwards with the tide. The

fickle conditions continued and on day two Gold Coast Australia found themselves trapped in a wind hole and watched as the majority of the fleet sailed past. However, the competitive Aussie spirit never left them and they gradually fought their way back up the fleet until a decision to gybe east saw the team eventually steal the lead from Visit Finland.

As with all ten teams taking part in Clipper 11-12, Gold Coast Australia’s crew come from all walks of life, all ages and have different levels of sailing experience. Lisa Blair is a 27-year-old shop assistant from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and has flown halfway round the world to take part in her challenge of a lifetime.

Speaking from the dockside, Lisa said, ““For me it really lived up to all my expectations. We were first off the line and had a slow couple of days when we were caught by a few wind holes but then there was the big catch up, falling from first to ninth place and then back up to first place again.
“Sailing through the Bay of Biscay was something I was really looking forward to, I’d read so much about it and it’s such an infamous place and it really lived up to its reputation. We were freezing cold and miserable the whole time, but that’s OK because when we got through there we just had pristine, perfect downwind sailing conditions, surfing waves. I surfed a wave at 15 knots so I was extremely happy with that.
“I feel great! How could you not feel great? Being able to represent my own state and come in first on the first race has really set the bar for the rest of the round the world race. So hopefully we’ll pull in a few more firsts along the way.”

Joining the friends and family members of the crew to welcome the team were representatives from Quinta Do Lorde Marina, the Madeira Wine Company and Madeira International Business Centre who have laid on a packed social programme for crews to enjoy during their short stopover. After the deep cleans and essential maintenance have taken place the crew will have some time to explore the beautiful island with a jeep tour and visit to the Madeira Wine Caves and a tour round the island’s capital, Funchal City, where they will have the chance to sample the local cuisine and taste the Madeira wine that the island is renowned for. The crews will rejoin their boats on Friday 12 August for the next leg of the race across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is scheduled to start at 1630 local time (1530GMT).



  

Gold Coast Australia dwarfed by HM Illustrious



The day has finally arrived - Sunday 31.7.11 - Posted by Chris Moore

Wow what a memorable day it was, Bamo's cheerleading squad (Colin & Colleen, Lynn, Sarah and Colin and Barry's longterm friend from school days Chrissey Coombes) all travelled to Southampton via train (only 1 1/2 hours) and met up with Bamo on the dock.  He is wearing the Gold Coast yachts formal uniform - very swisshy disshy huh!

It was a huge event for Southampton, it was stated that it was the biggest event the city has seen in years. All the crews had a party on the friday night before and when Bamo rang us the next morning he could hardly talk and was a little worst for wear, he reakoned it was because of the loud music, but we who know Bamo know it was not only the loud music!!!!!!!

This is the final crew photo, just before they sailed . (Bamo second from the right). Each yacht has its own signature music theme - Gold Coast Australia is 'A Land from Down Under'. Whilst the music was playing loudly and everyone was clapping and cheering the yacht slipped out of the marina. Boo Hoo, not too many tears were shed, just little fairy dust blobs.  It all happened so quickly one minute they were there and next gone!!

                                                       Safe journey 'Gold Coast Australia'
Trival fact:
During Clipper 11-12 the teams will get through something in the region of 14,600 loo rolls or 365,000 metres of toilet paper. That's the equlvalient distance of flying from London to Paris

First across the starting line .... GOLD COAST AUSTRALIA

Checked out the Clipper website this morning to see if the Race Viewer and some of the other tracking services were up and running.

Yes they are and it was great news for BAMO's team - Gold Coast were first to charge across the line and by the first mark Gold Coast Australia had extended their lead to a quarter of a mile.
This image (right) of the start is from the Clipper website - imagine how amazing it would have been to be on board!
The website says positions will be updated every three hours on the race viewer.

This is what Race Viewer looks like - with Gold Coast Australia out in the lead, which is what we want to see.
Exciting stuff!!
P.S. just a word of warning - my Internet Explorer ran VERY slowly when I left the Race Viewer open.