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Diary of a Clipper Racer
Around the world in 333 days with Mark Osgood
Supporting my chosen charity - "Dreams Come True"
Final Diary entry, 54, added Monday 6th October 2003.
Diary of a Clipper Racer Around the world in 333 days with Mark Osgood Supporting my chosen charity - "Dreams Come True" Final Diary entry, 54, added Monday 6th October 2003. |
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Latest Diary News 44
- Race 13 - Cape Town to Salvador, Brazil - July 2003 Just
the Atlantic Ocean to go now. After
an all too brief stopover, I am now back at sea en route to Brazil for Race 13.
The race tactics are very similar to the last time we were in the Atlantic in
the race from Portugal to Cuba, which now seems a very long time ago. This
time, we need to head north to avoid the semi-permanent South Atlantic
high pressure system (meaning no wind) before turning west and heading across
the Atlantic in the south-east trade winds of the southern hemisphere straight
to Salvador. It is a long race, projected to last 23 days. After
a fantastic send off from the waterfront in Cape Town, the best send off since
Liverpool, with thousands of people watching us go, we motored for the first 18
hours as there was absolutely no wind. We started early the following day
120 miles from Cape Town. Since then, we have headed north and are the
most northerly boat in the fleet as I write this. The extra north that we
have means we haven't gone as west as some of the other boats and we are
therefore last at the moment. The plan is that we will be the first boat
to find the trade winds and when we do, we will make up on the rest off the
fleet very quickly. Time will tell! The
pressure is certainly on. London has won this race on each of the three
previous races. We do not want to be the first crew to fail to win.
The winds have been good to us so far and we have made good progress under
spinnakers for the last few days. And
as we go further north, it is starting to get warmer again. That is a good
feeling! Circumnavigator
- Part 1 Now
we are back in the Atlantic Ocean, it really feels as if we are on the way home.
We have less than three months to go and just four races to go after this one.
Thoughts are already on getting home. I can't wait! The
closer we get the achievements of this race get greater. We have now
crossed the Atlantic (north), Pacific (north and south) and Indian Oceans, four
of the seven seas together with numerous smaller seas. We have been to
five of the seven continents already. But
the main one is the circumnavigation of the globe - that is why I did the race
in the first place. There are three points for the round the worlders to
look forward to: when we cross all the lines of longitude, when we cross the
line we made on the way out (known as tying the knot) and when we arrive in
Liverpool, which will be the biggest of them all. The first of these is
only a day or so away. When
we started out in Liverpool, we were at 3 degrees west. In the next day or
so we will be at 3 degrees west again for the first time since we crossed the
start line, having travelled only west to get there. It is a tremendous
achievement. I
shall update this site as soon as I get there - after my celebratory Coca Cola
that I have smuggled aboard! Simple things!
Click
here for diary 45
- Race 13 - Arrival in Salvador, Brazil - July 2003 |
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