Annelise around the world

It’s all over and we’re back to work and our regular lives. It is all very surreal and very strange; I’m glad to be back but I miss the ocean. I can’t begin to describe the intensity of emotion I feel right now. I’ve had the most epic, wonderful year.

I’ve been fortunate enough to prolong my experience a little bit by taking part in Clipper’s latest promotional campaign. There a poster and a YouTube video (see below). I’ve also included a couple of shots from some of my better photographed memories, like leaving Cape Town, being re-united with Nik after his boat was hammered by a freak wave, and leaving San Francisco. Those were some good days we had…

To the sound of wind whistling in the rigging, rain tapping on hatches, waves rushing past, people laughing and shouting (to be heard over the rushing water), the sharp click of metal safety lines, boots thumping on deck, winches groaning and lines whirring… *Big Sigh* 🙂 night night 🙂

Crew Blog: Annelise Nelson, Gold Coast Australia

I want to dedicate this blog to vision and visibility. This race so far has been characterised by a lot of fog. A LOT of
fog. There is so much fog that, as we fly forward through the air, the front of all the winches get all glittery with dew.
The helm’s face, and particularly their eyebrows and lashes are frosted with little droplets. The dew is so thick you can
feel it on your cheeks from your lashes when you blink. It is very foggy. Visibility has been no more than about half a mile
for most of the race; sometimes it feels like we are in a simulator or the “Truman Show” or something and we aren’t actually
moving but a big fan is blowing on us from somewhere behind the scenes. It is very grey too. There may be clouds up there, and glorious sunrises ans sunsets too, but we can’t see them.
In fact, we would almost like to blame the fog for us missing the scoring gate recently. (The photo attached shows me
celebrating the scoring gate when I was woken up! My goodness I look terrible! Hahaha!) We thought we were winning there; we
thought we were first across the gate. It turns out that we were in fact about sixty miles south of the scoring gate. Of
course it wasn’t the fog’s fault at all, but it is more fun to say that we didn’t see the big yellow line in the sea marking
the ACTUAL scoring gate because of fog than because we were reading the wrong set of sailing instructions!
Anyhow, it is all good in the ‘hood. We had a very good day yesterday where we took back first place, finished our crossing
of the ocean sprint (we DID double check the lines of longitude on this, just to be DOUBLY sure!), AND we finished our
lightweight spinnaker repairs! Hooray! We are back to downwind sailing and are working really well, making great speed right towards Derry.
We now have less than a month until the race is over and all the boats parade back into Southampton. Some people, I am sure,
are counting down the days. I am not – I don’t like to wish my time away. Instead, I am loving it, and I am using these days
to reflect a little bit more on the last eleven months. It has been, and still is, one hell of an experience. (This is where
I now cunningly loop back into my theme of vision and visibility…) It has taught me to stop and smell the roses; to open
my eyes; to feel free to be inspired and to be myself. We can all achieve great, great things if we only dare to live a
little. As the famous quote goes: “You are only as big as the dreams you dare to live”. I know I have always loved “air”,
the horizon and great expanses. And I’ve discovered strengths and qualities I have that I perhaps knew where there, but
which were never really let out to “shine”. It has been an eye-opener (wink wink :P). I have made friends for life and I am definitely not dreaming it’s over. I am happy. 🙂
However, that is enough serious talk for now. Besides, I am typically a much happier person when I’ve had a decent amout of
sleep, so I should probably go to bed now. We are flying along very nicely under heavy weight kite and all is quiet on deck.
So, I shall love you and leave you; like in “Predator” we are going to disappear into the fog and become invisible in “Stealth Mode”! Muahahahaha!
Until next time! 🙂

We have just blown our light weight spinnaker. Poof. Just like that. In ten knots of wind. I was off watch and ran up to the calls of “All hands on deck!” (this is never going to be a good thing). Oh dear, oh dear. Lots of repairing to do! :S

It has been too long I am afraid! I haven’t written for WAY too long! Ah well, rest assured I’ve been having a great time!
The race from New York to Halifax (where I left you last) was a lot of fun. There was the usual crew changeover in New York
where we were sorry to see the leggers leave but excited and re-energised by the new leggers joining us. We invested quite a
lot of time in New York going over our procedures with the new guys and it really paid off. Our race to Halifax went like a
dream. Everyone was really happy and working really hard. We were so driven, it was great! There were days where we would
literally laugh for hours or cheer when we had a sail change! (Those reading this who have ever had to do a sail change on a Clipper 68 will not believe that last comment, but it is absolutely true!)
After such a great time in New York and such a quick (we still had fruit left over!), enjoyable race, we were really looking
forward to Halifax, and it did not let us down. I had never realised how important a place Halifax had been in key global
events until I went there. And it is beautiful too! I think I will definitely be going back there again (yet another place to add to my ever increasing list of places to revisit).
And now here I am, in the North Atlantic, on our last major ocean crossing. I spoke to my Dad in Halifax saying that I
cannot believe that I might not ever sail across an ocean again. The thought does not reconcile with my new vision for my
future. Interesting isn’t it? Anyhow, here we are, on Leg 8 (the last leg) and race 13 (of 15). Some people are already
thinking about home, but for me, there is still a lot of work to do. I still want to win every race left. It isn’t over
until it is over. I spent four years saving up for this and I am not about to wish my time away! (Although I AM really
looking forward to seeing everyone again when I get back… everything in it’s time…) So far we have won 10 of the last 12
races and we are really working hard to get the record for consecutive number of race wins. Here’s hoping!
Some of the other teams joke that we do voodoo. That is there explanation for our success to date. So, I have attached a
photo of everyone on the rail doing magic fingers and magic spooky noises when we were “voodooing up” some wind! I was laughing so hard when I took this photo it is a little bit blurry! Fun times 🙂
Below are a couple of extracts from my diary for this race so far to give you a taste of life on board for me at the moment. Enjoy! 🙂

Day 1
An awesome race start this morning. We were the first team around the first mark, and although we didn’t get our kite up
first, we held everyone off. Team is feeling happy and I am glad to have the same watch as last race!
Weather getting rough – starting to feel a little seasick… 😦 Hope it passes quickly as per my normal routine!

Day 2
0000-0400
Body still trying to adjust to watch system. Feeling super dooper tired – like I could totally sleep on the helm if I wasn’t
drinking so much coffee. Really quite rough weather so feeling really really bad. This is probably the worst seasickness
I’ve ever had. Normally it comes, I’m sick, and then I’m all good. This time I haven’t been able to hold down a meal since race start! So wierd how my world has ENTIRELY changed in 24 hrs. Urgh.

0800-1200
All I want is my sleeping bag. I want to write an ode to my sleeping bag. It is dry and I can sleep and not feel sick in my
sleeping bag… I am normally a little obsessive compulsive about brushing my teeth… As an indicator of HOW BAD I feel: I
daren’t brush my teeth in case it makes me sick. I am desperately trying to hold down food. This is also hard because I’m watch leader – I can’t skip watched… Uuuuurrrggghhh

1600-2000
Helmed 3 hours – shattered. Saw flying dolphins though which was cool. Apparently, I read somewhere that seasickness happens
because your ears and your eyes are telling you different things about how your body is moving and so your brain thinks
you’ve been poisoned. Interesting. Doesn’t explain why we still feel rough on deck though. Loads of people are sick and not
on deck. Deb is the angel bringing everyone sliced apple and crackers and water. And Bryan and Terry and taking care of the
HUGE volumes of water and diesel in the bilges (we have a leak we think – it makes below decks stink and is VERY VERY VERY horrible). I love my watch.

Day 3
0000-0400
Chain gang of all my watch to pass along and empty bilge buckets. They have been neglected as people have been ill and now
there is just so so much. People are being brave and trying to get as much out as possible before they need to come up on deck for air.

0800-1200
All hands on deck (including all our seasick people) for our 1st happy hour of the race.
Finally brushed teeth and then managed to eat (and hold onto) a slice of bread for lunch.

1600-2000
Feeling a bit better – everyone on deck for watch. Hooray! Got my mojo back – logs, chafe checks and other jobs done on time 🙂 Watching and relaying other boats’ positions and stats again.

Day 4
0000-0400
I think Bryan could be a watch leader for one of the next races so am trying to get him to lead a few more evolutions. Today he led as we shook out a reef in our mainsail.
Changed yankee 2 to yankee 1 as the winds are gradually abating. I fed everyone a lot of sweeties to keep up the energy so we are all VERY hot right now but feeling quite hyperactive and buzzy. 🙂

0800-1200
Wind is up and down like a yoyo but the REALLY interesting thing is the FOG! IT IS SO SO THICK! We are near the Grand Banks
so it is expected but it is still cool to see – or not to see as is the case! It is very bright so you rstill have to wear
sunglasses to stop the “snow blindness” effect. But then you have to wipe the lenses every minute or so because you can no longer see!
Everyone feeling better now and I got an email from Nik 🙂

1600-2000
Dolphins in the fog as opposed to “Gorillas in the Mist” 🙂 Deb poses for photos for Babs and I take candid photos of Babs.
Veronica does our first “wind dance” – she is utterly serious and totally committed to it. It is HILARIOUS and wierdly
seems to work! We are all laughing our heads off and then I take a video and photo (attached) of the whole watch doing it on the rail 😉 So so sooo funny 🙂
When I got off watch, I finally brushed my hair.

Day 5
0000-0400
Terry and Lisa have a little argument at watch change time. Oh dear 😦
Fog clears for a while and we get 16 kts wind – woohoo! We’ve made great ground on “Visit Finland”
Getting light very early (sunrise is at 0350) – Lisa and I discuss a clock change tomorrow.

0800-1200
Saw a shark – a big one! I’ve seen fins before but this time we were heeled right over so I saw it’s whole body! Scary but cool. It was busy with something too…. Oooooooh!!
The sun is out and the fog is lifting! Thank goodness! For a while there I thought it was going to be overcast the whole way like it was in the North Pacific!
Played with my new Rubick’s Cube when I went off watch – great for taking the mind off any FRUSRATIONS… Hmmmmmm

1600-2000
Super strong winds. Quick changes from light weight spinnaker to Y1 with staysail, to Y2… We are in line to make the
scoring gate (three points please) and are heading straight to Derry now. I got soaked on bow trying to rescue our
windseeker (which had been up for the other guys’ watch) from going overboard. We had squalls had LOADS of rain and water
over the deck. I am not dressed appropriately and am DRENCHED but weirdly am finding this quite enjoyable. There is
something cathartic about slightly violent weather when you are in a bad mood! Bryan led the change from the Y1 to Y2 while
I helmed. I got very very cold on the helm as the wind blew around my wet clothes. Brrrrrrrr. At watch change, I’ve left the
deck a little bit messy but right now, all I can think of is dry clothes and a warm bed!

Day 6
000-0400
Starry starry night! Beautiful night with good winds, but not too much! I think tea is magical: you feel so much better
after a good cup of tea at night. Much more alert and happy. 🙂 Also, on the magic theme, I had a “Magic Eye” moment
tonight. Constellations are like those magic eye pictures: When you use a star to helm, you are SO focussed on that one
star, that you don’t even realise the constellation you are looking at until you stand back and give the helm to someone
else.. weird! A real funny moment of realisation 🙂 Like life really, you need to stand back and suddenly you see so much more!

0800-1200
Helming practice for everyone!
Tropical depression is on its way to us – people a bit scared as winds are picking up again.

1600-2000
Clock change so only 3 hours off and 3 hours on now
A good watch and now writing my blog! Finally!! 🙂

Ok – now off to bed! Night night!

NEW YORK!! YAY! Just crossed the line in 1st place! A superb race and excellent team effort. I am very very proud of our team and everything we have achieved. We worked our socks off 🙂

*Spooky spooky* We are in the Bermuda Triangle AND we are in stealth mode! OOOOOOooooo! Creepy! Strange occurrences observed have been satellites whizzing past UNDER the layer of cloud (i.e. glow bugs flying around above the boat), unidentified fling objects (i.e. flying fish – only identified upon landing on deck and causing a girly squealing commotion), and a container ship with engine trouble. OOooohhh! 🙂
Night night x

Hooray! After a relly intense few days racing, incessant trimming and a heap of sail changes (which were done quite well if I say so myself), we have crossed the scoring gate between Haiti and Cuba in first place gaining us three very precious points!
Yaaayyy! We are very pleased! Particularly since the racing between De Lage Landen, Derry-Londonderry, Singapore and ourselves has been very close since the whole fleet was becalmed this morning! Woohoo! 🙂

“Reggae music, calypso music and sunshine! Sandy beaches and coral reefs and blue skies! Oh how I love to join the fun, lie back and soak up the sun; Eat mangos, coconuts, what a dream. In the Caribbean!” 😀 That is a song I learnt in primary school that popped into my head today as I was helming away. It is funny how our heads do that sometimes. And funnier still that here I am, in the Caribbean Sea! Who would have thought?!
We had a great race start yesterday – the best Le Mans start we’ve ever done (even including practice runs). The fleet stuck together through sunset, heading 030 degrees, straight for the windward passage. Everyone was focussed and sailing hard: it was so much fun!
The windward sailing has been a bit of a shock to the system for some people and quite a few of our already diminished numbers were out of play with sea sickness. (They are all troopers though and have all made it back on deck for this last watch we’ve just come off). At one point today, our watch of seven was reduced to three people able to work: Wayne on the helm, Nick on mother duties, and myself. I was sponging bilges out for two hours due to the amount of water we’ve had over the deck: another symptom of upwind sailing which we’ve become unaccustomed to! Another funny effect of the water coming over the deck is the Mexican wave of people raising their bottoms as the water gushes from bow to stern. One, two, three, up, up,up! It is very funny 🙂
In fact the good weather and wet deck has caused a few wardrobe discussions. It is too warm to wear foulies (you end up drenched in sweat if you do), but there is a lot of water. So do you just get wet and then dry off and desalinate when you go below? Hmmmm decisions, decisions 🙂 Anyhow, I am enjoying this new race so far. The Panama Canal was great and the rest we had there was also very welcome, but I am glad to be sailing again! 🙂
Annelise Nelson