The Experience

Photo  - Singapore, one of our rivals, in view!

Today I had "the experience". Or maybe that should be in the present tense - today
I am having "the experience". With the adrenaline of the start line long gone
and 3 painfully long days of trying to live life below deck at 45 degrees (and
associated lack of sleep) I was starting to experience my first dip in morale.
Then this morning we woke to "The Pacific". Helming a 68 foot yacht through
huge seas (it's all relative I know and we will most probably see far bigger
seas before we reach San Fran but...) is a wonderful experience and one we
are very lucky to be living.

We have seen peak to troughs of well over 15m (an average 2 bed house is 6-7m high) rolling through one after the other as far as the eye can see but on sails Derry- London Derry relentlessly ploughs through/around/over these mountains of water with not the slightest bother.
Being at the trough and surrounded by walls of water might sound a little
daunting but no sooner has she got to the bottom, then she climbs high over
the next one over and over again. 

It's exactly what I signed up for when I chose the Pacific leg and now just 7 days in it is already living up to all my hopes. On board, morale is good. The race is going well so far - we are currently in stealth mode so don't know our exact position but hope to be in the lead pack when we resurface tomorrow.

Update - on resurfacing they are in a good 3rd place as at Sat 10th March 2pm about 60 miles from Gold Coast the leaders but on a different trajectory.