Leg 4 is the first we have encountered which has multiple races within it. Race 4 started with a couple of laps of the bay which made for a great sight for anyone watching us from land. I always get nervous at race start as all twelve yachts are fighting for the prime position to cross the start line meaning we are all somewhat physically close together!

We knew that this race was to bring us potentially challenging weather and we were not disappointed. I have to say this was one of the hardest sails to date and there was us hoping for a quick sprint to Sydney. As we left the bay we were in a pack of other Clipper yachts and could see their navigation lights through the night. It was the kind of race where as soon as we could those of us with dry suits were rocking them on deck as any work on the bow ended with a full body soaking from the waves crashing over the bow. (SO glad I invested in one of these as it’s hard enough being cold, but if you were wet too that would be even more miserable!). We experienced everything from 60 knot winds to no wind at all which was a real test for the crew.

I thought I’d experienced cold in leg 3 however this race was even colder than the last. The difference this time though was down below was warm so you would be toasty in your bunk then have to get up, put on all your layers and then sweat until you’d made it on deck. This was life back at 45 degrees, living with the physical strength needed to do anything such as getting out your bunk or going to the toilet being testing on one’s tired body. I have begun to be able to train my body not to need the toilet when on watch in a Drysuit as the effort needed to take that on and off again is far too much!

This race was quite frustrating as at times we went from loads of wind to no wind at all. There were a few watches where we were actually making more progress backwards than towards Sydney which makes it harder to carry on. Bashing into waves takes its toll but can also still be mightily funny when a wave dumps over someone’s head (or into their cup of tea!).

This leg had also brought us our first big injury with Mike being hit by a wave and thrown into the helming cage, injuring his head and ribs. When this happened we stopped racing hard to make the journey more comfortable for Mike and had to divert to Hobart so that Mike could receive medical treatment and get checked out. I have to say the saddest moment of my race so far was watching Mike get into the ambulance in Hobart and then we slipped lines to head for Sydney (as we were still racing). Mike is a fellow round the worlder and a major part of our team. It felt so wrong leaving him (although I know he would be more comfortable on land) as he is part of us. Mike I admit I shed a few tears at this point and know I’m not the only one. Mend quickly please so you can re-join us.

Because of our divert to Hobart we were no longer in the big winds but instead much lighter winds which slowed our progress to Sydney. It’s ironic really that it took us a day to get out of storm bay! Slow progress continued to the extent that we were in danger of not reaching Sydney in time for the scheduled lift out the water for maintenance. 60 miles from Sydney, where we were not sailing but drifting, the race director asked us to make the decision to accept 10th place and motor in to Sydney. We now know how other crew feel who have previously finished down the pack in previous races. It’s not a great feeling at all, on arrival I felt completely drained and empty and like I was going to burst into tears. Arriving with out all the crew we left Albany with added to this blow. This was not our race, however we have learnt a lot about one another and there are more races to come which I hope we will get back into the groove for.

We’ve made it to Sydney – I’m a long way from home but glad to have made it this far. I’m looking forward to a bit of sunshine and a rest to get ready for the next race.

(No pictures en route from Albany to Sydney – camera still mislaid. But here are some pictures of the Sydney stopover, including boat maintenance)

Sorry for delay with the pictures. Ruth managed to mislay her camera on board, so has only just uploaded them.

This leg wasn’t one that I had been looking forward to. The Southern Ocean is known for being a mighty beast with wild seas and weather to match. On top of this having been unwell for most of leg 2, this ending by spending a day in hospital in Cape Town while they worked out what was up with me, I wasn’t beginning the leg feeling fully fit.

It was another of those starts where you’re so busy doing your starting position that I didn’t really notice we had crossed the line! We managed to round the first marker in the lead and then promptly ended up in a wind hole and watched more or less the rest of the fleet overtake us. We all crawled our way out of Table Bay hoping that the wind would come to us. As we left the bay and started to leave Cape Town behind us we were treated to the spectacular sight of about 6 whales who were so close to us we thought we might run one over at one point! There were also Dolphins and seals playing along side us. Later in the leg we were treated to the sight of a shark and also penguins! I never thought I’d see penguins at sea so this was a moment to treasure.

The wind did decide to join us and we were back to the 45 degree way of living and with the wind on the nose the return of seasickness for me too. It also soon became cold and being on deck for long periods of time became challenging especially when there wasn’t much need to use any winches to help keep you warm. The waves that crashed over the side were so powerful and cold too it made you realise what powerful elements we are dealing with. I am so glad that I invested in a dry suit as although they don’t keep you warm, being dry and cold is better than wet and cold! Dry suits do bring new comedy however in trying to get in and out of them when you’re heeled over – it’s a challenge enough on flat dry land! It was cold down below at time so always hard to tell if things were wet or cold!

I’ve never experienced such darkness before with the blackest cloud-covered skies and dark seas meaning that at night we were sailing along into what felt like an abyss and you wondered what was out there. Dawn always makes everything feel better and we were treated to some spectacular sunrises.

This leg we had our first spinnaker wrap – this is when the massive sail gets wrapped around part of the rigging and then is hard to get out. It took nearly a day to get sorted and sadly the sail was torn so badly we couldn’t use it for the rest of the leg. It’s horrible when things break as you feel sad inside and hope that this hasn’t ended the race.

Although we were in the Southern Ocean, we had a couple of times where the winds were so light that we had to hoist the windseeker which is a sail only for light winds – not the sleigh-ride massive wind and waves we were promised!

This leg I was on mother watch with Ellie who is the only other female round the world crew on the team. It was great fun being with her for the days as we were able to not only cook for the crew but have a good chat and laugh with her as we have always been on different watches to one another so don’t spend time together at sea.

Overall this leg was hard. As a team we have been successful as we were second in the race, second through the scoring gate and one the ocean sprint meaning we received the same number as points as LMAX did who came in first. I’m glad we have made it tot Australia as the Southern Ocean was one I was concerned about. We are currently first in the overall race standings which is an amazing achievement. The next leg contains 3 shorter races so let’s see what the Australian waters bring us.

Thank you to all you supporters at home – am missing home badly at the moment and your messages keep me going and my spirits high. Love you all xxx

As we prepared to leave Rio, Daniel, my skipper, said to me ‘it’s OK Ruth, the weather looks set for spinnaker off the start line’. Great I thought as the angle of the yacht under spinnaker is good to ease one into life back at sea. However between this conversation and actually setting sail, the weather had other ideas. We left Rio with the wind right on the nose, so there was no easing us back into things but straight into life at 45 degrees, crashing waves over the bow and not many hours into the race the seasickness (which I avoided in leg 1) paid me a visit.

For this leg I have been made assistant watch leader for Port watch which brings more responsibility which brings a mixture of excitement and apprehension. It has been good to take on this challenge and stretch myself but I have to admit there were times when I was glad to be the assistant and not the watch leader! I’ve been lucky enough to get the chance to helm in the varied conditions we have experienced on this leg. At times the helming was really challenging and I struggled to have the strength in my arms to keep the wheel in place when big rolling waves were crashing into us and pushing the yacht off course. I hope as this race progresses I will get stronger and as we have spent a lot of time on port tack I have slightly uneven muscles forming! I surfed my first wave which was awesome – this is when the waves are coming at you from behind and then push you forwards and you surf with it (like you would on a surf board) building speed as you go. There have been some downsides to helming with the new aches and pains as well as a few waves directly in the face!

We had a good few days of wind on the nose before the wind came round so that we could finally hoist a spinnaker and have a slightly more comfortable sail for everyone. We have had all sorts of weather to keep us on our toes including times with no wind at all. For the last part of the race we had the additional challenge of no wind instruments as they began to fail and ultimately the instruments gave up completely which meant no accurate reading of the wind at all for the rest of the leg.

This race was different from the first as LMAX and Qingdao had problems in Rio so they started the race three and a half days behind us, meaning this leg was decided on elapsed time. This meant we were never fully sure what position we were in race wise. We were the first boat through the scoring gate but then Qingdao came along and pipped us to it so we were pushed back to second (getting 2 points). Going through the scoring gate then also saw our race position drop to middle of the fleet as those who chose not to go for the gate had more wind further north. This was not a great feeling as we are used to being in the top end of the fleet! However skipper Dan was right again as he said we would be back near the top of the pack again soon.

We have seen lots of birds on this leg which you wonder where they are heading to as we were miles and miles from land. Two tiny birds spent a few hours resting in the cockpit and I hope that enabled them to get to their destination OK as they looked shattered! Albatross was what we wanted to see and we think we did although some reckon it was just a very large seagull! There have also been whale sightings. Amongst the massive waves you can see them spurting in the distance and occasionally making more of an appearance above water.

The waves have definitely been much bigger on this leg and at times all you can see is sea! This has made for everything being harder to do as the angle is so great and sometimes hitting a big wave pushes you off balance. This also has meant being on deck is a much wetter and colder experience. My so-called waterproof gloves made my hands even colder than not having any on at all and waves crashing over your head, although funny, also meant water down inside the waterproofs so another time of being damp for the most part. Being on duties such as heads cleaning or bilges was a welcome respite from the deck duties. Saying that, being on deck was also great fun and there have been many comedy moments, mainly involving trying to do a drinks run. You start with a full cup, a wave hits you and then if you’re lucky there is liquid left in the cup, which has a salty tint! The massive waves that crash over the side are always met with a little yelp followed by laughter and working out who was the one to get the biggest drenching!
It’s funny how there are thousands of miles in the race and we saw hardly any other vessels at all on the journey, yet the last couple of days ended in a drag race. One morning watch we saw a light behind us which appeared to be stalking us. As dawn approached we could see it was Great Britain! Then we also had in close proximity Garmin and Mission Performance and the scheds that came showed us leap-frogging positions back and forth. It’s such an odd feeling the last 50 miles or so when you’re so close to the finish yet there is still all to play for and it could be anyone’s race. We were also conscious of the Qingdao and LMAX results meaning podium positions were at risk. As we turned into the start of the approach to Cape Town it was pitch black but we could see the navigation lights of the other yachts. We were neck and neck, then Great Britain were in front, then we overtook, then neck and neck again. As with leg one we both encountered a wind hole (where suddenly there is no wind) and wondered how many hours we would be in it. We then saw Great Britain get a gust which put them from flat to leaning right over and they flew off. This then happened to us and sadly we ran out of water to catch them. And crossed the finish line ten minutes behind them.

Despite arriving late local time, Cape Town didn’t disappoint us and we were lucky enough to have a band of supporters there cheering us in. We celebrated second place and hoped that this would remain ours once Qingdao and LMAX arrived (which we found out on prize giving day was ours to keep!)

This leg I have to admit was a lot more demanding than I thought it was going to be and hard going on every aspect of day to day life. However being on the podium this time at prize giving was an incredible feeling and made the pain worth it. Let’s see what the Southern Ocean has in store for me next….

Since getting to Cape Town I found out some sad news in that one of my Olympic dancing friends and supporter of my Clipper race had lost her fight to cancer. I had been think of Lucia during this leg as one of the last communications I had with her before I went to sea was to do with the fact she was on chemo and being sick lots, so I said any time I was sea sick I would think of her and when she was sick she could think of me being wet and cold. Lucia this is for you, I’m glad to have met you and hope that you are now a shining star looking down on me and continuing to follow my journey. You told me to live life to the full and I hope that I am doing this for you. Rest in peace Lucia.

Read about a visit from local Brownies to meet Ruth in Cape Town

YouTube Video of life on board in this leg

Leg 2 Pictures from Ruth

I had been building up to departure day for over 18 months. With the prep weeks and already living onboard, the week in London seemed to drag in some ways and fly by in others. I was ready to get going on this adventure but not ready to say my goodbyes. I’m so lucky to have friends and family supporting me in this endeavour and I wasn’t quite prepared for the emotions that went with this. Departure day came around and I left the yacht early to have one last shower and say goodbye to my Mum and Dad. All was good until the goodbye part, where the tears started to roll and pretty much remained with me on and off until we had left London behind us. Saying that, there was also a lot of excitement to go with it – parading as a crew and being introduced on stage, lots of waving and cheering too. There was a moment just before it was our turn to slip lines where my tears were rolling at such a rate I think many on my crew wondered who they were about to go to sea with! It was the waiting that was the hard part as it prolonged the departures and made you think about going into the unknown.

My “fan club” was out in force with 17 friends and family as well as 12 of my Brownies and leaders too. This meant I was being cheered by three different supporters’ boats which made the endless waving more fun! Big shout out to Sally for the awesome banner – thanks dude!

That evening we spent the night in Queenborough and it was an odd feeling. This was it, there was no turning back now.

Race start day came with a lot of rain! There were many more supporters on Southend pier despite the bad visibility and weather it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits. We were getting ready to cross the line and the count down began – before you knew it, it was time and we had crossed the line. It wasn’t the dramatic start I had imagined after the excitement of the Thames wave off as when fully involved with sailing you don’t even notice you’ve crossed the line! Daniel however had us in a great position and we were leading the fleet under spinnaker – now that was awesome!

Sailing under spinnaker is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. The spinnaker sail is massive and flies at the front of the yacht and used for downwind sailing. It is exciting as when filled with wind you fly along and can feel the pace. What’s terrifying is that there is a small margin for error with helming and trim before things can come crashing to a halt and damage to the sail and rig can happen. We unfortunately managed to tear our code 1, the largest of the spinnaker sails, when taking it down. This meant for the next 5 days we couldn’t use this sail as the teams worked day and night to repair the tears.

Spinnakers (when not broken!) are the order of the day for this leg and we managed to sail almost all the way to the doldrums flying one which is pretty impressive. This has also meant I’ve been able to learn more about this sail, how to trim it and helm when they are flying. I hope that this will stand me in good stead for the legs to come as we have had a varied amount of wind strengths to get to grips with. Top speed this leg has been a whopping 20knots!

Ocean racing is hard, I knew this before embarking on this journey but I’m not sure I was quite ready for the feeling of EVERY muscle in my body hurting. There are parts of me hurting that I didn’t even know existed. I just hope that there is a point when ocean racing becomes ‘normal’ and some of the pains go away. At least I know I’m working hard!

We received the sad news that a member of the Ichorcoal crew, Andrew Ashman, had tragically died in an accident onboard. This was a shock and stunned us all. You are aware that ocean racing is a dangerous thing, however you hope that this isn’t something you encounter. Lots of ‘what ifs’ came to mind and for a time I was truly stunned. We talked a lot about the crew member as a watch as some knew him from trainings and preparations. In many ways it didn’t matter if we had met him or not as he was one of us, one of the Clipper family and therefore a great loss to us all. He will remain with us through out the rest of the Clipper journey and I hope he is a shinning star looking down on us.

The sea and the elements can be a mighty force but also a great joy. Being at sea gives you a new perspective on the world and on life. We are but a small piece in such a vast world and by sailing get to experience great things others don’t. For example, I’m never going to get tired of seeing groups of Dolphins playing around us, sunsets and sunrises that stretch as far as the eye can see and so many stars at night your eyes hurt looking up at them all. These are the things that help lift you when you’re down and remind you why you are here. We have even been treated to a humpback whale who popped up right by our starboard side to say hello. There are some creatures however that I’m less glad to have close encounters with. Flying fish. They are an amazing sight to behold during the day when you see them pop out the sea and fly over the waves. Once darkness has fallen, they become deadly missiles that like to try and cause trouble to those on deck by hurling themselves like missiles at you. They then flap about on the deck letting off a terrible stench! I have received 4 direct hits so far, including one to the face which was particularly unpleasant and one even tried to attack me while sleeping in my bunk by coming through the hatch!

We have been particularly lucky with the weather being warm and dry. However this brings new challenges to living in close confinement onboard a 70ft yacht. What the clipper brochure doesn’t sell you is the spa experience. Who knew that even in Ocean racing you can have a sauna followed by a sea salt scrub? Yes, readers you guessed it, we have been hot, hot, hot. Go to your bed to rest, waking up in a pool of your own sweat followed by watch on deck in the sweltering heat. Needless to say the cockpit deck wash with the fire hose was sabotaged and turned into a team deck wash! We were all dreading getting to the Doldrums, renowned for lack of wind and sweltering heat, as we had been experiencing this way before we reached this area.

We edged closer to the Doldrums and the wind disappeared which meant at times we had a boat speed of 0kts! Because of previous Doldrums experiences, Clipper introduced a new rule which means that each team can motor sail for 60 hours over a set latitude for 6 degrees. Teams have to declare when this was to happen a set number of hours before the engine went on. Because of the lack of wind, we declared so motoring could commence at the earliest chance. What we weren’t banking on however was that as soon as we reached this point, there was a lot of wind on the nose! This meant we spent nearly all of the 60 hours bashing into waves and with heavy rain showers thus meaning there was to be no dinghy paddling pool or sunbathing to be done!

Just before we got to the equator we had a message from Neptune to say he would be visiting and that everyone needed to prepare some entertainment for him to be able to go from polliwog to shellback. I decided to change the words to a song and make it about king Neptune! I was rather worried about what was in store for us seeing as the shellbacks amongst the crew had been saying things like they were keeping flying fish and other bad smelling things for the ceremony… We actually crossed the equator in the early hours of the morning so Neptune decided not to come until later that day. Everyone had to give their offering to Neptune and depending on if he was entertained or not, the amount of ‘slop’ thrown over you was then given to enable the transition from polliwog to shellback! The mix stank but at least there wasn’t actually any fish in it! We then spent time together as a whole crew toasting Neptune with a party-like feel. It was nice to spend a prolonged period of time together as a whole crew as it gave us a chance to chat to those on the opposite watch which is something that doesn’t often happen as when we are up they sleep and vice-versa!

After a few thousand miles of down wind sailing, things were about to change as we needed to sail upwind to get to Rio. This meant adjusting to life at a 45 degree angle, which after the reasonably comfortable downwind sailing was a shock to the system! Everything is so much harder at this angle, from getting in and out of your bunk, to walking around deck or using the winches. Being on mother duty was so much harder too, as if you weren’t careful, the food you were chopping/pouring/passing would suddenly end up flying across the galley!

Ocean racing is a funny thing, although there were 5400Nm in the race, we ended up in a drag race to the finish with team Great Britain. I say drag race but we were both stuck in wind holes so it was a snails-pace race for a while and continually changing who was in the lead. Throughout the race we have been in various different places on the leaderboard and always close to Great Britain. Although they pipped us to the post for 3rd place, we have raced hard and come through the experience as a happy team. I hope we can build on what we have learnt and make it to the podium another time. I can’t believe it’s been a month and I’m now in Rio! I feel like the is my life now, I feel at home onboard and land is a daunting prospect! Now for some maintenance, a bit of sight-seeing and then on to the next leg!

Please keep the messages coming as it has been lovely to read what has been sent and means a lot to know that I have a band of support back home following my every move – in fact you all know more than us as we only get position updates every 6 hours!

Here is to the next part of this adventure.

[Hoping for some pictures soon – subject to wi-fi being available]

Still the support team here (aka Ruth’s Dad).

If you have been following the Race Viewer, then you will know that Ruth has arrived safely in Rio in 4th place after a closely-contested finish with Great Britain. Just 0.8 Nautical miles behind after almost 6,000 miles at sea.

She has no wi-fi in the Marina, so it may be a while before she can give her own update.

The loop to the West in the AIS track on the map is because they missed the marker for the finish line after avoiding a large ship, and the wash pushed them in the wrong direction. This meant a turn to cross the line properly.

While waiting for Ruth’s report, you can read another of her crew blogs (Race 1 Day 27) as they approached Rio.

Also, some pieces of video. They seem OK in a PC browser, but don’t work without the Periscope app on iPhones/iPads. Have not tried on an Android device.

DLD Arrive in the Marina at Rio

DLD Celebrate

Ruth is now out of communication until Rio, so it’s her Dad filling in for the moment.

Just a few pictures of the scenes in St Katharine Dock on the day of departure, the procession from Tower Bridge, and then the very wet start the following day from Southend Pier.

Huge thanks from us to all who came to support Ruth.

There are daily updates from the skipper and crew on the Team Page of the Clipper Web site.