Blog - westernaustralia2011.com

Western Australian Rhapsody

2008-07-17T10:57:00+00:00

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy Trapped in the Blue Boat No escape from reality Open your eyes Look up to the skies and sea I’m just a helm boy I need some…

Reflections

2008-07-04T18:02:00+00:00

There is a new aura amongst the crew, the stress has gone, focus precedes over-expectation and the mood is calm and positive. For ten months now we have set our own objectives, followed our own instincts and taken losses in our stride. We have overcome failure, picked up…

Thoughts on nearing the end

2008-06-28T12:48:00+00:00

“How are you feeling?” was perhaps the most common question I heard at the last two stops, particularly among the”Round the Worlders”. “Can’t wait for the finish” was certainly the glib, first, answer, but it was usually followed by a”but”. For my own part, I can’t wait for…

Always take the weather with you

2008-06-27T16:42:00+00:00

Despite a fair amount of evidence to the contrary, the crew of WesternAustralia2011.com have, until very recently, been convinced that the only wind in the whole world happens in short, sharp and well documented doses – and only well away from wherever we happen to be. Lengthy weather…

Forty Knots…

2008-06-25T14:01:00+00:00

Actually it’s closer to 66,000; twenty two different colours, handcrafted by each and every member of the BBB sailing team, warm to the touch, months to build… can you guess what it is yet! In the throws of racing from Jamaica to Mid-Atlantic something dark and sinister has…

Will luck be on our side?

2008-06-24T08:58:00+00:00

Luck is something you need at times in sport. It comes and goes quicker than you can imagine. We’ve had three good races since leaving Jamaica for which all crew members worked hard and, along with our spot-on navigation, brought good results. The mentality has stayed much the same; helming…

Ten months at sea

2008-06-21T07:38:00+00:00

Well, it’s been quite a while since we left Liverpool to head off around the world, and here we are only a couple of weeks left of our adventure. So what’s the last 10 months been like? We’ve been becalmed in almost every ocean; we’ve had storms and…

Things that go bump in the night

2008-06-20T15:34:00+00:00

There is something spooky about this leg. The route takes us along the western and northerly path of the slave trade and I cannot have been the only one to reflect on the suffering it involved. We passed near to Haiti where voodoo failed to help wind arrive. Then there…

A different sort of challenge

2008-06-19T15:33:00+00:00

We were greeted in Sydney after the D250 race from Halifax, with a warm welcome from the local population. And what a night it had been! Towards the end both ourselves and Hull & Humber were neck and neck and neither was prepared to concede an inch. Synchronized mainsail reefing…

Ice off Sydney!

2008-06-18T15:20:00+00:00

With Sydney (Nova Scotia) now well behind us we press on towards the contact zone… There are reports of Icebergs ahead, hopefully a little further north. Our planned route will keep us south of the majority however there may be the odd one in our path. Fortunately a full moon,…