Puffins, Jellyfish and Land

The last race ended up with us in ninth place and we did not win the ocean

sprint as we had thought. We were just 12 minutes behind the winners over a course of 150 miles. Although a little dejected by this, we could not fail to be uplifted by the fantastic welcome we got in Derry. The town holds a Maritime Festival for the week when the Clipper Round the World Race comes to town. The town and marina is reached by a 2 hour motor sail down the Foyle River and through Lough Foyle. After safely navigating our way in, avoiding mud flats and many old disused jetties and other constructions, we were faced with a quay which was lined with hundreds of people, dozens of stalls and a funfair. All the other boats moored up had been dressed with Derry flags and many of their owners were partying as we arrived at 7.30pm. The excitement had been raised by the fact that the Derry - Londonderry- Doire yacht had won the race from New York and had come into port earlier in the day.

Our visit was fabulous with crew members being treated like minor celebrities. Everyone wanted to speak to you and the race was so important to the town. Besides the Clipper excitement, it was also so interesting to visit such a troubled town and community and it is uplifting to see the strides being made towards peace and reconciliation.

We left Derry to rapturous applause and support about 36 hours ago and were treated to a special Red Arrows demonstration at the start. Wow are those pilots brilliant and brave.

Initially the winds were OK but nothing special, but over the last 18 hours or so have become much lighter. We have had to employ all our skills and techniques to gain best advantage from them and have now just passed the Outer Hebrides. One technique we use is to have as much body weight on one side of the boat or other. Apparently, my 16 stone or so is significant and I always have to be sat in the correct place. So 16 stone can have an impact on a 50 tonne boat, whatever next!

This race is different to our other ocean races as we stay close to land for most of the journey to Holland. Although we cross the North Sea, it will seem like land as we negotiate our way through the oil rigs and their associated communities.

As we are close to many of the Scottish Isles, birdlife is in abundance. It has been a pleasure to watch many puffins darting across the sea, just a foot or so from the water and to see them sat on the surface and diving for food.

More sinister than the lovely puffins has been the many large jellyfish we saw earlier today. The bodies are orange with purple stripes and spots. On some, the tentacles or body parts have been up to a metre long. They have been quite an incentive not to fall overboard.

We are in a leading group of six boats and the racing is hard and close. We watch each other closely and engage in a number of manoeuvres to gain any advantage we can. However, I must get some sleep now as the forecast is for gale force winds in the next 12 hours and I do not think I will be able to balance the computer on my lap during that time.

With best wishes,

Malcolm

NOTE: For those reading this via email update, don't forget to visit the blog at https://malclipper.blogspot.com where you can pledge support via donations to Malcolm's chosen charities - the Bobby Moore Fund tackling bowel cancer; the James Whale Fund for kidney cancer; and Prostate Cancer UK.

Has anyone seen the Mayor of Derry?