Day 13 – Unlucky for some...

It is almost two weeks since we left land. The tensions on Jamaica Get All Right have started to rise and for the first time I have noticed a negative mood on board. This could be due to the way I go about my work (in a bit of a 'bubble') or the fact we are actually a good team who work well together – probably a mixture of both.

The largest contributor to this mood change was our race position as overnight we seem to have lost our impressive lead. The winds have been relatively light and therefore the race has become quite tactical. Our skipper was the first to admit he got it wrong and misjudged the wind. This news dramatically dampened the team spirit even though we all know that this is the nature of ocean racing. Coming from a sport in which positions can change dramatically right up until the finish line, I am one to never give up although others found this news harder to digest. The sea can be a cruel mistress.

Unfortunately for me I soon had another reason to be less cheerful as the sea state increased again. I thought I had suffered more than my quota of seasickness and come out the other side. Whether it was a repeat performance or a stomach bug I'm still not sure but once again I felt truly awful. The combination of feeling rough and being extremely tired resulted in a greatly diminished sense of humour.

I was lying on my stomach on the high side of the deck desperately focusing on the horizon when out of the blue came a freak wave which soaked me from head to toe. In my desperation to escape for fresh air, I had not only forgotten to put my full waterproofs on but also left my port hole open. The result was disastrous: not only was I wet through but so was a crew member from the other watch sleeping innocently in her bed. The chances of a wave coming over the high side and finding its was into a bunk were amazingly slim although this did nothing to console the soaked victim. I admitted my mistake to our watch leader who suggested I keep schtüm for the time being.

Having survived my six hour watch with only minutes to go until bedtime I was confronted by the wave victim. I tried to explain that I had suffered too and offered an apology. It may sound trivial but at that moment I would have leapt at the chance to jump ship.

Thankfully that low point already seems far behind me and we are back on course - Londonderry beckons.