Global Yacht Racing's Beneteau 47.7 set off from Cowes at the end of August on her annual journey in to the Med and then on to Las Palmas for the start of the ARC race 2013. Crew member Kate Loveys has joined the yacht as a Performance Yacht Racing trainee and is taking part in a ten month long traineeship where she will learn to become a commercial yacht skipper. Here Kate describes her journey from Cowes to Gibraltar and is revelling in the differences between her new life and the desk job she left behind.
It’s two weeks into my traineeship and I’m still grinning like an idiot at the thought of the next ten months. Week one was spent in the Cowes’ sun converting EH01 from race to cruise mode. I serviced winches, went up the mast, fixed stuff, cleaned stuff and stowed a lot of stuff (including 335 dinners). It felt like good honest work, especially when we went for a swift after-work pint in clothes covered in grease (not a city suit and high heels). It’s a far cry from the old desk job and I’m loving it...
On week two we left Blighty on the 3rd and headed South to follow the sun, Gibraltar-bound. Late last night (Saturday) we made our first stop in the Spanish port La Coruna (716nm, my longest passage). Which of course means....we’ve crossed the Bay of Biscay. The weather was uneventful, save a bit of fog (love radar and AIS). But, lucky for me, the light wind favoured my watch. Like clockwork, as my watch came on the wind freshened and we put up the jib. As we came off watch it died, leaving the other watch to the “donkey”. We are all becoming dab hands at “sweating”, “bending” and “flaking” sails in the dark. Useful skills! All is very civilised onboard –the lovely crew are working hard to keep EH01 ship shape and moving as fast as possible and we’ve got skip and bossman Andy to impart his considerable knowledge and entertain us!
We’re now at the end of September and and about to round one of the world’s seven capes – Finisterre. Stunning. Beautiful day – the sun is out and the crew are in good spirits (tunes blaring out of cockpit ). It’s not how I expected to pass one of the windiest spots (we’ve 5 kts), but I’m liking it…