So we won! What a relief to finally get a 1st under our belt. This places us second in the championship and the firm boat to beat by our rivals for the next race to Australia.
We started off from Rio with the familiar nerves and sadness to be leaving such a great city. We had an inshore race start which took us past Copacabana and Ipenema beaches. Racing against eleven other purpose built 70ft racing yachts, close quarters, in a moderate sea, with the sun shining and the view looking back of the Christ statue was a memory that will be hard to forget.
We made some great tactical decisions and left the beaches, heading offshore to Africa in 3rd place. We battled for 3 days to windward with the boat at 30 degree for most of the time which was painful. Everyone perfected there spider man skills as you need both hands and feet to navigate around the boat and the simple things like brushing you teeth become a 10 minute battle with gravity, with you loosing most of the time by having saliva and toothpaste down your front when finishing up.
As we got further south we found the westerly's and headed South East moving to 1st in the pack. It's always stressful being at the front as everyone is chasing you, especially nerve racking when you can see another boat hunting you down. We had PSP Logistics on our starboard quarter for a day and a half which was nice to have a companion, but any mistake would have meant them taking the lead from us.
Another tactical call was made to head due south as there was a region of low wind ahead. This meant we would go right down the pack as we were ultimately heading away from the finish whilst everyone else headed closer. We trusted the skippers direction and headed past 40 degrees south into the "Roaring Forties", which actually was no worse than what we saw off Cape Finesterre in Race 1 to everyone's relief. Here the wave size increased and as one of the specialist helmers on board, days were spent surfing at up to 22knots catching back up to the fleet in front, which brings a smile to the face at all times.
As we were heading east we passed to the south of Gough island, a small island, owned by Great Britain, where a team of 9 scientists were based studying birds. How different our lives were, them on an inhabited island in the South Atlantic studying wild life, us on a high tech racing yacht passing by. We chatted on VHF for a while discussing the weather, their studies and our race, then got back to the important job of racing to the Cape.
Down in these longitudes, the temperature dropped and full foulies and mid-layers were worn by all. I still wore my flip flops, but I certainly wrapped up. I found it difficult in these days to understand people as I rely so much on lip reading to pick up the other half of the conversation due to my deafness. I continually had to ask people to move their jackets down so I could see their lips when talking. It was strange at first to realise this about myself but nice to see the team accept it and work around the issue.
We set a northerly bearing to Cape Town and we made it up into 1st place as the other boats had slowed in the light airs, the tactical call had paid off but it was not won yet. One day we were flying the number 3 spinnaker when a problem occurred which meant it came free from one of it's control lines. As Watch Leader I ran forwards to lead by example, to try and get the kite under control. Cue the rope smashing me on the side of the face leaving me without hearing for a good minute. This was very scary and such a relief when it came back. I headed into the fight again and got hit again twice which knocked me to the floor. After re-examining the situation we found another way of getting control and managed to rescue to the sail, although it now had a 20m rip in it which left it un-usable for the rest of the race.
Luckily as we were heading North, the wind eased so we fly our number 2 and still made swift progress to the finish. With the end in sight it was a very stressful period, with only 20 miles separating us from second place. Any mistake and the race would be lost, so we held our nerve and happily crossed the finish line in the wind shadow of Table Mountain in the early hours in first place. What a massive achievement.
Looking back on the race so far, as a team we have been through so much and to get our first win was incredible. I feel I'm progressing as a person realising the things that made me stressed at home are not really issues to get caught up in. On the boat you go right back to basics. The only things you worry about are food, sleep, keeping warm and shelter from the environment. Everything else is just noise. What isn't noise though is the kind support from friends and family. It's so nice to hear everyone back at home is following the race and supporting me on my adventure. Thank you to you all.
So, the next race is a real test. The Southern Ocean for real with a 4800mile journey to Albany, Australia. Wish me luck!!
Ben
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Race 2!
Hi guys, blog 2 here.
I'm also writing a lot at sea, so if you go to the crew stories section atwww.clipperroundtheworld.com you can see a lot of blogs from the race and this will continue in the future.
It was a tough one! We got nailed in the doldrums hence the late blog. Follow the boat on the race viewer if you wonder why you haven't heard from me for a while!
Ben
----------------------------------------------------
Finally after 29 days at sea, I'm sitting here in the evening light looking at the boats with Rio's business district as the backdrop. To my left, the Christ statue stands high on the mountain caressed by clouds as they drift across the sky.
We made it to Rio and placed in 7th, which if you asked me 4 weeks ago if I'd be happy with of have said no, but after the epic voyage across the Atlantic, I'm happy.
Setting off from Brest we crossed the Bay of Biscay and had a Force 8 gale blowing us along. With around 40 knots of breeze, we flew our heavy weight spinnaker and were making above 20 knots of boat speed for days. We were flying.
With the big winds and large waved sea came my first experience of fear on the boat. Usually I'm not scared to go up the front to change the sails, however in the dark I was petrified. I knew this would happen at some point in the race with the Pacific looming in a few months time, but not the start of race 2. Thankfully, my fear threshold increased as the days passed and I just ended up facing them square in the face and getting on with it.
The price for the speed was a number of breakages to the boat, and most critically our medium spinnaker when the wind eased in the trades. We were forced to race with the wrong sails which made us just bleed distance to the competition, dropping us down to 7th.
Next up was the doldrums, the dreaded no wind zone just north of the equator. The first couple of days the crew enjoyed a nice break from the hard work of the trip, following this though, the sound of flapping sails and no boat speed was driving us all to madness. We pushed to squeeze every ounce of movement from the boat and went to 1st place for a number of days which lifted spirits; but the doldrums lottery meant the no wind zone moved south with us and we ended up popping out in 8th, six long days later.
We chased the 7th place boat and sure enough caught them and passed them, firming to the crew that we are fast when we have the right tools for the job - wind and a working yacht.
Coasting into Rio was an experience to remember passing Sugar Loaf Mountain, looking up at the statue and looking back on the trip, the sailing was definitely the easy part. Facing fears, living with strangers in 70ft of space and coping with the pressure of close ocean racing was a killer. I was also watch leader again which added to the pressure being in charge of the team when the skipper was in bed or not on deck.
My hearing was an issue in the winds when trying to hear commands on the helm. The skipper would shout up a course to steer but unless I turned my good ear to him and stop watching where we were going, which when doing 26 knots is really not a good idea, I just had to get someone to relay the messages which was a pain and difficult to ask someone to do. Luckily, one of the crew, Dale Acton also has hearing issues after being diagnosed with Cholesteatoma. He helped me out and we worked as a good team. It really points out that 1 in 7 people in the UK have hearing related issues, so we need to raise as much money as possible to fund the valuable research for the future.
Highlights were the amount of firsts I've ticked. Seeing the stars at night with zero light pollution was incredible. Dolphins and Whales by the boat and travelling the furthest south in my life is all part of the adventure.
The race has already shown me that what we regard on land as essential really are not. Big screen TVs, the most up to date fashion, flashy gadgets are just materials. Being in a team of people taking on a challenge in clothes you've worn for a week, arm pits that have not been washed for days and food you would be cautious giving to a dog really puts life in perspective.
Being happy and healthy with friends and family are all you can ask for in life. Coming 1st or coming 7th, well, I think I'm starting to change as a person. I'm happy I'm here with my crew in one piece, we were unlucky with the wind, so lets take it and move to the next race to Cape Town. Cue 40degrees south, waves as big as houses and wind speeds up to 50knots!
Thanks for all the good luck messages and please please donate to the charity.
Www.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW
I'm also writing a lot at sea, so if you go to the crew stories section atwww.clipperroundtheworld.com you can see a lot of blogs from the race and this will continue in the future.
It was a tough one! We got nailed in the doldrums hence the late blog. Follow the boat on the race viewer if you wonder why you haven't heard from me for a while!
Ben
----------------------------------------------------
Finally after 29 days at sea, I'm sitting here in the evening light looking at the boats with Rio's business district as the backdrop. To my left, the Christ statue stands high on the mountain caressed by clouds as they drift across the sky.
We made it to Rio and placed in 7th, which if you asked me 4 weeks ago if I'd be happy with of have said no, but after the epic voyage across the Atlantic, I'm happy.
Setting off from Brest we crossed the Bay of Biscay and had a Force 8 gale blowing us along. With around 40 knots of breeze, we flew our heavy weight spinnaker and were making above 20 knots of boat speed for days. We were flying.
With the big winds and large waved sea came my first experience of fear on the boat. Usually I'm not scared to go up the front to change the sails, however in the dark I was petrified. I knew this would happen at some point in the race with the Pacific looming in a few months time, but not the start of race 2. Thankfully, my fear threshold increased as the days passed and I just ended up facing them square in the face and getting on with it.
The price for the speed was a number of breakages to the boat, and most critically our medium spinnaker when the wind eased in the trades. We were forced to race with the wrong sails which made us just bleed distance to the competition, dropping us down to 7th.
Next up was the doldrums, the dreaded no wind zone just north of the equator. The first couple of days the crew enjoyed a nice break from the hard work of the trip, following this though, the sound of flapping sails and no boat speed was driving us all to madness. We pushed to squeeze every ounce of movement from the boat and went to 1st place for a number of days which lifted spirits; but the doldrums lottery meant the no wind zone moved south with us and we ended up popping out in 8th, six long days later.
We chased the 7th place boat and sure enough caught them and passed them, firming to the crew that we are fast when we have the right tools for the job - wind and a working yacht.
Coasting into Rio was an experience to remember passing Sugar Loaf Mountain, looking up at the statue and looking back on the trip, the sailing was definitely the easy part. Facing fears, living with strangers in 70ft of space and coping with the pressure of close ocean racing was a killer. I was also watch leader again which added to the pressure being in charge of the team when the skipper was in bed or not on deck.
My hearing was an issue in the winds when trying to hear commands on the helm. The skipper would shout up a course to steer but unless I turned my good ear to him and stop watching where we were going, which when doing 26 knots is really not a good idea, I just had to get someone to relay the messages which was a pain and difficult to ask someone to do. Luckily, one of the crew, Dale Acton also has hearing issues after being diagnosed with Cholesteatoma. He helped me out and we worked as a good team. It really points out that 1 in 7 people in the UK have hearing related issues, so we need to raise as much money as possible to fund the valuable research for the future.
Highlights were the amount of firsts I've ticked. Seeing the stars at night with zero light pollution was incredible. Dolphins and Whales by the boat and travelling the furthest south in my life is all part of the adventure.
The race has already shown me that what we regard on land as essential really are not. Big screen TVs, the most up to date fashion, flashy gadgets are just materials. Being in a team of people taking on a challenge in clothes you've worn for a week, arm pits that have not been washed for days and food you would be cautious giving to a dog really puts life in perspective.
Being happy and healthy with friends and family are all you can ask for in life. Coming 1st or coming 7th, well, I think I'm starting to change as a person. I'm happy I'm here with my crew in one piece, we were unlucky with the wind, so lets take it and move to the next race to Cape Town. Cue 40degrees south, waves as big as houses and wind speeds up to 50knots!
Thanks for all the good luck messages and please please donate to the charity.
Www.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Blog 1 - Brest!
The morning of the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was one of excitement, nervousness, sadness and wonderment. I signed up for the race in August 2011 which was the start of the previous race, so it had been a long time coming.
With limited time to see all my friends and family before boarding the yacht, it was hard to spend quality time with everyone. I managed to see most people though and it was really nice to hear all the words of good luck and encouragement. Sorry to all those who came down that I just couldn't get round to see.
We left London with a parade of sail up the Thames and went through Tower Bridge for the all important PR shots. There was around 50,000 people lined up along the banks which was madness to look back at. Just more of the Clipper Race experience that you don't realise until you are actually in there.
Many people in the crew had been in tears or went for moments alone after saying goodbye to their family and friends. I managed to hold back until I saw my family on the spectator boat. I suddenly realised I would not see them again for a whole year, so made a quick dive to the sail locker for a moment alone to shed a few tears.
We finished up the parade of sail and moored up in the evening ready for the race start the following morning.
During training I had been one of the watch leaders which meant I was in charge when the skipper was off deck sleeping etc. The skipper selected me as the watch leader for Starboard Watch for the first race which I was very happy about. It's a key role on the boat and I saw it as a reward for all the hard work I've put into the training. It holds a lot of responsibility for the speed of the yacht and also the safety of the crew, so it's also a hard position to be in. It's nice to think the skipper sees me as one of the best on board to put me in this and will only help my future sailing career.
The time had come to slip the lines and head to the start line. Being the British boat, we have a lot of pressure to be competitive. Luckily the crew all want to perform well, so we, as leaders, could push them hard to race.
We had the tactic to fly the spinnaker off the line, but didn't want to fly it coming up to the line as we would loose manoeuvrability. Any boat on the wrong side of the line before the start line has penalties enforced on them which could cost the race, so we had to be careful of that. We positioned well and crossed the line 3rd. We immediately got the kite up and moved up on the leader.
After a hour or so we were in 1st and led the fleet for 120 miles until out of no where we drove straight into a wind hole. The fleet saw this, moved away and went flying past us. All the hard work maintaining the lead went straight out the window, but hey, this is yacht racing.
My watch came up on deck and this is where my training from being a team leader at Land Rover came into play. I motivated the team, explained the situation and set targets each watch. First up the boat in front, then the boat after that and so on until we are back in the lead. We really had to go above and beyond our usual race pace to get this back.
My watch were awesome and revelled at the challenge. We trimmed the sails like mad men. I positioned people on the boat for best weight distribution and we changed sails when needed even at the expense of meals for the race.
Sure enough 24 hours later we were back at the front. Game on. We had to be in Brest for Wednesday and with the light winds, the race office called to shorten the race. We were lying third and with an hour to go we had to be 0.5 knot faster than Qingdao to get 2nd.
I was on the kite trim and the team fed me sweets and coffee to keep me going. I extracted every ounce of speed out the sail and we passed Qingdao taking 2nd by 0.7mile. Happy days!
I thanked the watch for all their efforts and received some good feedback for how well I led the team. This made it all worth while.
My favourite moment in the race was fighting with PSP in the light airs. I was on the helm calling trim to the team, we hit some breeze and like Nigel Mansell, pulled a dummy driving left then right overtaking them, stealing their wind and pulling away.
There were a few times my deafness got in the way when racing. Trying to hear the trimmers up on the bow was a nightmare in the big winds. I had to totally rely on lip reading and hand signals to get by. Also when on the port helm, the nav guys would shout up positions and I had to turn my head to hear. Turning my head, then made me steer right which messed up the course and the sails, so a bad net affect for the boat, but we worked around it in the end.
Most of the crew now know about my deafness and we are working as a team not make it an issue.
It's been a hard race, I've had to focus so hard and call some important shots for the team. We are now lying in Brest prepping for the next race to Rio. We need to do well to Rio to maintain the momentum of being a boat up at the front of the leader board. That should then set the tone for the rest of the race around the world.
So its time for me to wash some clothes buy some multi-vitamins as we will run out of fresh food in the 22days to Rio and rest up ready for it.
Please continue to help my charity atwww.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW.
Thanks for the support, next up date from Brazil!
Ben
With limited time to see all my friends and family before boarding the yacht, it was hard to spend quality time with everyone. I managed to see most people though and it was really nice to hear all the words of good luck and encouragement. Sorry to all those who came down that I just couldn't get round to see.
We left London with a parade of sail up the Thames and went through Tower Bridge for the all important PR shots. There was around 50,000 people lined up along the banks which was madness to look back at. Just more of the Clipper Race experience that you don't realise until you are actually in there.
Many people in the crew had been in tears or went for moments alone after saying goodbye to their family and friends. I managed to hold back until I saw my family on the spectator boat. I suddenly realised I would not see them again for a whole year, so made a quick dive to the sail locker for a moment alone to shed a few tears.
We finished up the parade of sail and moored up in the evening ready for the race start the following morning.
During training I had been one of the watch leaders which meant I was in charge when the skipper was off deck sleeping etc. The skipper selected me as the watch leader for Starboard Watch for the first race which I was very happy about. It's a key role on the boat and I saw it as a reward for all the hard work I've put into the training. It holds a lot of responsibility for the speed of the yacht and also the safety of the crew, so it's also a hard position to be in. It's nice to think the skipper sees me as one of the best on board to put me in this and will only help my future sailing career.
The time had come to slip the lines and head to the start line. Being the British boat, we have a lot of pressure to be competitive. Luckily the crew all want to perform well, so we, as leaders, could push them hard to race.
We had the tactic to fly the spinnaker off the line, but didn't want to fly it coming up to the line as we would loose manoeuvrability. Any boat on the wrong side of the line before the start line has penalties enforced on them which could cost the race, so we had to be careful of that. We positioned well and crossed the line 3rd. We immediately got the kite up and moved up on the leader.
After a hour or so we were in 1st and led the fleet for 120 miles until out of no where we drove straight into a wind hole. The fleet saw this, moved away and went flying past us. All the hard work maintaining the lead went straight out the window, but hey, this is yacht racing.
My watch came up on deck and this is where my training from being a team leader at Land Rover came into play. I motivated the team, explained the situation and set targets each watch. First up the boat in front, then the boat after that and so on until we are back in the lead. We really had to go above and beyond our usual race pace to get this back.
My watch were awesome and revelled at the challenge. We trimmed the sails like mad men. I positioned people on the boat for best weight distribution and we changed sails when needed even at the expense of meals for the race.
Sure enough 24 hours later we were back at the front. Game on. We had to be in Brest for Wednesday and with the light winds, the race office called to shorten the race. We were lying third and with an hour to go we had to be 0.5 knot faster than Qingdao to get 2nd.
I was on the kite trim and the team fed me sweets and coffee to keep me going. I extracted every ounce of speed out the sail and we passed Qingdao taking 2nd by 0.7mile. Happy days!
I thanked the watch for all their efforts and received some good feedback for how well I led the team. This made it all worth while.
My favourite moment in the race was fighting with PSP in the light airs. I was on the helm calling trim to the team, we hit some breeze and like Nigel Mansell, pulled a dummy driving left then right overtaking them, stealing their wind and pulling away.
There were a few times my deafness got in the way when racing. Trying to hear the trimmers up on the bow was a nightmare in the big winds. I had to totally rely on lip reading and hand signals to get by. Also when on the port helm, the nav guys would shout up positions and I had to turn my head to hear. Turning my head, then made me steer right which messed up the course and the sails, so a bad net affect for the boat, but we worked around it in the end.
Most of the crew now know about my deafness and we are working as a team not make it an issue.
It's been a hard race, I've had to focus so hard and call some important shots for the team. We are now lying in Brest prepping for the next race to Rio. We need to do well to Rio to maintain the momentum of being a boat up at the front of the leader board. That should then set the tone for the rest of the race around the world.
So its time for me to wash some clothes buy some multi-vitamins as we will run out of fresh food in the 22days to Rio and rest up ready for it.
Please continue to help my charity atwww.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW.
Thanks for the support, next up date from Brazil!
Ben
Saturday, 31 August 2013
So here we go
The race of my life starts tomorrow. After 2 years in the making, tomorrow morning I will be setting off from St Katharine Docks and will not return until 12th July 2014, where I will have sailed around the world and completed over 40,000miles of racing. It is a life changer. I would just like to say thank you for everyone or all their support recently, those who have come down to wave me off and those who have sent messages of encouragement. Please help me charity www.justgiving.com/ben-pate-RTW. And please follow me around the globe at www.clipperroundtheworld.com. Game on.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Having a great time at St Kats Docks
Great time with the boat and the crew. Happy days, loving the clipper race!
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Monday, 26 August 2013
Update!
So the boat prep is going well and had an ace time this morning creating a film for my charity action on hearing loss. Hopefully this will spur on more people to donate to the good work they do. Happy days. 6 days til the start!
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Thursday, 15 August 2013
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