Our 4th Blog.

With roughly 200 miles to sail to the finish line, which is not Auckland itself but the very north west tip of New Zealand, things are getting exciting and we expect to cross sometime on Monday evening.  The three boats are very close although not in sight of each other yet.  The wind is currently holding 25-30 knots with a low pressure pushing up from the south and a squally cold front expected during the night, Gillean (The Weather guesser) thinks we could have very gusty winds, rain and a significant wind shift.  The shift on deck are preparing for all conditions by changing to the smaller foresail and putting another reef in the mainsail.  Vaughan our Skipper (who is not competitive at all) seems to be running around the boat getting excited by the final sprint, he is muttering about a spinnaker run across the line, most of the crew are muttering under their breath about more sail changes!  It is set to be an exciting 24 hours.

Down in the Galley, Siobhan and Paul prepare another exciting meal, with fresh ingredients running short but about a 10 year supply of chilli flakes they are having a Ready, Steady, Cook competition at about a 20 degree angle. Food and drinks are an important topic of conversation on board, Granny Titters recipes required more onions than planned and the onion police have been rationing them ever since.  Puddings are getting creative and the question is nutella with creamed rice wrong?

We have heard that the Army’s heads are a little blocked not just one but both we send our sympathies but now we know why they are called the pongos!

The injuries are mounting with one of the watches dropping like flies, our poor doctor spends time trying to fix people and ends up feeling very sea sick herself.  Jim was whipped with a rope and his hand has swollen to double the size he has been renamed the claw due to his bandaging. Steve’s knee continues to hurt and his dancing career may be in jeopardy. Neil took a good whack in the face. Phil joined their shift to boost numbers and seems to have hurt his shoulder...!

Henry has had a shocking day and due to an excessively wet foresail change he is having to change his biological pants 2 weeks early, his cabin mates report that he is applying plenty of his tropical smelling body butter to keep things fresh.  The first Mate, Carl, can’t understand why his favourite socks aren’t dry after two days on the rail in a force 6.

After we cross the finish line it is another 250 miles to Auckland and we are hoping to pop into the Bay of Islands to have a look on the way south.

It has been a great trip so far and the crew are all getting on really well, the banter improves by the day and our Skipper and Mates have been fantastic.

Henry says a very happy half century to Christine and sends his love.  He will of course buy her a fantastic present in Auckland.

Siobhan says happy birthday to little Eleanor and Brian and is looking forward to regaining comms in a few days.

Paul says Karen get the bath filled ready my body needs it!

Alison sends all her love to Peter.

Vaughan sends his love to Helen, he is wearing his life jacket and staying clipped on. Hi to Mum N Dad,Stu & Celia too.

Carl says high to Ster Howard and 33 Sqn in Kenya; as well as to the rest of the Howards in Gloucester and Highworth.

Phil says lots of love to the wife and kids and he’ll speak to you in a few days, say hi to FB for him.

Jim says he is having a ball.

Gill send her love to Neil and says she will phone when she gets a signal.

Neil wants to tell Cathy, love you, miss you.

Monday 11^th Jan 2100 local time

An exciting 24 hours has passed, Red watch went on shift on Sunday night straight after dinner. After a couple of hours the wind steadily increased to 30 knots and we were reaching along at great speed the sky darkened and at around 10 pm the rain started, the weather guesser informed everyone helpfully that she had seen lightening, funnily enough they had not failed to notice, the cold front was approaching.  Carl took the helm while we had a 180 degree wind shift in the pouring rain on the front.   We went from a broad reach to heading in the wrong direction while we sat out the weather.  The Gill waterproofs were tested and seemed to stand up to the weather well.  Eventually we gybed back on course and sorted ourselves out and we were on our way again.

The rest of the night passed relatively uneventfully with us maintaining 10 knots on a reach most of the night.  As day broke we were all looking for the  Army and Navy boats but they were not insight.  Superb sailing throughout the day followed and we all eagerly anticipated the midday position update on what was likely to be our last few hours racing to the finish.  It was great news for us to hear that we were 22 miles in front of the Navy and 25 miles in front of the Army with 50 miles to go.  Spirits were lifted and the skipper was twitchy about keeping his lead!

After a brilliant afternoon where everyone was up on deck enjoying the weather and helping keep our 10 knots per hour speed we approached the finish at around 6.30pm eventually crossing at 6.39 pm with Martyn, who started as a complete novice taking the helm for line honours.  Funnily enough the skipper won the sweepstake on the crossing time with Henry missing out by one minute – was this a fix??

A beer was enjoyed by all to celebrate and the backdrop was simply stunning, New Zealand looks fantastic and I think we were all mesmerised by the site of dry land.  We do not know if we have won the race overall as lots of things have to be taken into consideration including, engine hours and breakages.

Spirits are high on the good ship Disco and we are all looking forward to seeing the Bay of Islands and Auckland, we all send our love to those at home and many are searching for phone signals already!