Week 1 done

week-one-done

It’s Sunday and we just had our watch change-over. We are one week into our race to Uruguay and the mood is generally good. Unfortunately, we heard the bad news this morning about the skipper of the “Greenings” Clipper boat. He was injured brining the spinnaker down last night and apparently needs surgery – best wishes to him and a quick and full recovery. This highlighted to us again the importance to do things in a safe and secure way – even in a race safety comes first.

My personal experience of this week has been really mixed. Of the 7 days, I was not feeling well for about 5. Being seasick, totally exhausted and partly because of this dehydrated (partly also just because, I cannot just go to the kitchen and get a juice or a coffee). We also had some days with really heavy seas and I got more seasick when I personally expected. I was missing home and my Francesca and was questioning my decision to sail around the world a lot – as I seemed not even  being able to stick through a week of mildly rough seas.

The one day that was really good: we had very calm day with hardly any wind just outside the Bay of Biscay. We had time to take showers (on deck with as much (salt)water as you want and then 2 liters of fresh water to rinse it off). We had music on deck and some easy sailing. The first day after leaving Liverpool I really enjoyed. That lifted my spirits, but just for a few hours, before I went back to pre-digest some fish food.

Because of all that, I didn’t get to much other things than sleeping, sailing and trying to keep some food in – no writing, no videos, no pictures…

After now 7 days on the water, I finally feel better. Still missing my girlfriend, though! But things I don’t miss and which seem not really to matter that much, are the daily news – is Trump still President of the USA?, London train delays, the email messages from Vorwerk, that they selected me as a new product tester.

However, I do miss: My girlfriend (did I mention that already?), not feeling sick (getting there it seems), an own bed and being really dry (everything here seems damp and it is not even that wet outside).

Coming back to where we are in the race. We also had some good news this morning. We made a lot of nautical miles in the last 36h and from being at the back of pack after leaving the Irish Sea, our skipper had made the right decision to stay out a bit further West, where – after a day of no winds – we found the right breeze (unfortunately, to my discomfort at the time). While we were still trailing behind yesterday, as of this lunchtime, we are officially in 4th position and gaining on some of the boats which are further East in lighter winds. So we are looking forward to the next days, to see if we cross paths with any of the other boats coming further West.

You can follow us in real time on the race viewer on the Clipper website.

I hope that, I will fell better now for good and can enjoy the amazing sailing more. The Atlantic Ocean has been really beautiful so far and we had regular visits from Dolphins and have seen Whales from afar – first noticing their spout, which can seen from miles away. A great sight, which did let me think of the old day whaling ships, ‘Moby Dick’ and also Jack London’s ‘Sea Wolf’.

I’m looking forward to more great sights and experiences in the next 7 days at sea….

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4 thoughts on “Week 1 done

  • Lieber Niclas,

    ich habe großes Mitgefühl hinsichtlich Deiner Seekrankheit. Habe das selber mal auf einer Mallorca rund Tour erlebt und es war furchtbar. Konnte gut nachvollziehen, daß man die Leute an den Mast gebunden hat. Ich freue mich zu hören dass es Dir nun offensichtlich besser geht und drücke Dir ganz fest die Daumen, daß das so bleibt. Aller Anfang ist schwer aber Du wirst das schon hinbekommen.

    Bin gespannt auf den nächsten Bericht. Ich wünsche Dir und Deinen ganzen Team Mast und Schotbruch und eine unvergessliche Tour!!!

    Herzliche Grüße

    Jan und das Acton Team

    • Ja, vielen Dank! Die Seekrankheit ist mittlerweile ganz gut unter Kontrolle und kein wirkliches Problem mehr und auch die körperliche Fitness hat zugenommen, was auch enorm hilft! 🙂 Schöne Grüße ans ganze Team

  • Hi Nick,

    das klingt ja alles sehr spannend! Ich kann mir schon gut vorstellen, dass es zwischenzeitlich ein gehöriges Auf und Ab ist… wie die Wellen, so auch die Emotionen. Wir wünschen Dir weiterhin ganz viel Freude bei diesem faszinierenden Abenteuer! And be safe!

    Viele liebe Grüsse aus Bayern, Daniel Claudi Carl

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