Afternoon All,
Wow what a whirl wind of a time I have had of late. I guess it’s not every day you become a world record holder. Initially, with my time on land, I was actually getting less sleep than I did at sea... I have just had a really busy two weeks trying to play catch up on life as well as prep for flying to Sydney to be a part of the Sydney International Boat Show. I am thrilled to have had the chance to speak at this event and to share my story with so many others and am looking forward to being able to continue to do so.
So after two weeks on land the time has come to sail out of Albany Harbour and once again point the bow east as I make the final leg of the journey and return to Sydney Harbour. I just want to say again a HUGE thank you to the community of Albany for such an amazing welcome and to all the incredible volunteers who not only helped me get prepared to depart but also came along and helped with the dreadful deep clean when I returned. There was also the small matter of digging out 1200 milk bottles that needed to be removed and have the lid cut off before being taken to the recycling plant. That was no small task, so thanks to those involved.
I ended up setting off from Albany on Friday and headed right out into a little blow. Again, my stomach seemed to rebel and as soon as it was safe to do so I was horizontal in bed trying not to throw up... I did manage to keep my dinner down as I headed out into the Australian Bight with a few container ships passing in the night to keep me company. Over the next few days, I did what I hadn’t been able to do on land. Sleep... I haven’t been sleeping long sections given the risk with traffic but I have been sleeping day and night in small bursts trying to recover a little from pushing the boat so hard in my final two weeks at sea followed by the constant rush that was my life on land.
Before I left, a lot of people were asking me if I was sailing home solo or not. They would often wonder why I would want to do this last section of the journey solo. Well for one, the boat is set up for solo sailing, making it actually more difficult to sail with someone……and two, I would feel guilty sleeping day and night if there was someone else onboard. The other reason is that this is like my fare well to the epic journey that I have gone through with Climate Action Now and while I already have a list of things I hope to do with her, this is our fare well to this specific trip.
It’s also a bit of time to get my head together for land based living again... So now I have been at sea for 5 days. I have seen a few ships but none that have come closer than 5nm. I am now closer to Portland than Albany and I am just over half way across the Australian Bight.
I am currently in my first big blow of the trip. I was hoping to get to Portland before this storm arrived however when it became evident that this wasn’t going to happen I decided to slow down and hove too out in the deeper waters so that I can ride the storm out far from land.
So, here I am, drifting SE at a rapid rate of 3 knots while the conditions deteriorate around me. The forecast is for swell up to 10 meters and winds up to 50 knots over the next 2 days. I was just sailing in 30-40 knots, however my wind instrument just decided to stop, so I will be likely judging the wind strength by the howl of the wind in the rigging... I hoved to this morning and it’s looking like I will remain hove to until maybe Friday morning when the swell reduces a bit. This gives me plenty of time to rest, which is exactly what I need the most at the moment.
I also just want to let you all know that we are holding an arrival event in Sydney Harbour on Saturday 26th at lunch time. If you are a boat owner I would so so love it if you would sail out to the heads and meet me at 12pm that day to cruise down the harbour with me.
It would be nice for Climate Action Now to get a large welcome on the water after all her efforts at keeping me safe at sea. If you are unable to join in on the water you can watch from the headlands or join us at D'Albora Marinas in Rushcutters Bay where I plan on docking Climate Action Now at approx 1pm. There will be some festivities to enjoy there in the afternoon. It’s a great opportunity to see the boat……. and come and say hi to me. So, I hope you are all locking in the 26th August in your diaries... I will post more information about the event closer to the time.
Good Night
