Living only an hour's drive from the marina we were going to use, I was hoping she'd have the time to gather up her three kids and meet me there. Though the storm had blown us in hours earlier than I had estimated we'd arrive before we left England, Daphne still managed to beat me to the marina. As we maneuvered into our berth, our entire boat was greeted by her children's high-pitched squeals of my name with a Dutch accent from the shore:
"Teee-mo-theeee! Teee-mo-theeee!"
After an afternoon of cleaning and repair (from which I was graciously excused on the account that I actually knew someone in the Netherlands who had actually come down to see the boat in), Uniquely Singapore was prepped for the Wilberforce race the next day. Daphne, her children, and I took a boat tour of Europe's largest port and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner out while the rest of my crew scrubbed, sewed, and washed. I was assured a way would be found for me to make up for my absence.
The next morning our boat's crew lined up along one rail to greet the well wishers along the shore while a fire boat tug gave us a full spray display.
Once out in the North Sea, all our ten boats lined up side by side for a Le Mans style start: with the engines running and only the mainsail up, the boats work to form a perfect line abreast. At a selected time, the engines are cut. One minute later the race is on and crew members are allowed to move forward to erect the two headsails as fast as they can.
It is a spectacular thing to behold such magnificently large ships maneuvering in such close quarters. As the boats are identical, it's tactics, sail trim, and the smoothness of whomever is at the helm that allow any one boat to pull ahead. Below is a five minute video I made of the race start. For most boats, the priority was the training value of the race, not the race itself. Still, with your competition right next to you, it's hard not to want to pass them or hold them off. Furthermore, such proximity allows you to see such immediate results to sail adjustments. In the video you'll see Durban (skippered by Ricky, one of the two skippers I'd asked to be assigned to; the other skipper was Mark, the skipper I got!) slowly pull away from us as the helmsman finds the right waves to surf down and maneuvers to find the optimum angle to the wind. They, like us, had selected one reef in their mainsail. The boat behind Durban had selected two reefs. Despite that much disparity of sail area, you'll see how slowly the differences are apparent.
Thirty-six hours or so later, we finished our race's course (we didn't win) and, after a night at anchorage waiting for the right tide to get into Hull's locks, all ten boats motored into a marina lined with cheering crowds, part of the year long Wilberforce Festival going on in the birthplace and home district of William Wilberforce, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Wilberforce's final success of a life long effort dedicated to ending British slave trade.
A gracious Clipper Ventures employee greeted us at the dock with a case of the local beer, which we scarfed down with delight. We were celebrating the end of our Part C training (the last segment of training for anyone except those doing the whole race, as I am) and the beginning of our adventure together as a team. No longer were we sailing with merely fellow Clipper Venture participants. We were now sailing with our own team. This was it. Anyone on our boat was someone I'll be seeing for all or some of the race that's only 46 days away from starting.
So much still to do.
