Following our memorable stopover in New York the fleet prepared to leave the Big Apple for the sprint up to Nova Scotia, this race had an added significance for the crew on the Cape Breton boat since they were racing into their home port. After the usual Clipper departure where boat songs are played at top volume as each boat slips their lines and boat crews salute the other boats we headed out into the Hudson River and left the Manhattan skyline behind us. After the sail past in fleet formation we headed towards the Statue of Liberty for the usual Clipper picture opportunity in front of this iconic landmark, before heading out to open waters for the race start. The weather was cold and the sea state very lumpy as expected 25-30 knots of wind straight on the bow.
After a few hours of motoring the boats collected at the start point for another Le Mans start, not a problem for us as we generally do very well and usually find ourselves in first postion. The Le Mans start sequence goes something like this - all ten boats are powered by motor with the main sail hoisted. The two headsails are rigged but are packed on the deck ready to be hoisted. We get various time warnings ie 10mins to race start, 5 mins to race start and the tension starts to rise. All the crew on each boat have to be behind the main winch (coffee grinder) and each crew member has a predetermined position - I am one of the two "beasts" ( Emil being the other) that hauls up the Yankee 1 by hand, believe me, no mean feat in a strong headwind with the boat heeled over! We then get the 1 min warning from the race start official (one of the skippers at sea, in this case Hannah Jenner on the Cork boat) and the engines are switched off and the real countdown begins. On the signal of the race start, all the crew leap into action to get the sails up which in turn allows us to power up the boat and hopefully get away from the other boats. For the next 10 mins each boat has to maintain its course before they can peel away and start to plot their way to Nova Scotia.
We had a great start once again and as we were trimming the sails a huge rogue wave hit us and swept a number of crew off their feet, I was standing by the shrouds hanging on the steel cables that hold the mast in place at the time catching my breath after hauling up the Yankee, most of the wave went over my head but the force of the water was unbelievable as my legs were forced forward by the immense power. Nobody escaped the wave, even those at the back of the boat felt the full force, thankfully, everybody was accounted for and we picked ourselves up and continued with our work, soaked to the skin, some a bit shell shocked but everyone fit and well.
All well on Team Finland
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