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Leaving Durban I recoiled into the same nervous wreck that left Liverpool. For five years the Southern Ocean has been at the back of my mind, scaring me, daring me and even enticing me to take it on. I’ve read and heard stories about the storms, the waves and the freezing waters. I was petrified. After all the waiting my biggest fear was staring me in the face and I had no choice but to go out there and see what was thrown at me. To make it worse, I had throughly enjoyed my stay in Durban, escaping to the lush mountains of Drakensberg with some fantastic friends from other boats and there was so much more to explore!  

 Once we left the safety of the harbour, we headed south and straight into a storm. The first few days were exactly as I expected with strong winds, big waves and a proper drenching. It’s fine when you’re up on deck and sailing the boat and more often than not it’s great fun but downstairs the sails were wet, the floor was wet, there wasn’t a dry seat on the boat and there was a river flowing down onto my bunk. To top it all off, the sea sickness returned. It wasn’t as bad as previous legs but still, 3 days of feeling queasy whilst trying to play a full part in the team is not fun. However, when you’re out at sea, there’s little choice but to continue and try to enjoy what you’re doing. The stars are still beautiful, the sea is still amazing no matter how sick you feel. Thankfully, after trying travel bands, sea sick patches, sea sick pills, something from the medical box, herbal pills from New Zealand, the same medication you take with morphine to stop nausea and a head massage, I felt better although I was rattling like a pill box and with that cocktail inside me, I was waiting for an alternative version of Gulf War Syndrome to take effect!

Then the storms subsided and out came boiling hot sunshine. The thermals went back into the dry bags and every spare inch on the deck was covered in cushions, mattresses, clothing, boots, foulies and sails in a desperate attempt to dry the boat. I also had my first experience with ‘Sikoflex’, the sealant we use onboard - the last thing skipper said to me before I tackled the cause of the leak above my bunk was “not to get it on my fingers as it gets everywhere”. Well, we can’t all be perfect!! It wasn’t pretty but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk of it not working.

For days afterwards we enjoyed good winds and relatively calm seas and so my handy work didn’t get tested. Most of us were a little disappointed not to have the big rolling waves and experience surfing down waves at 20+ knots again. However, I was also very conscious of my fears and the man overboard experienced on the Glasgow boat had scared us all and the reality of what we’re doing really did sink in. (Thankfully, thanks to the crew & skipper, he was picked up within 9 minutes and is now safe and well). What I really feared though was feeling as though I’d cheated the Southern Ocean and would need to cross it again. Fortunately, the last week soon put pay to that fear!

While we enjoyed the good weather and good winds, other boats had sailed into a wind hole which meant that we went from 7th to 2nd in 48 hours. It picked up spirits onboard and we were really keen to do well into our home port.  The final week of the race into Australia was exciting, thrilling, close and….wet! The storms, high winds and crashing waves that we’d all been expecting materialised and were great fun. (I can say that now that I’m writing from the safety of Fremantle’s sunny shores!) Our tacticians did a superb job helping us to stay ahead of the chasing pack and make up ground on the leaders, Durban. With a few more hours we think we would have caught them but hopefully on the next leg there won’t be any ifs or buts! We finally made it into Oz at about midnight, where I was met by Mum and Dad - it really did feel like a homecoming and I am very proud to be able to say that I have sailed the Southern Ocean…and there’s no need to return!