Owned by Pure Sailing, Spirit is the former Tyco
which took part in the last Volvo Ocean round the world race finishing
fourth after breaking her rudder in the Southern Ocean on the second
leg.
During the Arc the crew reached a top speed of 21.3 knots surfing
down a wave but also spent two days getting very hot and bothered
in no wind.
Hamish said: “Looking at the weather after the first few days,
we realised it was not going to provide us with a "traditional"
trade wind race.
“We had to work hard to avoid falling in some large wind
holes combined with passing through squalls typical of the doldrums.
“We spent two days with winds less than 10 knots watching
the clock ticking away...frustrating.”
He added: “Our lowest time was knowing we had to get through
the light winds to find more wind, with no option to sail around
it, knowing our competition behind still had good wind.”Luxuries
were low down on the list for Spirit’s crew, with the main
priority being weight saving to get as much speed out of the yacht
as possible,
Wash day consisted of buckets of sea water and there was also a
trade off in the food department for speed with the crew’s
diet consisting mostly of bland, rehydrated food, smothered in ketchup
– until they ran out. And ketchup was not the only thing the
crew ran out of.
Towards the end they lacked bread, sugar, milk powder, normal tea
and ketchup and were almost out of cereal and UHT milk.
Hamish said: “Life on board Spirit was hard work but rewarding
with constant trimming, sail changes and the heat of trying to sleep
below in the heat of the day and with the noise of the winches above.
The crew worked very hard and never gave up, despite the soul destroying
light winds.
“Breaking the record was fantastic, it made all the hard work
seem worthwhile.
“The welcome in St Lucia was great, everyone one is so friendly
and news travels fast! It was almost impossible to pay for our drinks
the first night!”
Spirit will now spend the winter in the Caribbean taking part in
the main regattas including the Heneiken Regatta, British Virgin
Islands Spring Regatta and Antigua Race Week and berths are still
available.
She will return to the UK in May.
More information on Pure Sailing can be found on the website www.puresailing.co.uk
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