Well what a trip it has been and I still have 670 miles to go! A whole Fastnet race. That puts it into perspective a little. When you are used to talking in terms of thousands of miles a mere few hundred seems like a doddle!!
When I set off on the return trip I never imagined in my wildest dreams that it could be as hard as the race itself. Everyone warned me of sweltering hot days and endless areas of becalming and so as a precaution I went a little north to avoid this... and yes,I got my behind well and truly kicked! I hold my hands boldly in the air and say that the weather, the elements and the forces behind it truly won on this occasion! I was already tired physically and mentally from the race and my body weight was still down and to get suck in a 3 day storm was not something I was ready for. At the time I was fully prepared to never venture onto the sea again nor encounter the havoc caused by the forces behind it. But here I am on a beautiful Saturday evening, effortlessly cruising along at 8 knots wearing nothing but my undies and, once again, I find myself wondering what all the fuss was about. However, I have to say that on this occasion the memory of my Azores trip storm will remain with me for some time.
I have finally had a chance to properly reflect on my time in Newport and there are a couple of things that I must say before I sign off from the OSTAR 2009. The main one being a ‘thankyou’ again!! As many of you know - telling the tales of my adventures is very important to me and by the time I reach the UK I hope to have almost completed a short story of my race made up of my blogs and my reflections. I am also collating all my video diaries so that those who missed a chance of seeing the singing sailor get the opportunity once more! I really feel that it is important in this sport which has few participants and which is such a mystery to so many, that we have to try and paint a tiny picture of what life really is like in the middle of the Ocean on your own. Because of this I am absolutely delighted to have won the blogstar 'media' prize and want to say a massive thank you to Marco Nannini for all his efforts in making the ‘ blogstar’ website the success that it has been. As Marco pointed out before the race - there was no way he was sailing across the Atlantic with nobody knowing anything about it!! Marco has certainly made it possible for all my friends, family and supporters to keep track of me day by day. SO to Marco thank you.
I continue my now calmer voyage to Horta on the island of Faial, part of the group of islands called The Azores. Belonging to Portugal and situated 1000 miles from the UK, they mark the start of Europe and for me the end of another single handed transatlantic crossing. Here I shall make the necessary repairs following the damage sustained in the storm, and I shall take a few days to explore these volcanic islands before once again setting sail only this time, not alone and this time, heading for home.
I shall be keeping up my blog updates, so please continue to follow my progress at www.hannah-white.com.
For now, my thoughts are with all the other skippers still sailing especially Bart and his unfortunate lightening strike, Barry who sets sail from NYC tomorrow en route home and to Geoff Alcorn who is still yet to finish his OSTAR race. Good luck to you all.
Hannah
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