Part 9
19th December:
The 'Race Day' was here. The air was filled with excitement and energy and to be honest, I was a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect on this leg. Theoretically, the worst and the most demanding leg was done and I gained a lot of new experiences in which I learned a great deal. So the next leg around Australia should be easier and less challenging but somehow I had the gut feeling it wouldn’t be so easy and some surprises would be wait ahead. We'll see what we would learn this time.
Fremantle is a lovely quiet place in the South of Perth with a huge Marina and hundreds of boats. Fishing is apparently a big thing to do and you also get to see some very nice boats around. The people are wonderful and very friendly to new sailors coming from abroad and helpful in any way. The Fremantle Sailing club is a very old and traditional sailing club that goes back to 1920 with a lot of history and many sailors story.
At 11am, the boats got ready and did some final repairing jobs before slipping the lines at 12 pm. I was very lucky that my love, Lynn, was with me in Fremantle for wishing me fair winds in a proper Korean style (Thank you honey and please look into the Clipper Page for the nice photos). To wave us off, a group of big pipe players came to the docks and played some traditional music. The spectacle was nothing compared to Cape Town as most visitors were friends and family only; while in Cape Town the whole Victoria Waterfront cheered for us and wished us fair winds. We were well-prepared and had only a few things to do so the whole crew was relaxed and focused on a good start. At 12:15pm, it was our boat that left the pontoon; we set the sails and did one more Man Overboard drill which went quite smooth. After that we had the parade of sails and finally set to the starting line.
At 3 pm, we started racing with an excellent start. The wind was a bit light and we were ready to hoist code 1 shortly after the start. This time one person was sitting at the navigation table to ensure that we didn’t get any penalties again and that we were on track course. Our trimming was good and we could gain quickly to the main fleet. Due to the changing wind conditions, we had all possible sails hoisted with the main reefed and raised every two hours. I didn’t know the exact number but in the first 24 hours we had more than 10 evolutions including a spinnaker peel. The Sun was harsh on the skin with the temperature of about 30 degrees. I think I drank more than 3 litres of water and didn’t go once to the heads till the next day. 🤷
Korean style 😝