A fashion blog!!! Who’d have thought it? Gold is the new red and this is sartorial elegance, Clipper style.

Regular readers will be aware that I mentioned previously having visited our official kit suppliers for the 2019-2020 race as part of Clipper Level 1 training (“Have you heard the one about the Englishman, the Irishman and the Scot …… Blog 9, posted on 9th July). At the time we were asked to keep the supplier under wraps pending the “official announcement”. Well, the “said announcement” was made earlier this week. The Musto Lighthouse Store in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth was the scene of our earlier “suits you, Sir” experience and an opportunity to meet the Musto team and be measured for our kit. Musto will be the official kit suppliers for the 2019-2020 and the 2021-2022 editions of the Race.

As the official announcement said, “the new partnership marks a transformation for the sailing event as it swaps its familiar red kit for a new striking gold look.” Musto was established in 1964 by Olympic sailing silver medalist, Keith Musto, who, when competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games, noticed a gap in the market for high performance sailing kit. Since then the Musto brand has pushed the boundaries of design and manufacturing and is at the forefront of product innovation and design. Holding two Royal Warrants, Musto gear is sold in over 40 countries, was worn by 70% of the teams competing in the last Volvo Ocean Race, was the brand choice of the leading sailors in the 2016-2017 Vendee Globe and was the official partner of Groupama Team France for the 2017 America’s Cup.

As well as providing a recommended kit list that covers all the requirements of the “three layer” clothing systems most of us will be adopting, Musto will provide our branded clothing once crew allocation and boat sponsoring is announced. I’ll write about the differences in base layer, mid layer, and outer layer with the differences in moisture wicking, ventilation, temperature control and even antimicrobial finishes – that’s pong- reduction-in-a-no-shower-environment to you and me! – in a future blog, but Musto are providing each Clipper crew member with the following:

Pro Lite UV Fast Drying Shorts – fast-drying and with a UPF40 treatment on the fabric, these shorts offer advanced durability through reinforced stitching and a reinforced seat panel. They are anatomically shaped (!!!!) for “extra coverage” and designed to ensure I can move with greater ease. Greater ease than what I wonder?

The Musto Evolution Sunblock Long sleeve T-shirt is “engineered” to protect me from harmful UV rays and features UPF40 protection and flatlock seams making it an extremely comfortable base layer with great freedom of movement. Made from fast-dry, stretch and reinforced fabric, it will ensure I always perform at the top of my game. Apparently!

The Crew Softshell jacket is wind-resistant and coated with a durable water repellent to encourage (encourage???) water to bead and run off the fabric. This means I can enjoy the outdoors on days with light showers and changeable weather in this streamlined, breathable softshell jacket. Can’t wait.

But “stop I hear you ask”. “Aren’t you doing the rather more – delete “changeable”, insert “violently unpredictable”, delete “light showers”, insert “blowing a gale and lashing with rain” sort of legs?” Never mind “softshell”, what about the “tough stuff?”

The HPX GORE-TEX Pro Series Trouser (now we’re talking!) has a proven performance that exceeds expectations (here’s hoping). Extremely durable, impeccably waterproof and windproof and extremely breathable, they are considered the toughest 3-layer GORE-TEX Pro fabric. It has an Ocean Technology membrane, “Cordura” seat and knee patches, reinforced wear points and special removable impact pads in the knees that move with me but lock hard on impact, particularly deck impact, to provide additional protection.

The accompanying HPX GORE-TEX Pro Series Smock has already been tested to the limits in the Southern Ocean and is engineered specifically for the wettest environments. It is extremely waterproof, breathable, highly durable and snag resistant. It has an anatomically cut fleece-lined collar for extra heat retention, a fluorescent, fully adjustable roll-away GORE-TEX hood for protection even over a helmet with a rigid peak to the hood designed to channel spray away from the face. It has an engineered, ergonomically shaped, fully adjustable spume visor to protect my face from spray, inner latex seals and cuff seals for additional waterproof protection, photoluminescent prismatic reflectors for high visibility at night and laser cut draining holes for all pockets to reduce drying times and presumably to allow all that sea water that is NOT going into my face, to drain away!

So.….. does/will my bum look big in this?????

Watch this space – we are now at Clipper Level Two Training minus 16 days and counting.

 

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Weather forecasting ……. it’s never been that easy.

Witchcraft, pine cones, seaweed, chicken entrails, bubbles in puddles, cows lying down, “rain at 7, clear by 11”, “red sky at night, shepherd’s delight.” If it rains on St Swithin’s Day (15th July) it will rain on each of the next 40 days. “The chill is on, near and far, in all the months that have an R.” “A sunshiny shower won’t last half an hour.” “Seagull, Seagull sit on the sand, its never fine weather when you’re on the land.” Over time, we have tried pretty much every and any method to predict what’s coming. For my part I can tell autumn is now upon us (first day of Autumn today) thanks to my posterior cruciate ligament, anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament, medial collateral ligament, lateral meniscus and my medial meniscus or, if you prefer, my patella or knees (other aged aching joints are available)!!!

Old wives tales apart, the two men credited with the birth of forecasting as a science were both Royal Navy Officers,  Francis Beaufort  (27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) and Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) (neither of whom qualify for the Pretty Much All At Sea bearded sailors hall of fame due to a lack of facial hair!). Although ridiculed at the time, collectively their work gained scientific credence and was accepted firstly by the Royal Navy and later formed the basis for all todays weather forecasting knowledge. Beaufort developed the wind force scale, which he was to use in his journal for the rest of his life and is now used worldwide. Robert FitzRoy was appointed as chief of a new department within the UK’s Board of Trade in 1854 to deal with the collection of weather data at sea as a service to mariners. A storm in 1859 that caused the loss of a ship called the Royal Charter inspired FitzRoy to develop charts to allow predictions to be made, which he called “forecasting the weather”, thus coining the phrase “weather forecast.” Fifteen land stations were established to use the telegraph to transmit daily reports of weather at set times leading to the first gale warning service. The first daily weather forecast was published in The Times on 1st August 1861, and the first published weather maps were produced later that same year. In 1911, the Met Office began issuing the first marine weather forecast by radio. The worlds first televised weather forecasts were experimentally broadcast by the BBC in 1936 and this became a regular feature in 1949. In the late 1970s and early 80s, John Coleman, the first weatherman on ABC-TVs Good Morning America, pioneered the use on on-screen weather satellite information and computer graphics and in 1982 Coleman was a co-founder of The Weather Channel cable TV network.

The UK’s Shipping Forecast, first broadcast in 1924 is now something of a National institution ……..

or if you prefer, there are also the Brian Perkins and the Stephen Fry versions:

Much less humourous tonight is the plight of Indian solo yachtsman Abhilash Tomy. Tomy, a 39 year old Commander in the Indian Navy, in his yacht Thuriya, is taking part in the current Golden Globe single handed circumnavigation of the globe, replicating the feat achieved by Robin Knox-Johnston 50 years ago. The race started from France on 1st July and seven boats have so far withdrawn from the race. On Friday, 70 knot winds and 45ft waves in the Southern Ocean dismasted Thuriya and has left Tomy seriously injured 2000 miles off the coast of Western Australia. He managed to send a message saying he has a severe back injury and is immobilised, unable to eat or drink. Race organisers said Tomy was “incapacitated on his bunk inside his boat … as far from help as you can possibly be.”

A French fisheries patrol vessel is closing his position and might reach him tomorrow, Monday. Two military aircraft, one from Australia and one from India, flew over the yacht today but crew were unable to establish contact with Tomy. “He is injured inside the yacht so he can’t communicate further,” an Australian Maritime Authority spokesman said today. An Irish race competitor, Gregor McGuckin, whose own yacht was damaged during the storm, has made repairs and is attempting to cover the 90 miles or so between the two yachts and the storm also knocked flat the yacht of Dutch competitor, Mark Slats, not once but twice! Most of the other competitors still in the race were further north and avoided the worst of the storm. Meanwhile race organisers say a search and rescue plane is being sent to Reunion Island to assist, the Indian Navy says it has also despatched two ships to join the rescue effort and an Australian frigate with a helicopter is also enroute, but could take at least 4 days to reach the area.  Tomy, who became the first Indian to sail around the world in 2013, is communicating using a texting unit, after his satellite phone went down as Thuriya was dismasted. Yesterday he sent a message saying “Extremely difficult to walk, might need stretcher, can’t walk, thanks safe inside the boat. Sat phone down.”

Fingers crossed.

In Royal Navy destroyers, frigates and small ships, when the Flight (the aircrew) are not onboard the duties of forecasting the weather fall to the navigating Officer. So I’ve done quite a bit of weather forecasting. I would describe my abilities as “sunny with occasional showers and patchy fog.” You get the general idea. Actually I was once told that if you forecast today’s weather for tomorrow you will be right 50% of the time, which probably tells you more about my meteorological instructors than it does about weather forecasting. Thankfully forecasting, particularly modern professional forecasting, can be very good.

Hurricane Florence is now ashore and wreaking havoc, death and destruction in North and South Carolina.  Super Typhoon Mangkhut, having battered the Philippines, has now made landfall in China (not too far from Zhuhai – see blog 18, 26th Aug). In addition to the destruction of homes and buildings, landslides, record breaking rainfall and storm surges there have been, tragically, fatalities in America, the Philippines and in China. Unlike my skills as a weather forecaster, hurricanes are no laughing matter. With the remnants of former Hurricane Helene currently inbound for the UK, the weather is making front page news and leading the news bulletins, and for all the wrong reasons.

Being in the path of a hurricane, typhoon or cyclone is a daunting experience. Ask anyone from the crew of California, dismasted during the North Pacific leg of the Clipper 2009-2010 race or anyone from the North Pacific Leg 6 of the 2017-2018 edition who all experienced hurricane force winds and phenomenal sea states (waves in excess of 14m/46ft). Daunting indeed. And by the way, I should know, I’ve been at sea in THREE hurricanes.

In 1987 I was the Navigating Officer of the frigate HMS BOXER. After a protracted period operating in the Baltic, and following a visit to Copenhagen, we were inbound for Plymouth via the Dover Straits on the night of 15/16 October. That lunchtime, the Met Office forecaster Michael Fish began arguably the most infamous weather bulletin in British history with the words, “Earlier on today apparently a woman rang the BBC and said she had heard a hurricane was on the way.”

What followed was the Great Storm of 1987, hurricane force winds battering the UK in the greatest storm witnessed on the south coast of England for 300 years. Gales reaching 115mph caused devastation across the southern half of England, leaving 18 people dead, 15 million trees flattened, and a repair bill totalling £2bn.

What I remember most was being woken by the noise of the wind in the vicinity of Dover, being heeled over at a strange angle (the hurricane was pretty much on our port bow), and the very poor visibility caused by sea spray. The seas were not particularly rough, being knocked flat by the wind, but we have no record of the actual wind speed as it was stronger than the onboard instruments could measure.

Three year later it happened again.

The Burns’ Day Storm (also known as Hurricane Daria) was an extremely violent windstorm that took place on 25-26 January 1990 over north-western Europe. It was one of the strongest European windstorms on record. Starting on the birthday of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, it caused widespread damage and hurricane force winds over a wide area. The strongest sustained winds were recorded at 75mph with gusts at 104mph. Casualties were much higher than those of the Great Storm of 1987, largely because the hurricane hit during daylight. It caused extensive damage, with approximately 3 million trees downed (far fewer than Oct 1987 because in January they were no longer in leaf), power was disrupted to over 500,000 homes and severe flooding was caused in England and West Germany. The hurricane also affected Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. It is estimated that the storm cost UK insurers £3.37bn and caused between 80 and 100 deaths across Europe.

 

In the minesweeper HMS UPTON I had been operating in the outer reaches of the Bristol Channel as the hurricane approached. Warnings and forecasting this time were good but my problem was safety. On the exposed north Cornish coast there would be no shelter as the hurricane made landfall and no safe anchorage. The period from the Monday until Daria went through on Thursday was spent initially at anchor in St Ives Bay (the wind was already south-westerly at 50+knots), tracking Daria’s progress and planning a series of sprints around Land’s End (safely accomplished on the Wednesday) just ahead of the storm’s arrival. We anchored in Plymouth Sound to shelter on the afternoon of the 25th but dragged anchor at 0630 the following morning as wind speeds passed 60 knots. We re-anchored in nearby Cawsand Bay, as near to the hills as was possible, putting out both anchors and using main engines to assist as Daria passed through. The barograph trace (below) records a wind speed and direction of 240 degrees 90+knots at around 11am that day. You can see when we were not at anchor by the thickened blotches on the trace; not caused  by the ink smudging but by the exaggerated movement of the ship when underway. We eventually went alongside in the Naval dockyard in Plymouth on Friday, still in 30+ knots of wind.

In 1995 the North Atlantic, and in particular the Caribbean, experienced the worst hurricane season since 1933 with no fewer than 21 tropical cyclonic depressions, 19 named tropical storms, 11 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes (Cat 3 and above). The first hurricane of the season (Hurricane Alison – Cat 1) formed within a few days of the recognised start to the hurricane season (1st June) and the first major hurricane (Felix – Cat 4) formed in August. There were 4 particularly destructive hurricanes that year: Luis (Cat 4), Marilyn (Cat 3), Opal (Cat 4)and Roxanne (Cat 3). 1995 is currently recorded as the 5th most active season in history. In the destroyer HMS SOUTHAMPTON I was operating in the Caribbean as the UK’s West Indies Guardship, a role that year that had already involved an extended period operating in support of the island of Montserrat following the eruption, and continued rumblings of a volcano in the island’s Soufriere Hills. Luis started as Tropical Depression 13 on 27th August but had strengthened sufficiently to be categorised as  Tropical Storm Luis by the 29th August and a Hurricane later that same day. By 1st September Luis was a Category 3 hurricane and by 3rd September, with sustained wind speeds of 150mph it reached Category 4.

By 3rd September HMS SOUTHAMPTON was manoeuvring at speed to make ground to be in the south west quadrant of Luis when we were diverted to rescue 13 Venezuelans from a coastguard station on the tiny island of Los Aves. That rescue complete, we manoeuvred around the rear of Hurricane Luis and followed him through the Windward and Leeward islands before anchoring off the island of Anguilla in the wee small hours of 6 September, the island having been devastated by the hurricane the previous day. The eye of Luis passed over the north of Anguilla and the hurricane caused catastrophic damage to Barbuda, St Barthelemy, St Martin and Anguilla. Luis caused 19 deaths and left between 20,000 and 50,000 homeless, mostly in Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla and St Martin and caused roughly $3bn (1995 USD) worth of damage. We were to remain at anchor off Anguilla until 15th September providing communications for the Governor back to the FCO in London, and landing sailors each day to repair the airport, open the port, fix generators and repair schools and Royal Marines to support the local police. As early as 13th September we were keeping a weather eye on Hurricane Marilyn!  Luis was to remain a major hurricane for over a week and was the most devastating hurricane to strike the northern Leeward islands in the 20th Century.

They say worse things happen at sea. Looking at the Carolinas, Philippines and China this morning, I’m not so sure.

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Tick-tock, tick-tock……… somewhere a clock is ticking………………………………………………….. It’s now 253 days since my Clipper interview and, looking forward, about the same number of days until crew allocation. It’s already 148 days since I fell off CV2 at the finish of Level 1 training (yes, it REALLY was Friday 13th of April!), 32 days to go before I try it again on Level 2 training, 184 days to go until Level 3 and (very approximately) 390 days to go before I start My Race from somewhere in South America. Tick-tock indeed!

It’s 120 days since my first blog and, perhaps most significantly given the subject of this one, approaching 4 months since blog 3: “Its All Really A Question Of Balance” – my first comments about my Clipper Fitness programme published on 21st May. So, with that damn clock still tick-tocking ……….. how’s the fitness gig going??????

Well first the good news. The “many repetitions of small free weights” that I discussed last time has been achieved. The not-so-good news is that this followed advice from my physiotherapist to help cure golfers elbow (a sort of golfers equivalent of tennis elbow)and started with many repetitions exercising my left wrist holding a can of Heinz baked beans – other tins of beans are available! The weights gradually increased and I am now back on the golf course and back to bell ringing – the latter as of last night.

Lunchtimes have yet to include “more brisk walking” (although the arrival of my latest fitness programme aid (read on) is probably going to help) and I will skip quickly (metaphorically speaking – no skipping ropes involved) over my previous comments regarding running upstairs! On a brighter note core strength is improving as planking has always been relatively easy for me, my flamingo-like balance (particularly when dressed in pink – see blog 3) continues to improve, my stamina is good and I have, as promised, reintroduced swimming to my programme. I try and go swimming 2-3 times a week and get in at least 20 lengths a time. I say “at least 20” because the hardest thing about swimming for me turns out to be remembering how many lengths I have done. I try and err on the side of caution (and count down) when trying to remember “was that 18 or 16 I’ve just finished?!” Today was definitely 30 lengths. And before you shout, yes, I know…… 20 (or more like 60-80 a week) is nothing to write home about but its 60-80 more than I was doing in May and, despite my earlier best efforts, I’m planning on sailing across the South Atlantic, not swimming it.

Now to aid all this I have invested in some more fitness programme training aids, namely a wobble board, FitKit Resistance Therapy Band, a membership of Market Drayton Swimming Centre and (yes your eyes do not deceive you) – a yoga mat. Stretching exercises – not mentioned in any great detail back in May – have appeared courtesy of FitKit (alternating bicep curls, chest press, chicken wing (don’t ask!), squats, leg presses, overhead tricep extensions, lunges and donkey kicks (definitely don’t ask!) and I start yoga – yes I know, all that downward dog, leotard stuff ……. tomorrow – honest!

Which all probably means that the only area I touched upon back in May that I haven’t mentioned today is the healthy eating stuff. Another good news, bad news story. The good news is that my diet has always been pretty healthy (20+ years as a diabetic will do that for you) and my blood sugar levels are probably under the best control they have been under in at least 6 years :-). The less-good news is that the down-side of prize winning baking (see the 4th Sep blog “Masterbaking ….. or …. Mother Watch preps etc etc”) is a propensity to “lick the spoon” – and the bowl for that matter – and perhaps now is the time to admit that the award winning treacle tart was a third attempt; carrot cake icing is too delicious to resist; loaf making results in the most enticing kitchen smells ever plus an excess of scrumptious bread in the house, and marmalade cake and fruit scones should be declared “weapons of waist expansion.” Only my pride prevents me from declaring my current weight but I know what it should be according to my height/age/BMI; I know what it should be in terms of what I regard as my “fighting weight” and I know what it should be according to my wardrobe – and that’s my clothing size NOT the width of the doors. Suffice to say I have some work to do regarding my weight and that damn clock is quite definitely tick-tocking now!

To my rescue, I hope, comes my final fitness programme training aid in the shape of Trevor –

 

(on a temporary 10-week loan from Emma, Matt and Evie due to extensive house improvements) and my new walking companion. Three brisk walks a day (don’t let the short legs fool you) that started over a couple of miles in the pouring rain first thing this morning. Interestingly, HE got a rub down with a towel and a treat when we finished and I did not! It’s a dogs life, tick-tock.

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Never mind the fitness programme, what about Mother Watch preps……………………………………

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To quote from the official Clipper guidance, a high performance sailing team needs fuel in order to perform. It is the responsibility of the Mother Watch (one crew member from each watch working together for a 24 hour period) to prepare and serve food for the rest of the crew as well as tidying and cleaning the yacht in order to maintain a healthy crew and living area. It’s something of an added bonus if you can, actually, ………. cook something! It’s even better if you can bake bread or, drum roll please, even bake a cake. So, on the basis of practice makes perfect I’ve been having a go in the kitchen, oops I mean galley. Fruit scones, bread, treacle tart, carrot cake, quiches, Victoria sponges – ok maybe not all entirely suitable for a 5 week crossing of the North Pacific but all good galley practice nonetheless.

Fruit scones. 8oz self-raising flour, 2oz sugar, 2oz butter, 1 large egg, 2 tablespoons(ish) of milk, teaspoon of baking powder, 2-3oz (or a slack handful and a bit!) of sultanas/mixed fruit etc. Rub it together by hand and then add the egg and milk and fruit and mix together. Cut as required, coat with egg/milk wash and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Bread (Seeded or unseeded). 500g of bread flour, 1 and a half teaspoons of sugar, 1 and a half teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 packet of yeast and 1 cup of luke warm water all mixed together by hand and then kneaded for 10 minutes by hand. Grease the original mixing bowl and put the mixture in the bowl covered by clingfilm of a damp tea towel and then leave for the first rise until the mix has doubled in size. For a seeded loaf bung in about 2.5g of mixed seeds before mixing by hand. After the first rise ‘knock it back’ by kneading for a further three minutes then put the bread mix into a well greased baking tin making sure it is well packed into the tin and cover for the second rise. If making a seeded loaf sprinkle poppy seeds on the top of the mix once in the tin. After the second rise, remove the covering and transfer the tin quickly into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Treacle Tart: For the pastry use 8oz of plain flour, 2oz of lard, 2oz of butter and a pinch of salt. Mix by rubbing the mixture through your fingers only until the mix has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Then add about 5 tablespoons of cold water and roll the mixture into a ball. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Then roll it out. Put the rolled pastry into a well greased tart tin, keeping some pastry for lattice covering later, prick the bottom with a fork, placed a greased butter wrapped on the base with some weights – teaspoons will do the trick – and bake for about 12 minutes.

For the filling – 450g Golden Syrup, 1 large egg, zest of a lemon, 25g unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons Double Cream, 40g breadcrumbs plus 30g oats (slightly more for a denser mixture.

Gently warm the golden syrup, then add the butter and stir until melted. Leave to cool a little. Beat the egg and cream together in a separate bowl, then quickly beat in the syrup mixture along with the lemon zest and crumbs/oats. Pour into the pastry case. Cover in pastry lattices and then coat in an egg/milk wash to help the pastry brown. Bake for about 40 minutes ish until brown (ish) and set (ish) …… which in reality for me meant check how it looks in the AGA every 5 minutes from the 35 minute mark!

Carrot Cake. 260g whole meal flour, 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 medium free range eggs, 170ml sunflower oil, 60g soured cream, 2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract, 170g dark muscovado sugar, 170g soft light brown sugar, 320g grated carrot.

And for the icing: 220g full-fat cream cheese, 110g unsalted butter, juice of 1 lemon, 110g icing sugar.

Mix together the whole meal flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl use a balloon whisk to whisk the eggs, oil, soured cream and vanilla bean extract. Sift the sugars together into the mixture, then whisk until smooth. Working in a figure of eight motion, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined. Stir in the grated carrots, then pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour 15-20 minutes until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Meanwhile make the icing. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the lemon juice and sift in the icing sugar. Beat until smooth. When the cake is cool, put it on an upturned dinner plate (as a stand), dollop the icing mixture on top and smooth over the top and around the sides using a palette knife.

(The video is worth a double click and it DOES play the right way up!)

With thanks to my Mum for the camera work and Ruth, for ‘storm effects’ a little too-gleefully applied!

Oh and for the record …….. Eccleshall Show, Saturday 1sst September 2018 …… Second Place for Treacle Tart, Second Place for Carrot Cake, Highly Commended for Seeded Loaf and Highly Commended for Mushroom Quiche. Surely worth a donation:  http://www.justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure