146. Bermuda whistlestop.

The Countdown clock to Race start now shows just a little over 24 hours of nervous anticipation until we are off once more. The weather forecast looks a little ”sporty” and we are all onboard for the Bermuda to New York race briefing at 1430 this afternoon. Thereafter its one more night of relative peace, quiet and comfort.

My kit is now either all packed (and goes onboard this afternoon) or laid out in my digs ready for Sunday morning.

We are all onboard the UNICEF yacht by 10am tomorrow. Team photos will be from 1015 and we slip lines from 1100. After that we have a Parade of Sail around Hamilton harbour before a practice start out in The Great Sound. We will then do some compulsory man overboard training, practicing rescuing a man overboard who has gone overboard still attached to the boat by his tether, and a recovery of an untethered man overboard who is no longer attached to the boat. From about 1445 we will sail out of the relatively sheltered waters of Bermuda into the North Atlantic for a Le Mans start at 1800. Thereafter its a relatively short race (depending on the wind speed and direction!) to New York. The Fleet is due into Liberty Landing on the Jersey City side of New York on the 23rd or 24th of June and will remain alongside until Sunday 29th June when we start the North Atlantic crossing to Londonderry.

This has been the first time Bermuda has hosted the Clipper Fleet and it has clearly been a great success. Here are a few images:.

For Diabetes UK and the National Autistic Society see:

https://justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure

for UNICEF UK please see:

https://justgiving.com/KeithWinstanley-TeamUNICEF

Only about 4500 nautical miles to go!