Ian Deas Gone Sailing: Leg 3 Durban to Fremantle

Reaching Fremantle is a huge milestone for me as we have now completed three long ocean crossings each taking around 3 weeks and we are one third through the race in terms of time and distance. Also we have a break here of over 2 weeks and the best part is my family arrive on Christmas eve.

If you have been following the race you will note that we came first and are now leading the overall race by one point. So far we have managed two firsts, a 5th for the halfleg to La Rochelle and a 7th where we had damage to our mainsail and had to drop anchor when the wind died on us. Overall we are doing really well but the big question will be can we keep it up as 6 crew get off now and we get 6 new crew for this next leg. We are fortunate to have a skipper that is an extremely competent sailor and a great tactician as you may have noted from the bold moves made in the Southern Ocean.

This last leg was not what I was expecting as we did not get the big swells where the boat then achieves the high speeds. Overall we had fairly benign weather and after the first week tracked a high pressure system across the Southern Ocean until a few days before Fremantle. The last 3 days prior to arrival were atrocious as we had to beat into the wind and as we crashed through the waves we would have tons of water crashing over us. Both my appetite and sleep disappeared so as soon as we arrived in Fremantle I rushed to a hotel to warm up and dry off. Suffice to say 6 days later I am feeling human again.

This photo was taken from the top of the mast whilst we had 3 hump back whales swimming in parallel with us for about 20 minutes. These magical moments more than compensate for the bad times where I question my sanity on undertaking this adventure.

Karin had arranged an Ocean Bird Guide through Amazon that was delivered to me in Durban. I managed to identify 7 of the 16 types of albatrosses. There is an excellent article in the latest National Geographic on albatrosses. This photo is a Wandering Albatross.

The next two photos are taken whilst on watch. It was cold on this leg so as soon as we finished our watch we disappeared down below to warm. We have plenty of time to reflect on life in general and solve the many problems in the world.......