The First Race Kristiansand to Hartlepool

We had quite a calm North Sea crossing, which was a nice way to ease us into the race and being on Trinovante in general. Eventually we did pick up a bit of speed and there was lots of excitement when we got the Morning Star of Revelation in our sights, we all started getting very competitive to see who’s watch would gain the most ground (or sea!) on the Morning Star, unfortunately, even with Heather’s amazing helming skill, the Morning Star was just too far ahead.

When we weren't zooming along at 8 knots there was plenty to keep us occupied, two sightings of dolphins, although Stuart may argue that the second one was a whale! Beautiful, clear starry night skies, perfect for shooting star viewing, although it meant it was easy to get distracted when helming. And my favourite thing; phosphorescence, and dancing on them when they got washed up on deck to make them sparkle.

Once in Hartlepool we had lots of important things to do… dressing up as the Trinovante tribe, going to a cocktail party on the Indonesian square rigger Dewa Rucci (the rest of the crew were astonished one of the other crew and I managed to rustle up two cocktail dresses from our rucksacks), and ‘febrezing’ all the emersion suits!

The Second Race, Hartlepool to Sail Amsterdam.

A whole different story! I think we raced for a day, then we decided the really complicated race course wasn't’t going to be much fun, as it involved following lots of imaginary lines across the sea. So we headed for Holland. Over a beer in a Dutch pub we all felt very sympathetic for the tall ships still bobbing around in the sea, pretty much where we had left them days earlier, we knew we had made the right decision! In order to conquer the North sea for a second time we stayed in watches, and this time we were competitive about the weather! Our watch was always dry and sunny/starry, and like clock work it would start to drizzle as the other group emerged from below deck. It kept us very amused!

We did a bit of sailing on the Dutch inland waterways and visited little towns along the way, and then it was time for the parade of sail up the North Canal. There was an unimaginable number of boats, from the impressive class A square riggers, that had several tugs helping guide them along the canal, to the mini motor boats, wreaking mayhem weaving in and out, causing a few crashes! Thankfully John got the Trinovante through unscathed, and we were welcomed into a packed Amsterdam, I think there was an extra 1.5 million people in the city for the Sail Amsterdam Festival.
Back to top.