Christine Davies goes sailing!

Christine Davies is the co-founder of the women's travel network Thelma and Louise (thelmandlouise.com), which enables members to meet like-minded women, find travel companions and fulfil their aspirations (just our cup of tea!). She is currently underway on a sailing trip, which if all goes well will see her sail round the world next year, so we thought it might be interesting to find out what inspired her and follow her progress!

"It was a chance advert on the London Underground showing a yacht on its side in a high sea, with the crew clinging off it that prompted Christine to want to learn to sail. The chaption asked – ‘could you race a yacht round the world?’ and gave a website address.

There have been moments when Christine has regretted this impetuosity – notably in a Force 8 gale off the Isle of Wight on a 60 foot boat which alarmingly adopted the same position as the one in the ad. The guard rail on the down side was in the water. The rain lashed down, and in the dark a helicopter hovered nearby with an enormous searchlight – looking for a missing fisherman. Half of the frozen, wet crew were incapacitated by violent vomiting, and Christine helpfully emptied the buckets, and wondered why she was there.

However the next morning the sea sparkled with sunshine and with a fair headwind the boat sailed to France – and like childbirth, the horror of the night before was replaced by elation.

What does sailing in a race around the world entail? First a great deal of sweating and rushing from one side of the slippery boat to the other, pulling up sails, or pulling them down again and folding them up without getting them or you blown into the sea. Lots of churning away at winches which pull the ropes attached to the sails, a really exhausting job which on many boats is done automatically – but on a racing boat all equipment is kept to a minimum to travel light, so it is done by hand. All ropes (called sheets for some unfathomable reason) are constantly rewound and left in neat curls on the deck. All the time people are shouting at each other at the tops of their voices above the wind and crashing waves, so that the rest of the team know what position to move into next – “Cunningham made” was one particular cryptic code which appeared in my dreams during the few brief hours respite allowed in my bunk bed – still in my clothes as there is nowhere to get dressed and nowhere to even put clothes on the floor as the cabin is piled high with spare sails. I gave up on personal hygiene and just hoped that any whiff was carried away by the sea breeze. The toilets are too distressing to merit a description, but thankfully I was blessed with constipation for the voyage.

We all took turns at cooking – learning to concoct appetising recipes from tinned ingredients. The stove is on hinges and rocks from side to side, with a big metal kettle constantly on the boil for the cups of tea that keep the deck watch going. Meal times were a chance for chatter and getting to know each other – all strangers when we started. There was a wonderful companionship in eating together when we were exhausted, wet and cold. By Day Two I was not even aware that I was sleeping in the same space with nine other people – except when someone got the coughs. Luckily I had a supply of Strepsils – and it felt like being a Mummy again.
So am I looking forward to sailing again? – yes – as long as I come back in one piece. It’s not for the fainthearted or prudish, and don’t even think of washing in hot water – even if you could face peeling the layers of clothing off. There is not even a mirror in the toilet so forget what you look like – just stock up on silly jokes to while away the long night watches. And if you survive you will like yourself more than when you started. And that’s an achievement."

http://www.clipper-ventures.com/