Last Post

I have just been put on notice by the Just Giving people that my page at the charity donation site will close shortly.

Since I have finished the race I have not posted at all so I apologise to anyone who clicked at JimClipperClarke seeking pearls of wisdom and insights into the life of Jim Clarke, master mariner of Bramhall, Cheshire.

The race itself has continued in my absence and the boats are in Panama. There have been one or two adventures and mishaps that have happened to the various clipper crews. You may have seen on the BBC news the rescue that took place off Oakland in the previous leg. The clippers will begin the final legs to New York, Nova Scotia, Derry-Londonderry and Amsterdam in a few days when the have cleared the Panama Canal. You can still follow them on the Clipper Ventures website:

http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

A great many thanks are in order and I apologise to anyone that I may have missed out.

My family – Viola, Gerard, James, Emma and Sarah who put up with my absence and return. Without you in my thoughts I could not have done it. Thank you for organising and supporting “the project” as I referred to it.

My mother, Maureen and my brothers, Dennis and Kevin, and sister, Marie. Kevin and Dennis were pleased that I returned in one piece as they did not have to return the Manchester United season ticket to the club.

Thanks to Eamonn O’Neal, of the Manchester Evening News, for guiding me to good media exposure and also in his interviews for BBC Radio Manchester. He helped me to be fluent and precise and appear to know what I was talking about.

A big thank you is in order to Eileen and Catherine Clarke, Elaine, Jane and Paul Collins and Luke and Lizzie Clarke for the organisation of an excellent comedy night.

I need to thank the comedians – the professional comedians that is – who gave their performances for free on the comedy night in Heaton Mersey. Mike Newall, Dave Williams and the unique Seymour Mace gave us a great night to remember. My thanks also to Kate Mulgrew who collected / coerced / persuaded the easily persuaded comedians for the event. On that night we had some great prizes for the raffle and my thanks go to Steve Thomas from Kaill Plant, Ben Linnen from John Noel Management, John Murray, Phil & Tony Clark.

I need to give thanks to Jimmy and Leonie in Australia who helped me recover my sea legs when I reached dry land after nearly a month crossing the Southern Ocean. Give my love to the parrots.

The purpose of the venture was to raise money for Stockport MIND in memory of my brother, Paul, and I would like to thank Richard Wickison and the team at Stockport MIND for the help they gave to me.

My thanks go as well to Barclay’s Bank for matched funding as part of their charitable work.

Finally, thanks to Ged Hynes for maintaining the JimClipperClarke blog. The blog was his idea and the majority of its content came from Ged’s pen. It has been viewed over 2750 times by the curious and charitable from over 30 countries including Japan, Egypt and Australia. This brings to an end a year in my life I will never forget.

The Just Giving site closes in a week or so. If you have enjoyed the blog or been amused or inspired by my “project” you can donate at

http://www.justgiving.com

In total we raised £6128. Thank you to everyone who donated. You made the venture worthwhile.

Southern Ocean

I have created a page showing photos taken when I was sailing from South Africa to Australia. Please click on the page and enjoy the photographs and some of my thoughts about the voyage.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

South Africa

I have created a page showing photos taken when I was in South Africa prior to the voyage. Please click on the page and enjoy the photographs.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Radio Manchester’s Irish Programme

Tonight I was interviewed by Marie Meighan for Radio Manchester. I enjoyed the interview which was in two parts.

In the first part we discussed mental ill health and the impact it can have on individuals and their families.

In the second part I described aspects of the voyage and had a chuckle about the cost of sending emails to boats in the middle of the Southern Ocean. It is very expensive to send and receive as I learned to my cost.

To date we have raised almost £3000 through the Just Giving site and we have another £3000 as well. Some of the donations have been given due to the publicity on Radio Manchester so I am grateful to Marie and her team. I also need to record a big thank you to Eamonn O’Neal at the Manchester Evening News who has also given me and the project great support.

I am actually altering the blog so that I can add a few pages for photographs over the next few days.

I have created a page showing photos taken when I was sailing from South Africa to Australia. Please click on the page and enjoy the photographs and some of my thoughts about the voyage.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Geraldton

We arrived in Geraldton today behind Edinburgh but ahead of Singapore. The last part of the race left me a bit flat as on Sunday we had been told by the Race Committee that the race would be cut short at 18.00 with about 400 miles to go. Whatever position we had at that time would be our final place. There were several reasons for this but the weather was the main culprit. The weather forecast was for headwinds that would really slow us down. Also we needed to get to port in Geraldton in order to join in the celebrations and prepare the boats for the next leg. It was disappointing not to be racing to the finish but we managed to get 8^th place as the deadline closed.

However despite our disappointment we have been reminding ourselves that we have sailed 4.800 miles in some of the roughest seas on the planet and overcome serious damage to the sails to complete the leg. I think that but for the damage to the sails we would have finished much much higher.

Next for me is to fly to Sidney and Port McQuarrie to see family before heading back to Blighty. I think I may miss some flight times but as the skipper said to us: “in ocean sailing there are destinations not arrival times”. I will have to do some hasty flight re-jigging after we have spruced up the boat and passed it to the next crew.

I haven’t yet fully come to terms with the adventure and will need some time to reflect on it before I start to bore everyone with details.

Thank you to everyone who has donated, read the blog or just supported me with their thoughts and prayers. I’m looking forward to getting back to Vi, family and friends and completing this blog once and for all.

The Clipper Ventures website carries all the news about the trip and I have lifted some photos from there and included below. I will be adding my photos when I get to the UK.

The damage to the mainsail

Arrival in Geraldton

That's me behind the mast carving my initials.

After a wash and brush up

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Steady as she goes

Fingers crossed we will have no more trouble with the sails or the generator. The climate is more amenable and we are making good progress. On deck we are singing Irish ballads and after the damage and repair of the sails plus the storms everyone is pretty upbeat. I`m looking forward to Oz and being able to phone home and having a long chat with Vi and the family.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

The Blues

I haven`t had a mobile phone call for four weeks which means I will have missed several calls from Manchester City and Liverpool fans over the result of the derby. I`m sure my voice mail will be full of sympathetic and measured comment. Well probably not.

I`m missing Vi and the kids and can`t wait to get back to Stockport.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Bumps and bruises

We are doing the best we can with the food and I am looking forward to a decent meal.

The race has been tough physically and my body is definitely telling me I`m not in condition to make month long voyages on ocean going clippers. My hand, back and knees seem to take most of the punishment. Everybody has bumps and bruises and we have had one badly sprained ankle although it will need an X Ray and a doctor`s opinion to confirm my “diagnosis”.

 My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Approaching Oz

We have repaired the sail and are starting to make good progress but it has been frustrating. We are chasing the race but our skipper Mark has one or two tricks up his sleeve and I think we will gain a few places as we get closer to Geraldton. We should be on dry land in about a week and I`m looking forward to having a floor that doesn`t  move underfoot.

The weather has improved although we are still wearing multiple layers of clothing.

We are doing the best we can with the food and I am looking forward to a decent meal.

It has also been tough mentally and there have been times when I`ve asked myself why I was doing this. It was usually when I was very wet, cold, tired, hungry and squinting into the wind on the lookout for `bergs. Some of the guys doing the whole round the world trip have asked themselves the same question and they have a few thousand more miles after this leg.

When we are not busy sorting sail, steering the boat, being “Mother”, cleaning the head etc it can be quite boring. Other times it is pleasant to be looking at the ocean wildlife as it flies and floats by. I haven`t seen a plane or other vessel for weeks and you do realise how big and empty some parts of the world really are.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.

Discovery Channel

The voyage is being filmed/recorded for the Discovery Channel and I was interviewed by the reporter/presenter. She asked me what I learned about myself so far in the voyage. I said I learned that I am too old for sailing in the Roaring Forties. It may be left on the cutting room floor as they used to say in Hollywood.

My Justgiving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Clarke and all donations large or small will be gratefully received.