Tall Ships Race 2009

I recently released the inner pirate within me and embarked on a voyage across the Baltic Sea, with a little help from Cremyll Sailing. This years Tall Ships races saw hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors race across the Baltic from Finland to Lithuania and me and my sister Heather, were lucky enough to be involved.

Participating in the race has to be one of the best experiences of my life. Nothing quite beats the feeling of sailing across a vast expanse of water with no idea of whats in store. When I first arrived in port at Turku I was stunned at the site of the amount of boats in the harbour and the sheer size of them. Unaware of how big our boat was going to be in comparison I was some what shocked to be greeted by one of the smallest boats in the fleet, Moosk, a 58 foot yacht from Falmouth. With an age of 103 it comes as no surprise that she is made of solid Oak, won't be lighting any matches around that one. Inside is an extremely compact and well used space, to the right of the small stair well a kitchen fit for hobits can be found and to the left a chart table. As you move through the boat two small sofa's that later convert into beds line the walls, a small toilet and then finally another set of beds. After boarding the boat I was introduced to Conall our skipper, Jen our mate and the rest of the crew, Jack, Ruth, Will, Penny.

In the calm and still night, as the boat gently bobbed on the water I could not have imagined what it would be like out at sea at 3 in the morning being chased by 10 foot waves. I soon found out though. Once we had left the harbour and began our 250 mile journey things rapidly changed and the pace quickened. The time for lounging around and enjoying the sunshine was long gone, the race had begun and the pressure was on. Being Class B we were the second group of boats to cross the start line out of four. However two hours into the race we were alone with only the Flying Dutchman for company after watching the rest of the fleet disappear into the distance. The sea sickness started shortly after and food was advised, an hour after eating it I found myself leaning over the back of the boat with one of the worst headaches in the world. With this in mind it didn't take long for me to make an attractive contribution to the sea.

As the days progressed the amount of sleep we were able to get dwindled, having a decent nights sleep on an actual matress was now a distant dream. Instead we were sleeping on plastic hammocks and the fight for the best one was a nightly ritual. In order for us to be sailing 24/7 it meant that we had to operate in three hour shifts. Three hours awake, three hours asleep. When its 2 in the afternoon though and everyone is out on deck the last thing you want to do is miss out on the banter and go to sleep.

Speaking of banter the amount of fun you have on the trip can't be measured, I can't count the amount of times I found myself in hysterics even when I was cold, wet and completely exhausted. The people you are with are what keep you going, not only was I lucky enough to be on board with my sister but I also met some amazing people who I hope to remain good friends with. Living in a big brother style environment did take its toll. Sometimes I did just want hit someone with the amount of frustration I was feeling. However looking back, the good times completely over shadow the bad. With a lot of time to spare came a lot of singing and story telling. One of the most amusing was a song about the "GREAT BIG DADDY SHARK", courtesy of Jen. It truly was one of those 'had to be there' moments. Another song that became our signature phrase was a classic by shaggy. "Mr looooover man - SHABBA!"

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was waiting to hear our position transmitted over the radio, channel 72. Everyone gathered in the cockpit eagerly anticipating the result. When we heard the position of Myr, we knew we were next. "Moosk 5th in class". We couldn't believe it! A bunch of amateur sailors were in 5th place, as I looked around I could see the grins spreading across everyone. Ear to ear. It felt like we were really part of something, even though we were miles away from anyone.

6 days and 453 miles later we arrived in Klaipeda. We were all shattered but the atmosphere was an excited one, as we rounded the corner of the harbour and saw all the other boats we all proceeded to yelp and scream! After final docking, land seemed like this alien concept. For days we had all enjoyed the rocking notion that came with the waves. So as you can imagine walking proved a much difficult task, in fact for me extremely difficult. If I remember correctly my crew mates took great amusement in watching me cross left completely over right. I thought that maybe jumping erratically up and down on the spot would help, I was wrong. The evening brought a trip to an idyllic little pizzeria, a far cry from tins of stew and gravy we had gotten used to. Bad memories.

On our second day in port we had the crew parade. Thousands of sailors walking the streets of Klaipeda making as much noise as humanly possible. I've never known anything like it, an atmosphere so electrifying it could bring an Egyptian mummy back to life. The music, the cheering, the screaming, the horn blowing, the men dressed as women... Nothing could top it! In the evening came the crew party. The same atmoshpere just infused with alcohol. The majority of sailors were from Russia, we were one of the few British crews there, however it didn't matter because Moosk were having a ball. The band that played were insane, a combination of guitar, drums, trumpet and saxophone was genius. Every song had the crowd jumping with hands held high and we weren't far behind. After a few shots of vodka we soon found ourselves up on stage dancing like we had never danced before. It didn't matter that we hadn't fully recovered from our case of land legs, the only thing that mattered there and then was that we were having the time of our lives.

Sunday was the worst day of the trip because we had to say goodbye to our beloved Moosk. She had served us well. As we all said goodbye to our skipper we began the journey to the airport. So there we were suitcases in hand, reluctantly heading towards the bus stop, which lead to the airport. None of us were looking forward to making Riga airport our hotel for the night but it had to be done. Even though it was an uncomfortable nights sleep it meant that we had all some more time to laugh together, and laugh we did.

The next day we boarded the plane to London Gatwick. Three hours later the words "cabin crew prepare for landing" could be heard over the intercom. Never though I would dislike those words more. With the collection of our baggage done the only thing left to do was say goodbye to the people that I had become so close to over the past eight days. "Group hug" I shouted! So there we were seven crew mates in the middle of Gatwick airport saying our goodbyes, a scene fit for the big screen.

However we were no longer just crew mates, we were amazing friends.