O WNER REPOR T – BILL Y BUDD


“THESE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLY INTENSE AND EMOTIONAL FOR US, FOR OUR FRIENDS AND FOR BILLY BUDD. IT’LL BE HARD FOR US TO EVER FORGET THEM OR, IN FACT, TO EQUAL THEM.”


We fi nally enter the eye of the storm and have a few hours of calm. In fact, we even have to use the engine at one point. We manage to wash, sleep, and eat. Even the seasickness victims open an eye, though they don’t even for a second try to raise their heads… you just never know!


Bulletins come in from our router – I hate him – he always tells us there’s going to be at least 10 knots more wind than there actually is. But when you see it written in black and white in his report, you start to have doubts and then you end up holding your breath for hours. T e third morning, the usual bulletin arrives. Clive doesn’t read it, just passes it over to me. I see just three


numbers – wind 70 knots – in next 12 hours – for 12 hours. I don’t read on, just close my eyes and hand it back. Clive reads it and then hides the printout in the chart table. He asks me not to mention its contents to anyone else. He tells Steve that we’re in for a bit of wind in a few hours time, classic British understatement, and then takes a nap in preparation for the 12 hours of roller-coastering to come.


We’d already foreseen and discussed having to heave up and so in theory we’re ready for it, but theory is one thing and practice very much another. I really have no desire whatsoever to see what a 70-knot storm at 55° latitude in the Southern Ocean looks like.


SU MMER 2 0 10


10 7


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