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Diary of a world record
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It's hard to imagine what it must be like on a tiny 10 metre boat crossing the mighty Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of miles from land. Spirit of Cardiff's onboard journalist Clive Tully gives us an insight with his diary of the crossing from New York to Cardiff.
Saturday 19th May 2001
It's hot in New York. No, it's more than hot. More like blistering. For the past few days we've been readying the boat for the off after a month of touring the eastern seaboard of the United States, spreading the word about the project, and waving a flag for Cardiff and Wales. Most people can't believe that we're about to set off to cross the Atlantic, let alone go around the world next year. But that's our goal, to take the last two port-to-port records (New York-Horta, and Horta-Gibraltar) established by the Cable and Wireless Adventurer on her round the world voyage in 1998, and to set a new record for a Transatlantic crossing.
Spirit of Cardiff in New York waiting for the off
The boat has been lifted out of the water for the one piece of maintenance which can't be done afloat - changing the gearbox oil, and while Alan was doing that, Steve was polishing the hull in the hope of squeezing an extra knot out of her. But now we're setting off from South Street Seaport Museum in lower Manhattan, waving goodbye to interested onlookers, and looking forward to getting on with the job. After a month of punishing promotional tour, it's a relief to get to sea.
And even though the weather is absolutely blissful, we already know that what we're heading for will be anything but. Bertie, our expert weatherman, has predicted strong northerlies, and we've also heard that not only is it snowing in Newfoundland - our first refuelling stop - but there's an ice warning as well.
After a few minutes cruising up and down past the Statue of Liberty for the TV cameras, we're heading out into open sea, and the Ambrose Light, which is our official start point. We're timed off by the nearby Sandy Hook pilot ship at 1548 EST.
The first few hours are reasonably pleasant, and we're making 18 knots, which is not at all bad considering we have a full fuel load - around 3 tons - on board. Jan and I turn in at around 8pm, and sleep for a couple of hours before swapping over with Alan and Steve.
I'd never seen phosphorescent plankton before, but during the night we get the most fantastic display stirred up in the boat's wake. Not the shimmering glow I was expecting, but mesmerisingly beautiful bright green fairy lights zipping by singly and in clusters.
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Buy a mile!
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Support the Spirit of Cardiff project by becoming a personal sponsor. You can buy miles at just £5 each and receive a personalised certificate and sponsor's sticker.
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