RACE 4 - DAY 18

Welcome to my home. It’s 70 feet in size, shared with 20 others, a little unstable and damp most of the time. This is PSP Logistics and it’s my home. I’m a Round The Worlder (RTW'er), and this remarkable vessel has been my home for just over three months now, with eight more to go. As this race has progressed, like my home on land back in Australia, I’ve become comfortable here. And take pride in my shared home.

This includes through attention to the important duty chore rotations from bilges to galley. They all matter as they help care for our home and make it welcoming to all my Clipper Race family and friends – my fellow PSP Logistics RTWers, Skipper Mike, AQP Lottie, and single- and multi-leg crew. The saying goes that you can’t choose your family, and that was so with crew allocation back in May. And like family, you love each other even though they might drive you nuts at times.

Then there’s the ‘intimate’ relationship with my bunk mate I hardly see each Leg. Ships in the night, we greet each other with a ‘sleep well’ at the change of watch in passing at noon, 6 pm, 10 pm, 2 am, and 6 am, and I smile at the caring touch of an already rolled out sleeping bag waiting for my tired body to crawl into for too short a sleep.

This floating home is a microcosm of life back on land with all its highs, lows, excitement, and mundanity. A special gift this home has given me has been the opportunity to reflect deeply and to improve myself on multiple levels personally and technically. I am continually learning more about Dianne, my limitless capabilities and what that may mean for my future life post Clipper Race in 8+ months time as I continue to transform within the relative safety of my tossed about sea-borne home.

As a consequence, I’ve come to realise that the Clipper Race slogan is not quite fitting for me. I do not see it as the Race of My Life. Instead, I see that my life is being shaped by the home environment that this race creates.

Dianne