FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
16-JUL-1997 07:22:11

67 miles to the Needles, and we Can see rather too closely 1/3 of the Fleet - it is just like racing around the cans on a Sunday morning. There will be lots more fun ahead, and I suspct that it will start in the Solent with a vengance in 8 hours or so. Jim.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
14-JUL-1997 05:41:14

With just 48 hours or so to go, our thoughts are starting to drift towards the 'flesh pots' of Southampton. This morning the question has been asked of those crew who were aroud, 'what is the 3rd thing that you most want to do on /after your arrival ?' The responses were as follows :
'Drink my head off' (NO.1 or 2 for most people)
'Have a bath/hot shower'
'The feel of a large towel against ones' body' ( A further question around baby oil was asked, which was met with a withering stare)
'See my dog'
'Go for a run to Bolt Head' - not from Southampton !
So with the wind picking up, and the skies getting darker, we are on our way home.
Jim.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
13-JUL-1997 08:02:20

Having thrown Tom's collection of diddly,diddly music over the side, he has thwarted us once more, being now in range of Irish radio stations. We were woken to the sounds of fiddles and foot slapping, but at least the skipper's happy. Graham has retrieved his offensive yellow flag in lieu of the offensive yellow t-shirt, and to add insult to injury has asked us all to sign it. Luckily Clive's bread roll recipe has sunk without trace, with even Chris (previous master of the rock bun) producing some fairly fluffy little numbers this morning. Max the gorilla I'm happy to say remains firmly in my bunk, to remain until he is hoisted to the second spreader for our arrival into Ocean Village.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
12-JUL-1997 05:53:27

As we draw closer to the finish, and to lose weight from the boat, the members of the 'Pause' yeam may be called upon to sacrifice treasured personal possessions as follows :
Tom - His collection of 'diddly, diddly dum' music.
Henry - His 39 years of sailing experience, that has weighed down the boat since the race started.
Graham - His offensive yellow ' Scottish' t-shirt.
Caspar - His much loved Best of Roger Whittaker tape - ugh !
Bruce - His blow up doll, say no more !
Becky - 'Max' the gorilla.
Clive - His recipe for making bread, as hopefully, it will sink without a trace.
Ron - His collection of essential oils.
Jan - Her secret store of chocolate that she was given for her birthday.
Matt - His much thumbed 'Viz' comic.
Chris - His bed side manner, which has almost gone anyway.
Julian - His collection of lighters from around the world, as he just ran out of cigarettes.
Rainer - His computer manuals.
Jim - His collection of combs, that are no longer reqd, since he was scalped in Boston.
It is all a bit of a worry really !
Jim.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
11-JUL-1997 08:31:41

The highlight of this morning was when the hard target on the radar turned out to be the QE2, passing 5 miles off our Port side. Clearly visible, so Brucie called her up on the VHF to pass the time of day. We have met before, when she gave way to us in the Solent a year ago on out return from the Fastnet Rock, but this time she will have been and gone into Southampton by the time we arrive. They have been trying to contact Heath as one of the crew has a relative on board but had been listening in on the daily chat show slightly the wrong frequency, so we set them straight. A second missive from Frank (Cape Town-Boston legger), telling us to remember his rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "You can go your own way" if we wanted a laugh today. Little does he know that we still have the actual recording Tom made on the last leg as he hummed away to his walkman unsuspectingly. Its the perfect thing to raise spirits when things aren't going our way. At the moment the sailing is "denanding but exciting"(in the words of Henry), and in between the rain showers the sun even comes out.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
10-JUL-1997 08:37:59

A big thankyou to whoever put those pennies in the wind machine - keep it up and we'll let you share our crate of Mumm! Spirits on board have risen along with the wind strength, and we even got a message from our errant legger Frank who was supposed to be providing us with daily jokes. Thoughts are naturally turning towards home and the Tapas bar, where it looks as if we may be celebrating our return if the fleet isn't in for Friday. We have finally discovered the identity of Zoe Ball, which has put smiles on the boys' faces, although the prospect of staying upright on stage whilst performing a skit in her presence, having consumed the crate of Mumm and a few more beers besides is an entertaining concept in itself.
Bex

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
9-JUL-1997 07:15:13

Somebody hasn't been putting those pennies in the wind machine..however all is not lost aboard PTR as we have a cunning plan! Meanwhile, the wildlife continues to surpass all expectations, when yesterday, having just finished a peel, a whale surfaced only 10 feet from the boat. According to Caspar, who had the vantage point of being up the pole, a rather scared looking dolphin shot off as fast as its little flippers would take it, whilst in hot pursuit a whale the length of our yacht followed. We were then treated to a viewing of these creatures(apparently "fin whales"). Aside from this the wildlife aboard is getting wilder, with conversations not fit for pre-9pm viewing hours! Rainer's quote of the day.."The answer's right, you just didn't ask the right question."
Bex

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
8-JUL-1997 05:09:32

In the last 24 hours, the crew of 'Pause' have been spending many happy hours trimming, gybing and peeling their spinnackers, not forgetting to 'trim , trim, trim etc......'. During the night watches, we have had many small birds throwing themselves on our decks for impromptu consultations with our Vet Becky. It has been really strange, and with the dawn, one can imagine our standing rigging covered in birds a la Alfred Hitchcock. Jim.
PS. Another 10p in the wind machine would be nice !

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
6-JUL-1997 07:12:07

We got to the way point with both Motorola, and Global Teamwork in view, then th fog came down again. Now that we are past the way point, and sailing free, life on board has become more tolerable and all on board are catching up on their sleep. The boat is rolling along, and it is no longer like living in a washing machine set to 'spin and rinse'. More of the same please, Jim.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
5-JUL-1997 08:08:17

Well, the wind has filled in with a vengeance and I woke in the night to find I should have taken the precautionary measure of securing my lea cloth as I was teetering on the edge of my bunk,only held in by the large gorilla that I share my sleeping space with. Yesterday was Jan's birthday, so we celebrated American style (it being the 4th July and all that), nwith a fudge brownie birthday cake.
Unfortunately the oven ate more than its fair share but there was still enough for us all to have a few rich, sticky mouthfuls - once we'd found it under all the candles. The wildlife hasn't been put off by the rougher conditions, and we continue to have dolphins visiting, although they disappeared for a while yesterday - could have been something to do with the large shark that we narrowly missed.
Bex

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
4-JUL-1997 02:51:07

First of all, thanks for putting 10p in the wind machine, as at the moment it is woking very well. The last 24 hours has been like sailing in the Med, with glorious sunshine all day. Yesterday, we saw a large chunk of ice about the size of a garage door, what made this exraordinary was that at the time the sea temperature was 29C. This evening we are bowling along enjoying the sailing. Today is a red letter day for Jan Humphries, who makes the big 40 today. However, until further notice she will be officially 39 and holding ! Do not start the party with out us - happy days, Jim.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
3-JUL-1997

A little late with the report this morning-sorry. Must be the adrenaline pumping excitement of the sailing at the moment!n We had a close call with a fisherman from Nova Scotia yesterday, who kindly slowed to let us pass ahead rather than leave us to negotiate the nets he was leaving in his wake. Other than ythat, its just a waiting game at the moment...

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
2-JUL-1997

Mother nature has not blessed us with much wind today, but we have had lots of other amusements. The afternoon brought pods of dolphins, followed by a photo call care of the Canadian Airforce, with them promising to send us copies of the pictures that they had taken. In the last 4 hours we have seen a meteorite burning up as it came into the atmosphere, and could clearly make out bits coming from it. Birds have been flying around the boat, making a lot of noise. The phosphorence was amazing, but became mind blowing, when 2 dolphins swam around and under the boat, as their bodies were visible as if they had been lit up. There is no moon at the moment, and with a slight mist, it is really magical out here !
All we need is for some one to put 10p into the wind machine, as currently the GPS is giving us an ETA for Southampton on the 17 August, wich means that we will be 5 weeks late for the party at Ocean Village !

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
1-JUL-1997

The old routine of life on board has come back easily enough. Clive however, our new legger, has been taking early morning walks around deck. Frank, the infamous Scot of the last leg has so far failed to produce the daily jokes that he was ordered to do by King Neptune, and will be facing a large bar bill in Southampton if the promise is not fulfilled within a few days. Otherwise we were accompanied by a few dolphins behaving like torpedoes through the night as we headed directly for a moon masquerading as a UFO hovering above the horizon.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
30-JUNE-1997

What a fantastic sight we all must have made from BOS, brilliant sunshine and perfect sailing conditions. All on board, are glad to be back at sea, especially our livers ! Sickest person on board today was Jim, when he found out that Bruce and Jan, had eaten for free at the Hard Rock Cafe, and he and his wife Judy had 'done' $110 for their meal - it is a cruel world. We have lots of other boats in sight, and with 850 miles to the way point we should all be racing at close quarters. So far have seen 2 whales, and are currently bowling along under the stars, with the prospects for the morning looking good.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
11-APR-1997

No damages. No injuries.
Boat Report :
Round three of the cake baking competition ended with a fantastic entry from the 'Black Watch' (Graham, Becky, Chris, Rainer, Ron). It was a compilation of sponge, ginger, apple and apricot topped with a caramel sauce. Both cakes were decorated, one with the letters PTR and the other with a poppy, which consisted of strawberry delight (!) and fruit dumplings.

Skipper Tom received a haircut by our vet Becky in order to arrive neat and tidy for his parents. Unfortunately the deck looks like a shearing shed now.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
9-APR-1997

To; James and crew on Time and Tide
From: Tom and crew on Pause To Remember

Dear James,

Thank-you for your very thoughtful msg. We will be glad to get to Capetown like everybody else after what has been a very memorable leg! We are all in good spirits and are itching to get back into the next leg to prove our worth.

Even though Group 4 won this leg by the skin of their teeth the real winners are Time and Tide. As only you know so well getting thru' the Southern Oceans is all about keeping everything together. We unfortunately did not manage to do this having to take our mainsail below twice and also repair our boom.

You and your crew sailed brilliantly and minimised your damage and have finished in a position that few would have predicted. This performance along with your last Southern Ocean leg have changed attitudes and God only knows what you guys are going to do next! On top of all the routine problems involved with putting a team together few know the additional financial stresses and strains which you and your crew have had to endure. So when you get to Capetown revel in your glory and milk everything for what it is worth.

Everybody on Pause is delighted for your success and we wish you continuing success on the next legs.

Regards, Tom and crew.

PS- Leave some beer for us Nigel!!!!

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
9-APR-1997

Boat Report
As we finally get towards the end of this leg, food supplies are running low. There is no choice of variety for the main meals anymore. We just have to eat what's left. A competition to produce the best afternoon snack with the available ingredients had to be started. Any pudding, suet or pastry can enter. Points are given for Inventiveness, Taste and Presentation. So far we had a butterscotch cake by Caspar and a chocolate cake with a cheesecake middlelayer by Matt. A cake with an angel delight filling will be made by Chris today.

We also have a problem at the nav table, as today we are on the LAST page of our logbook with approx another 3 days to go. Henry, our logbook addict, is panicing. As all paper pads are wet, diary paper is being confiscated.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
7-APR-1997

Life trundles on on Pause to Remember;sail repairs now seem to have ceased but we're not sure for how long.The prospect of oysters and beer in Capetown is not at all appealing; do you know anyone who delivers to the Southern Ocean?The quality/ content of conversation is lowered every day as we approach port. Last night was possibly the stariest night ever and a huge burning meteorite plunged into the sea unfortunately disrupting the engine from it's mountings. Martians were seen on the horizon(some of the glue has gone missing).

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
4-APR-1997

In the early hours of the morning we have raised our main again. It has been down for 68 hours after it blew in the storm on April foolsday. In an amazing nonstop sewing session we managed to repair it in a record time. The repair itself was once again masterminded by our chief sailmaker Ron 'Rocket' Goddard, who is celebrating his birthday today. After celebrating it in 57 varieties, it is the first time for 43 years, that he had no pint of beer on that special day. But we promised him a Scottish Malt Whisky tonite!
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
3-APR-1997

Boat Report
The mainsail repairs are in full flow. All crew and skipper are taking turns at stitching, so that 2 to 4 people are working at it all the time. Ron has once again taken charge of the repair and thereby of the companionway. He installed a washing line all the way along the companionway and hang the mainsail over it. This enables us to stitch the sail by having one person pushing the needle in from the outside and another person on the other side of the main, inside the 'tent', pulling the needle through and pushing it back. There are people on board who like to be inside the 'tent' as it reminds them of there childhood. So far there is no knowledge of 'games' being played underneath the cover, as only one person is inside at any one time (so far).

After installing the tent the crewmembers sleeping on the starboard side realised that they can't get in and out of there cabins anymore. You have to be a monkey to swing across or a mole to go through the bilges.

Chris has been the video star of the day, as he got filmed talking medical matters over the radio to Sally on HI2. This shot is intended to be used for the next BBC documentary.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
2-APR-1997

Boat Report
April foolsday really fooled us. We were beating up wind nicely, when just after lunchtime the wind started to pick up slighlty. So we changed to a smaller headsail and put in a second reef in the main. But suddenly within a minute the wind shifted by more than 180 degrees and the windspeed picked up from 25 and peaked at over 70 knots. Before we knew it we were surfing in an enormous sea with phenomenal high waves. The repaired boom dipped into the water twice. We were very happy to see the boom withstanding this torture. Unfortunately it wasn't just a squall and before we could reduce our sail area even further we were struck by 'yet another problem', as our skipper Tom nicely phrased it. The mainsail ripped straight across the center in about 50 kts of wind. As we just had a watch changeover plenty of crew were around to get it down. Despite that and the experience we gained on this leg in taking down the mainsail, the strong wind did more damage. Not a nice sight at all. But it was not be our last problem, as just before we finished tying down the mainsail, the staysail ripped as well. Luckily we managed to drop the other headsail and hoist the storm staysail without further problems. At one stage we were doing 8.5 kts downwind under bare poles (without any sail up at all). It was still too windy for the storm trisail to replace the main. So once again on this leg we were without a mainsail!

By now we have hoisted the trisail, started repairs on the staysail and have just moved the mainsail down below to assess the problems and start the major repair job.

One of our watchleaders, Henry, stated, that he would feel cheated if he didn't experience at least one heavy storm with 70kn of wind. Well, as this is the second storm like that and both times we ripped our main, I'm sure he got what he paid for!
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
1-APR-1997

URGENT DISPENSATION REQUEST

Following Nuclear's recent capture we can now reveal that in fact we had first contact with the new species of long beaked dolphin. Fearing ridicule and disbelief we have not so far revealed the following information.

On 23rd March 1997 we spotted a school of brightly coloured small dolphins. They appeared on our port bow and were leaping out of the water to heights of 10 to 20 metres. Suddenly two leapt from either side amidships and fastened their jaws either side of the boom at the kicker attachment. Drooling at the mouth they furiously attacked the aluminium and only stopped when knocked off by a fearless bowman with the boathook. The boom folded and the rest is history.
The damaged section of the boom has been preserved for tooth markings and saliva samples.

Can Nuclear be advised as a matter of urgency that these small attractively coloured dolphins are in fact ferocious metal eating piranhas and on no account should they be housed in the bilges. They might also note that lightly fried with paprika and coriander the steaks are tender and delicious.They will need to capture another to ensure sufficient for fourteen.

Now that Nuclear Electric have confirmed the existence of these freaks of nature we will be actively pursuing a redress against this 'outside hindrance' to our progress on this leg.
Any comments particularly from Concert would be appreciated.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
31-MAR-1997

And so it came to pass that the festival of Easter fell upon the good yacht Pause to Remember.We said our prayers and were blessed with favourable winds and sunshine;people began to smile again, clothing and footwear appeared on deck to dry; the odd rogue wave ensured that both the gear and the crew remained wet.Following our weekly crew meeting, we set about the Easter egg hunt rather fiendishly and cryptically set by Matt; we all wondered if if he might be on mind altering drugs and I checked the medical bag for any missing drugs.Clues were located in the false bulkhead, in a pot of cheese sauce, in the last remains of the loo paper and deep within the recesses of Becky's walkman.We chuckled as Julians watch found the penultimate clue first to arrive at a premature first prize.The additional chocolate went down well.We settled down to a three course dinner and a large glass of whiskybefore surrendering ourselves to our bunks in anticipation of more bad weather; it hasn't arrived yet so everyone is still smiling!

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
29-MAR-1997

No damages. No injuries.
Boat Report
Last night at 2330 GMT on Good Friday we finally passed the Waypoint Delta just north of the Kerguelen Island. It's a waypoint we have all been looking forward to for a long time, as we hope that the weather will start improving from now on. So far the water temperature has, it climbed from 10 degrees Centigrade to 16 within 2 days. And to our astonishment we saw another challenge yacht, Heath Insured II. She came as close as 2 miles to us, just before we rounded the mark. It's the first yacht we have seen since we passed Tasmania some weeks ago.

Our boom is performing very well although we try to keep the loads down to a minimum by going very early for reefs in the main. We also perfer to drop the main at an early stage and hoist the trisail. We are getting quite good at that, as we seem to drop and rehoist it nearly once a day. This does influence our performace a bit, but at least we will be able to reach Capetown under sail.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
27-MAR-1997

No inuries. No damages.
Boat Report.
Our boat looks more like a sailing yacht again, because we have a boom with a mainsail back. Yippee!

When the wind calmed down a bit yesterday we used the chance to manouvre the slightly shortened but still very long and heavy boom out on deck. The next problem was to turn it round by 180 degrees, as for easier repair it was turned round before we got it down below. Doing that in a calm marina is difficult enough, but out at sea on a rocking boat with a trisail flying it is a massive manouvre requiring all hands, lots of ropes to control it and a good couple of hours. Once it was attached to the mast we lashed the repair with the wire part of a halyard. To further secure it, we saw a spinnaker pole in two and lashed those two metal tubes to each side of the boom. I think our skipper Tom, a pilot in the Irish Air Corps, got a bit carried away with that, as those two pole ends look very much like missiles.

14 hours later we finally managed to hoist the mainsail 2 hours after midnight. And it looks good, as it has been already been put through a rigid test - it has been blowing 40 knots across the deck the best part of the day.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
25-MAR-1997

No damages. No injuries.
Boat Report
"Who needs a boom or a mainsail?" - Well Pause to Remember doesn't in the moment. We are screaming along and taking miles out of every yacht in the fleet - and all we have got up are our headsails and a free flying trisail on a jury rigged traveller system.

It's not that our boom couldn't go up. Our engineering team consisting of Graham Philp, Matt Reeves and Ron Goddard have worked 48 hours non-stop in their small metal workshop next to the chart table. They have cut a one foot section of the boom with a hacksaw and reinstalled it as a sleeve where the two boom sections join. They have drilled a dozen holes with a hand drill and enlarged them with a file, as our biggest drill was still too small. They have used nuts and bolts they found in the forepeak locker holding up a bar to hang up the ropes to hold it all together. And the result is a very professional looking repair you wouldn't complain about if your local metal workshop had done it.

So all what stops us from putting up the boom is the weather. As long as it is blowing 30 to 40 knots it is not possible.
Rainer

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
23-MAR-1997

Damages: Yes, the boom broke in two halves!

Boat Report
Do you know that sticker at the end of the boom, 'Rigged by Peter and Trevor from Dartmouth'? Well, we added an extra one - 'Frigged by the crew of Pause to Remember'. This morning at 0050 GMT on the 23rd of March (0950 local Boat time) a quiet bang similar to a wave crashing over the deck was heard. We couldn't believe our eyes when we looked and saw our boom in two halves. Initial reactions were of disbelief, especially as the weather conditions were quite nice at that time - fairly flat sea and only 20 knots of wind.

After a quick mainsail recovery we all sat down on deck next to two 6mm thick aluminium tubes of different lengths. Emergency rations of chocolate and Irish coffees were issued before we then planned our next steps and options. Being 760nm away from the Kerguelen Islands and over 3200nm away from Cape Town these are: Motor to the Kerguelen Islands for repair or attempt a repair at sea to stay in the race. At the moment we are pursuing the latter. We are in for an interesting time hacksawing this heavy duty and apparently indistructable boom. Right now we are dragging it down below for overnight repairs. In the meantime we are sailing along with three headsails, as the No. 2 is up the mast instead of the mainsail.
Rainer & Chris

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
22-MAR-1997

Wine Quiz
---------
Dear Crews,
to take your minds of the current weather conditions and to get you tuned up for South Africa, we thought we set you a little wine quiz. First boat with all the correct answers wins

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
21-MAR-1997

Just another day of rough weather sailing. We have prepared the boat for a very stormy night. The mainsail ist still giving us problems. After a slide on the mast broke we had to take the main down once again to repair it. I hope dropping the main for repairs isn't going to become a daily excercise! We are all looking very much forward to reach the Kerguelen Island, as we assume that the weather conditions will improve from then on.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
20-MAR-1997

Although by now we have been more than half way around the world and are on our second southern ocean leg, the weather still surprises me. Last night we had another heavy storm blowing with wind speeds across the deck in excess of 45kn. We were very close to dropping the mainsail. And 7 hours later we find ourselves in a hole with so little wind, that we nearly had to drop the mainsail, as it was doing nothing and just flogging itself to death. Fortunately the wind has picked up again and is now blowing nicely with about 20kn across the deck. A bit of sunshine and it would be lovely cruising. The main is still giving us some problems, as yesterday the 3rd reef block on the sail came apart. To put in the 3rd reef we have to drop the main on the deck, install a temporary turning block, and then rehoist it. To shake it out we again have to drop it, uninstall the block and rehoist it. Not just a pain in the neck in very rough conditions, but we loose a couple of miles each time. Rocket Ron is doing 15 hour night shifts on the trisail. He looks pretty rough and unshaven. I think he did too much glue sniffing during the repairs. A couple of days and it'll be as strong (or stronger?) as ever.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
18-MAR-1997

The Southern Ocean holds an infinite number of tricks up it's sleeve; hurricane, flat calm and now we are in the throws of another gale.We have come close to being knocked flat by rogue waves and again the galley is covered in soup, sail repair gear and a pool of coffee with a number of irrecognisable bits of crud has collected in one corner; nobody dare go near it.Henry pointed out that the real tragedy about having all these icebergs about is that we have no gin to accompany them!

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
17-MAR-1997

After the very heavy storm we had last week the wind nearly died completly. We are crawling along in a southern ocean which is as flat as the Hyde Park Lake.

We use the time to clear up the mess the storm has left us with. The gas bottles and the life rafts need to be relashed, as they came slack. The trisail we blew when an enormous wave caught us sideways and nearly knocked flat 40 tonnes of yacht is getting repaired. It's very tough stitching (or shall we call it drilling?) through several layers of cloth and webbing. It's like stitching a bullet proof jacket!

The mainsail is performing well again; it was damaged minutes before we decided to take it down in a continious heavy storm, the likes of which none of us had ever seen before. Taking it off the mast is hard enough in the marina but doing it at sea with winds blowing in excess of 45 knots seemed at first like an impossible task. However with the help of all hands on deck we somehow managed it. This was followed by a manic 12 hour sewing session, which was only interupted shortly, when the trisail blew.

We can now say, we survived the storm and in hindsight handled it extremely well. We were very unlucky to experience other problems which occured in quick succession. Most of the crew only had 3 or 4 hours of sleep during a period of 36 hours. On top of that we dropped back from 5th to 13th place as we were without sails for nearly 27 hours. Therefore we named it 'Black Friday'. But being optimists we are busy trying to sail as fast as possible in order to work our way up the fleet again.
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
15-MAR-1997

I am glad to report that PTR is back racing. As you know we damaged the luff of our mainsail and blew out our trysail. We took the mainsail off last night and worked on it overnight below decks and put it back on this morning. In total we were without a mainsail for 27 hrs and our trysail for 24 hrs so we have been knocked down the rankings somewhat. We are happy with the repair but unfortunately we have found ourselves a windless hole in the Southern Oceans! Thank-you for your concern and perceptiveness in noticing our erratic course and I apologise for not informing you immediately of our situation but we lost our left hand computer and it was not until late last night that we managed to install the new software and transfer all the connectors to the other computer. We then did a test message with you and shortly afterwards got your query about our erratic course. We did inform the duty yacht of our predicament and the Challenge Bus. early this morning.

Finally thank-you for your vigilance - its great to know that somebody is looking out for us and regards to all in RHQ.

Tom O' Connor

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
14-MAR-1997

dear anne at rhq

thanks for you concern, we are only going slow because we are carrying out repairs to our mainsail.

regards, bruce on ptr

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
13-MAR-1997

From: SY Pause to Remember, BT Global Challenge Fleet

Large I C E B E R G sighted at 5359.54S 12243.19E

Rainer

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
13-MAR-1997

Yacht Pause to Remember resounds with noises of crunchy knees, soggy behinds and various articles hurtling across the galley. Chris and Ron were both sent into temporary orbit last night when hit by the wave from hell; Cup a soups went flying over the GPS, charts and croutons (as yet to be cleaned off) dangle from the doghouse roof.Only Rainer is brave enough to cook in the galley. Fortunately the whisky (Scotch as opposed to any other muck) is safe with Grahame.We are all loving it (but only retrospectively!)

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
12-MAR-1997 08:32:06

On top of the heavy weather we now get the added danger of icebergs. Our specialist iceberg watch team, Caspar and Henry, nearly saw one last night. Caspar spotted a shadow in front of the bow and said "Henry, I think there is an iceberg just in front of the boat!". Henry, our 58 year old sea dog, then rummages in his pocket to find his personal torch, bright enough to read books with in bed, holds it at the foredeck and tells Caspar in a reassuring voice: "Don't worry Caspar, I can't see anything!". Sounds a bit like Peter Blake who said 'there are no icebergs at night". Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
11-MAR-1997 09:20:52

Tom's right. Ocean racing is a funny old game. Only a day ago we were screaming past the rest of the fleet while they were stuck in a high. Now we are stuck in the middle of a low and the rest of the fleet is screaming past us. Bast....!
And on top of that it's freezing cold, only 6 deg Celsius, with sleet and rain! The emergency ration of scottish single malt whiskey had to be opened!
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
10-MAR-1997 07:30:16

As the wind has dropped, we have sent our dare devil Matt up the mast to inspect the rigging. He thoroughly enjoyed it, so he says. Big smiles were seen on the faces of all crew members on PTR when the last position poll arrived on the computer. We seem to be one of the few boats in the fleet with some wind. Although we only did 39nm in the last 6 hours, we have done about 20nm more than the rest! It's nice to know that it paid out going as far south. Needless to say we moved up one position to 4th place. Chris is celebrating this event by dancing wildly in the galley to music played by Ocean Rover during their evening chat show!
Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
9-MAR-1997 08:00:18

The crew of Pause to Remember are currently on fresh meat rations for the forseable future, otherwise according to Becky "we're all going to be eating rancid meat", a sobering thought indeed. Matt has taken on yacht dare-devil role and has taken up dangling from the main safety clue for kicks. Irish sea shanties are making a return and there are those amongst the crew who actually think they're quite good; one can only assume this is a modified form of brain washing.A number of the crew have colds/flu and Chris is pioneering a new treatment kindly donated by Rainer's Mum-patent pending but we can tell you it contains alcohol; Tom in particular seems to be benefitting!

All for now,
PTR.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
8-MAR-1997 11:19:32

The rigours of the Southern Ocean are now catching up on us all, although Tom has assured us that the hardship has not yet begun. When asked people's opinion we received the following: Ron "I've not seen much of it..I suspect it's just like any other Ocean" Rainer "Only wind and water" Chris "OK but I wish I could put my biorhythyms on hold as the heads are a nightmare" Matt "Just like home"

Chris.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
7-MAR-1997 07:35:51

Ocean Racing can really be a funny game. After the 'restart' of the coast of Tasmania, we had another very frustrating becalmed day. The positions of the yachts changed dramatically from one poll to the other. The wind seems to play a game with us. We were spinnaker peeling all day and night. Up, down and repacking. Live on board has now settled into a routine. Everyone has had his shower, before we hit the southern ocean and learn again to live on a 30 degree angle. The clocks have been changed for the first time and we are now only 10 hours ahead of GMT.

Rainer.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
6-MAR-1997 07:39:22

Ocean racing can sometimes be very frustrating. After a couple of days of hard sailing we managed to stay in the leading group and keep the overall leader Group4 behind us. But at the southern edge of Tasmania we all run into the center of a high and were once again becalmed. And all the miles we were in front were suddenly lost, as all the other boats were catching us up. Last night we could see the lights of 12 other yachts! About 3 boats were in shouting distance of us. I think a couple of hours outside Sydney harbour the boats were further apart then last night. We could have restarted that leg in Tasmania really.

Now we can only see Save the Children in the distance as all the boats took different routes towards the next waypoint of the Kerguelen Island, some 3000nm away.

Everybody uses the current downwind spinnaker ride for personal domestics, like using the heads, because soon when we will be beating into the wind and crashing through waves, these tasks can become quite tricky (understatement); in fact there are those amongst us who are developing quite a phobia for this daily activity.The upside of it is that a rather fun game has come about called "throwing the toilet paper at the helmsman",as yet no direct hits despite natural built in homing device.Otherwisw spirits good perhaps related to imminent grog rations later today. Rainer and Chris.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
5-MAR-1997 08:14:58

After yet another period of very little winds, we were completly stationary for about 2 hours, we were suddenly surprised by a very strong breeze. It was a so called 'southerly buster' with well over 30kn of wind over the deck. We had just about enough time to drop the headsail. After a quick reef we hoisted in by now very wet and wild conditions with up to 40kn of wind the next smaller headsail. At least by now we all realised, that we're about to hit the southern ocean again.

After a day of heavy weather sailing the wind dropped again as we're coming into a high pressure area. But at least we're having a very interesting matchrace with Toshiba, Save the Children and Group4. As we're short tacking with about 2 tacks per hour along the Tasmanian coast, we gain and loose on the above boats. But being ahead of Group4 and keeping Save the Children on a short lead is a brilliant feeling. We only hope we can keep it up.

Our medic, Dr. Christopher Price, is kept busy in his practice. Not only is he looking after his own patients with the odd sailing related injury on board 'Pause to Remember', but also on the other yachts. Even a housevisit by rendevous-ing with another yacht was envisaged, but currently put on hold.

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
4-MAR-1997 15:42:10

Sorry for missing today's daily report. But at the given time we were surprised by some bad weather (southern buster) and we were all busy on deck. We will send a proper one again tomorrow with a nice long story.

As Duty Yacht we'd like to report that we had contact with all yachts except Global Teamwork, whose SSB has 'paused for thought' (as Merv put it).

Rainer

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
3-MAR-1997 07:30:14

Seasickness has been a big problem in the first 24 hours of this leg. More than a third of the crew has suffered, with some a lot worse than others. But it looks as if they're all recovering and slowly getting used to it.

Just outside Sydney we had a challenging spinnaker reach. And after having blown out so many spinnakers in the pervious legs, it was very interesting to see CU blowing out their spinnaker right in front of our eyes. It's the first time I've seen it from this angle. The South Australian current of about 2 knots gave us a nice head start and put us in 3rd position. Unfortunately we've since dropped back to eigth. But everything is still possible because, as our skipper likes to say, 'Ocean racing is a funny old game'. On the wildlife front we can report that we just run over a 14 to 15 feet long shark, rolling out from under the stern of the boat. You'll be pleased to know, that it's without apparent damage to boat or shark.

Rainer

FROM PAUSE TO REMEMBER
2-MAR-1997 08:25:24

Pause to Remember, otherwise known as "Force to Remember" set out again intrepidly to tackle the rigours of the Southern Ocean. Following a heavy duty amount of partying in Sydney there are some who will be especially relieved to get back to sea - no more hangovers to contend with, and for some no more mysterious women found leaving the yacht first thing in the morning. Ron was particularly impressed with the Gay Mardi Gras and has applied to participate next year; he leaves Sydney with a full quota of underpants. Meantime the remainder of the crew have been reminded of the pleasures of a wet bottom which will probably not be dry before Capetown hurrah!

Leg 3

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 9-FEB-1997 09:11:07

What a start! 14 large boats doing a round-the-can race in Lambton Harbour. It was very tight at times. Just after the start before the first mark we were surrounded by yachts and only a metre behind Concerts stern and no way to manoeuvre. The first call for water was due and it wasn't the last one. At the 2nd mark we had a close encounter with Save the Children and at the 4th mark, under spinnaker, we nearly touched Rover.

It was a fantastic but hectic start. And very exciting not only for the many followers. We had a big fan club out on the water. A lot of friends we made during our stopover from the RSA, the Mana Cruising Club and many others went out on boats to give us a brilliant farewell. The Seatoun RSA (Returned Services Association) even fired three guns when passing their town. Thanks very much again for all your support. Rainer.

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 11-FEB-1997 07:35:32

What a match-race this is. After a couple of days we could still see 8 yachts around us. In the Tasman Sea Global Teamwork was tacking only a few metres across our bow a couple of times. And all night we were sailing right next to each other. The same thing happened 12 hours later with Concert. And we are still match-racing her.

Having started of in 10th position in the Cook Strait we have worked our way up to 2nd position. Unfortunately we are now slipping back (8th pos), but the yachts in front are only a couple of miles ahead.

The initial seasickness, specifically of our leggers Janet Tipper and John Swingewood, has mostly disappeared by now. Only our Doc stills throws up, especially when he has to fulfil doctors duties. Hmmm..

The weather is as expected, rough but not too rough. And we had some sunny and less windy spells as well. Rainer

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 12-FEB-1997 07:35:03

All goes well on PTR. Our new cafetiere has been in operation along with Janet's whisky laden cake and smiles are reappearing on the faces of those who have been sick.

There are plans for a scotch whisky "conference" with contributions from the hip flasks of Chris, Bruce and Grahame. Fresh food remains on the menu, which will cheer up the crew of Group4.

Janet Tipper would like everyone to know that she likes night time sailing but it is a bit dark!

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 13-FEB-1997 07:38:34

After a exiting start we are now frustrated doing light wind sailing again. It's a bit like repeating the first leg within a few days. We only hope that we don't get into a situation, where we have no wind at all. Our leggers fear that for another reason, as they then, traditionally, have to go for a swim and pull the boat.

I've become a mast monkey - I'm now even wearing the climbing harness in the bunk during my standby watch!

The food continues to be excellent. Not having to eat dehydrated stuff but fresh vegetables and meat is a real treat. The newly acquired cafetiere is also a nice change to the Nescafe. Unfortunately we have not yet figured out how to make the coffee without getting coffee granules all over the galley.

Janet Tipper our legger for the trip clearly likes her showers, and a new currency now exits on Pause, you can buy a shower from a fellow crew member for around $20. So we have 13 rich crew and one clean crew !! Rainer.

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 14-FEB-1997 07:25:50

Fearless Jan, a policewoman, trained to tackle and deal with the most hardened criminals Guildford can muster, today proved that just maybe she wasn't so fearless. Sat on the starboard rail whiling away the endless hours of ocean racing and chatting about this and that, she came up against her nemesis.

The idle chit chat was in fact about the number of sharks that had been spotted by the fleet that day and that we should keep our eyes peeled. No sooner than that had been said that a grey shadow passed over that particular section of the ocean that Jan had been staring into, i.e just below her feet. A fin the size of a small dinghy wove its way around her legs in a classic and almost comical manner, ands its great immensity glided by nonchalantly. You almost got the impression that if the boat had followed a slightly different course then we would've been obliged to get out of its way.

The reaction of Jan was one of frozen panic, movement was a thing of the past. It reminded us all of all those scenes in 'B' movies where you're screaming at the impending victim, to stop staring at the 3 headed salivating beast from hell and get out of there. Of course they always got eaten, luckily Jan didn't. Matt

Yacht PAUSE TO REMEMBER
Date 16-FEB-1997 07:24:46

After we forgot to post our daily report yesterday, we post a slightly longer one today. And hopefully it'll be our last during this leg!

After one of our spinnakers blew out, we suddenly had to rush onto the foredeck, collect the remains and quickly hoist the number one Yankee in order not to loose any grounds to the boats behind us. As it was a warm night we were not wearing any wet weather gear but our middle layer, which got absolutely soaked during the foredeck work! But at least we got the job done very fast.

After a long frustating day and night with very little wind we got suddenly cheered us up, as the incoming position report showed, that we moved in the last 6 hours from 7th to 1st position! Wow! But Nuclear Electric and about half a dozen other boats were right behind us and closing. So we had to keep up the pace in the slightly increasing winds.

Unfortunately the finish line syndrome appeared. That is no wind at all. We were drifting again, just like arriving in Rio and Wellington. And on the next report we were back to 5th position and very little wind.

After 6 days and over 1200nm we had an amazing view. We could see 9 boats of a fleet of 14 all lined up, as if they were getting ready for a start. Absolutely amazing!

With very changeable winds we continued the game of kite up, kite down, kite up etc. The fleet parted again as suddenly Concert appeared from nowhere chasing us. Since then it's an exiting match race with Global ahead, Concert right behind and Toshiba, Ocean Rover, Motorola and Nuclear a couple of miles behind. And with only one medium kite left, it's touch and go. But luckily it's only 32nm to Sydney...

Rainer

After the above wet sail change Bruce wrote the following rhyme which he likes to share with our fans.

Toilet Rhyme by Bruce Kay
-------------------------
I asked around and checked it out
with everyone I've met
fresh or salt, warm or cold,
water's always ........ well wet!

Copyright British Telecommunications plc 1996.