Homeward Bound..

The story continues with the OSTAR 2009 when after 21 days and 19 hours at sea Katie arrived in Newport Rhode Island to a rapturous welcome….well as rapturous as any welcome can be at 2:30 in the morning!

Finishing in a very respectable 9th place, Katie became the youngest female to complete the race. She sailed across the finishing line nursing a broken starboard rudder, to be met by her mother, father and sister, the race committee, the commodore of the Newport Rhode Island Yacht Club and our very own Lorraine and Peter from bluQube.  Although exhausted from her endeavours it did not stop Katie partying until 7:30 am.  Obviously sailing a 33 ft Figaro II racing yacht all the way from Plymouth to America is not far enough for our intrepid Ms Miller!

During her trip Katie was a prolific blogger (visit www.bluQube.co.uk/oceanracing to read them in full) writing at least once every day about her adventures that were as gripping as a serialised version of the famous five.  Although in Katie’s case it was the famous three, Katie, her trusty boat bluQube and the cheeky stowaway the purple hefalump ‘lumpy’ (cunningly disguised as a beanbag).  Whilst lashings of ginger beer were in short supply, Katie and her crew did get lashings of sea water instead, as she described how bits of the boat broke, emergency beacons were set off by mistake, 13 different ships were avoided, how tactical decisions were made about the route and the weather, and bravest of all, how she managed to resist any temptation to read her selected book for the trip, Jane Austen’s ‘Mansfield Park’. The machinations of Henry, Fanny and Edward will just have to wait until the next race or the race after that; probably.

The lure of pizza, however drove our racers onwards, following the sun as it dipped majestically over the Western horizon, or was that the South Western horizon Katie? (See below as Katie justifies her race tactics).

As a conclusion to the OSTAR we thought we would sum up the race by asking Katie a few questions about the trip now she is safely back at home in Southampton.

So Katie what were the biggest highs and lows of the trip?

“The start and the finish were definitely the high points, seeing my family again after 3 weeks at sea was very emotional, but there were also some great moments during the race, as I sailed the furthest South I had the best of the weather and I enjoyed some magical moments sailing with Dolphins”

“The lowest point was when the starboard rudder broke, I was surfing at 12 knots and then ‘boom’ I saw bits of orange debris in the water. For a moment I thought I was doomed to a watery end; this was very frightening! However, I soon realised that it was not as bad as I thought and as I was on a port tack and not sailing too close to the wind I was able to maintain complete control of the boat for the last blast into Newport”.

Was it as big a challenge as you thought?

“Absolutely, although the challenges came in different forms, the biggest lesson I learnt was to expect the unexpected, the areas of the race that I worried about the most I coped well with, for example I was able to get 3-4 hours sleep a day and generally felt fresh throughout the race, whereas rigging the boat under pressure and predicting the weather proved more of a test. I think maybe I went a little too far south! No wonder I had guys ringing me double checking I was okay. I am still convinced my tactical decision was sound - I was supposed to reach/fetch back towards the NW on the Day 13 in a gale, but that didn't happen. Post race analysis is a wonderful thing, and happily I am just so happy to have made it over that I won't be beating myself up about it. I know I could have got here faster, and I am certainly going to learn from this experience.”

So what’s next?

“bluQube is being shipped back to the UK in mid July. I think it will be the fastest crossing ever for a Figaro II and it’s a shame it’s not with me at the helm!  Then if she arrives back in time, I hope to race in the RORC Channel races which start on the 26th July, although this may be optimistic. More likely I will ready for the start of Cowes Week and some double handed sailing with Hannah Jenner. There will be some pretty intense work onboard as we fix everything I broke! Until then, I am working hard at regaining the weight I lost. This intense training programme started in Newport with the abundance of Newport Fudge, Ben and Jerrys, Dunkin’Donuts and American food in general. Shock of the month.... I haven't eaten any pizza yet!!”

Watch this space as we continue to follow Katie’s progress during Cowes Week and beyond.