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THANKYOU TO
EVERYBODY
29th July 2010
I've had a couple of days of
recovery now and am starting to feel like my old self. Finishing on Sunday felt
like an out of body experience, I was there but I wasn't there! Fatigue
definately had me by the short and curlies. Firstly I'd like to say a big
thankyou to all the bloggers for following me as I circumnavigated Australia.
Your comments along the way made the hard times a lot easier and I felt very
humbled by them. Thankyou all. I'd also like to thank everyone that came down to
see me in on Sunday at Rockingham and I'm sorry it was such short notice as I
know there were others that would have come down but didn't know I was coming
in. Thankyou to all the volunteers that have helped in making the voyage a
possibility and believing in me enough to do it, also of course to the number of
sponsors without whom I it would not have become a reality. And a final thankyou
to all the people that supported me as I went around Australia and gave their
valuable time to make sure that I felt welcomed and that the boat was well
prepared and safe for me to continue on my way. You guys made the trip fun and I
really enjoyed meeting new friends who were fantastic people - that was actually
the highlight of the trip for me, besides coming home! The willingness of
strangers to support what I was doing shows our Aussie spirit of mateship is
still alive a well and made me proud of the country I live in. We are so much
alike in the way we think from one end of the country to the other. The people I
met really valued life and living it to the full, and want good futures for
their children and children's children.
Something that has come to light
over the last few days is the time it took me to get around the country and the
distances covered. For your interest, we are still calculating the exact
distance but the last leg from Darwin looks like it was around 2000 nautical
miles, I may be just under that, may be just over it but whatever it is it will
be a new world record for a quadriplegic sailing solo unassisted. The sailing
time to do the circumnavigation taking the stops out of it was 57 days. The
current record was set about a month ago by Ian Thompson from Airlie Beach at 42
days, before he broke that record it was 68 days! So, I am ecstatic that I've
managed to knock 11 days off the old record that had stood for years. Damn you
Ian!
This is possibly the last blog for
this voyage. I'm still in shock that I have completed the trip and am still
alive and in one piece! I'm sure I have a guardian angel that was looking after
me, there were a number of extremely close calls. I keep looking at the tracker
page with the red line circling around the whole of Australia and I just can't
believe that Spirit and I made that track!
For those that are wondering about
the plans for a world trip, well its back to the drawing board on that. It's not
a goal that will disappear out of my life but it would not be a possibility in
Spirit. There is too much to maintain and I have some major issues with the
extreme cold and heat which were the two things that nearly took me out due to
the thermoregulatory issues of being a quadriplegic. I have some very long term
ideas to explore, I think it is possible but of course its a matter of finance
and support. After this eight year project I know how long things can take and
quite honestly it might be quicker to take over the world than try to sail
around it!
SUCCESSFUL
HOMECOMING
25th July 2010
Jamie had a wonderful welcome back
home to Rockingham. He will shortly post a blog however in the meantime, go to
the blog to check out some photos of him crossing the finish line around Garden
Island yesterday. Thanks to Martin Chambers for the pics.
COMING HOME
23rd July 2010
Jamie is now making his way back
to Rockingham and expects to arrive at the Val St. jetty around 2PM this Sunday
25th July. He has been making good progress over the day and is now not far
north of Jurien Bay but a fair way off the coast. He's extremely fatigued after
being at sea for so long, and has been unable to get much sleep the last couple
of nights due to being bashed about by the southeasterlies that come in
overnight.. He's also coping with pressure sores on top of being generally a bit
battered and bruised, so its definately time to come home. He has however
managed to sail non-stop from Darwin and by the time he reaches Rockingham that
will be a distance of over 1900 nautical miles, breaking his own previous record
of the longest distance sailed solo by a person with quadriplegia. Typical Jamie
is, however, disappointed that he probably won't have cracked the 2000 nautical
miles!
If anyone is interested in
welcoming Jamie home to congratulate him on completing the circumnavigation
please feel free to come down to the jetty by about 2PM on Sunday.
PROBABLY
PASSING GERALDTON TOO
21st July 2010
Well I'm not passing Geraldton
just yet, but it won't be too far off. I've been making really good ground over
the past few days, averaging 6 - 7 knots, and am thinking I don't have any great
reason to stop before getting home now. Yes I'm tired, sore, uncomfortable difficulty to Mark McRae (from Southern Ocean Sailing, who has been a
fantastic support to me all the way around the country), who went away and came
PASSING
EXMOUTH
19th July 2010
Today was Decision Day in terms of
continuing on down the coast or pulling in at Exmouth and having a rest. The
next possibility for me in terms of stopping is
ATTACK OF THE
FLYING FISH
17th July 2010
Most Australians know how big the
trucks on the road get in the north of the country -you know those massive road
trains that are up here? Well I've seen the equivalent in ships! There seems to
be a bit of traffic going in one direction, I'm assuming its Port
STARS IN MY
EYES
14th July
2010
Since my last post, the wind has
picked up and become more consistent again, ranging between 10 - 20 knots,
coming mostly from the south east. I did change course slightly and moved
further west away from the coast, to try to stay in better breeze and perhaps
that move has paid off. The sea state is a bit
BAKED,
BOILED AND FRIED
11th July
2010
Drifting in a south westerly
direction, with a few deviations backwards or sideways, is about all I managed
today. Sailing is becoming a bit of a distant memory, as I had my first "glass
out" of the trip up here for hours today. No clouds, no swell, and They
Visit Jamie's blog page to read
about his voyage so far.
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