Worthing Rugby Club chair, Colin Tomlinson, currently awaits the last race of leg 5 of the Clipper sail race. The 11 crews set out on 2nd March, embarking on a 5–6 day race taking them from Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, to Zhuhai, China.
The race presents an opportunity to collect funds for UNICEF and Care for Veterans, subsequently enabling Tomlinson, who spent 24 years in the army, to raise £1,115 so far on his Just Giving page.
PSP Logistics (the boat Colin is on) finds itself in 6th place overall after 24 days of sailing. 5th placed Ha Long Bay Viet Nam finished just 43 minutes ahead.
“We’ve had a real mixed bag of weather,” said Colin, reflecting on a leg starting off the East coast of Australia. “It was very hot to start with, we were even sweating while sleeping. Squally showers with 40 mph winds forced us to adjust our sails in difficult circumstances. The sunsets, sunrises and stars have been impressive; the dolphins have been a pleasure to watch.”
Even in difficult conditions, the crew keep morale high, with Colin adding, “We’ve had fun celebrating the lunar new year of the dragon and Valentine’s Day with a Mr and Mrs quiz, as well as paying tribute to King Neptune while crossing the equator.”
“With limited supplies, initiative is required with food,” he continued. “Though the garlic butter icing cake tasted better than it sounds, the best meal was corn beef burgers. We make our own bread, but the toaster broke after a week.”
The pre-race ceremony starts at midday Indochina time (GMT+7) on 2nd March, with the race starting 6 hours later. Colin looks forward to the next challenge, saying: “The last race was our best performance and result since race 2. Our aim is to improve, but we must avoid rushing and get things right the first time.”
If you would like to donate to Colin, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/colin-tomlinson-1705987117150
Well done so far Colin!
< Back to News
Responsive site designed and developed by
Click to go Madison Web Solutions' website
