Round-the-world sailor wife praised for perseverance
THE dirt, the grime, the cold, the wet and especially the damp are just some of the challenges facing Guernsey woman Anne Hough as she takes part in the Clipper Round-The-World yacht race.
Proud husband Gerald will be in the next port of call, Perth, Australia, when his wife arrives on board the Punta del Este, one of the 11 competing yachts, hopefully before Christmas.
‘She has amazing perseverance,’ said Mr Hough.
‘She will not only fight the conditions she faces each day – the constant cold, the relentless strength of the ocean and kit that once wet never dries – she fights her own depleting reserves.’
There will be a delay – as long as 10 days – to the Punta del Este’s arrival in Perth due to damage sustained in an accident with one of the other racing yachts at the start of the third leg from Cape Town.
‘I was there,’ Mr Hough said. ‘From where I was looking out for them with my binoculars seeing everybody go, I knew when I couldn’t see them that something had happened.
‘It was a big worry, those yachts are big beasts, at first we thought they would sink but they’re back up and running – they’ll make it to Fremantle.’
Each of the yachts taking part sees an average of 22 crew members at any one time, with each member taking on a specialised role on board.
Guernseyman Nigel Gale is another of the yacht’s crew members and Mr Hough said it was good to have another islander on board.
‘It’s great that Nigel is on the boat with her, they watch each other’s back’ he said.
‘In fact the whole crew is fantastic, they’re an interesting and eclectic bunch of people. They work together as a team, have fresh bread every day, team spirit goes a long way.’
‘I’ll next see her in Perth when the boat finally arrives,’ said Mr Hough.
‘I’m going on 10 December and hopefully it should arrive on 19 or 20 December.
‘Then our son and his wife and our two grandchildren, who live in Sydney, will be there, and our other son will fly over from Guernsey too – it’ll be good to see her.
‘I do worry and I do find myself prone to bouts of unfamiliar emotion. We all get so choked up seeing them arrive in port after a gruelling race.’
The 40,000 nautical mile race is described as one of the biggest endurance challenges of the natural world and sees the 11, 70ft yachts stopping off in South America, South Africa, Australia, China and America before heading back for a final sprint up the Thames.
. To find out more about the challenge visit www.clipperroundtheworld.com.
