Visit Finland

Halloween Competion Story

There have been many unexplained incidents on the Clipper Race yacht, Visit Finland, since we left Southampton. Some have been quite simple such as food going missing overnight, and the milk turning sour after only a couple of hours; there have been so many strange goings on that we have not kept a proper log of them. Another time, an iPod disappeared, only to turn up some days later in the bilges and covered in oil.

Then there was an occasion when a hat got woolled up into a spinnaker, and was only found when our ex-international rugby player, Carter, caught it as it fluttered down towards the deck as the kite filled. On another occasion, at night, the helm turned around to answer a question he had been asked by someone he assumed was crew to see that no one was behind him! This sent a shiver down his spine on already a cold night.

Slightly odder was the time that the telescopic eyepiece of Olly's sextant vanished, the whole boat was searched, but to no avail. Then the following day, all of a sudden the eyepiece turns up in the lost property box. Now that is strange!

However it was one dark and stormy night on the way to Cape Town that the strangest incident occurred…

The wind was howling, the spray was spitting, as dark and as stormy as you can get you might say. Anyway, all of a sudden the helmsman of Visit Finland could hear a deep rumbling sound. Not only that the whole yacht started shaking, this sent a slight panic through the helm, as both the sound and vibration that accompanied it were familiar, however out of context for the South Atlantic. It turned out the main engine had started, and started while in full astern, but how? The helmsman, being alone on the aft deck, shouted down the unlit companionway steps to the deck below to find out what was happening.

Eventually some crew arrived wondering what all the fuss was about, and on hearing the helm’s concerns went to check on the engine. As eggs is eggs the engine had started, and all on its own, even as the crew approached the engine controls, they were in total darkness, how could this be, how did it start? When we reported this to the maintenance staff in Cape Town they looked at us in disbelief, I still think that they thought we were pulling their leg.

Well that was the oddest incident so far on the Clipper 11-12 yacht, Visit Finland. However one of the crew happened to have a camera while going to rouse the skipper one night, the attached photo is what they saw emerging from the dark. Alas, we only found the camera, the crew member has vanished from the boat! However since then, on dark and stormy nights, the crew swear they can hear mysterious scratching from the engine box.

Halloween Competion Photos