LIBBY GREENHALGH

I am coming to the end of my last time at home before I start the race. R and R at home before 9 months of whirlwind thrills spills, ups and downs. As I come to the end of it the reality begins to settle in, I never realised how hard I would find leaving. Though those that know me will be chuckling as they know I never like to go away anywhere! My favourite saying whenever anyone leaves, "don't goooooooooo!" Coming back to haunt me now! I spent the first few days of my break pretty much asleep after leg 0. I think it was the whole love your own bed and when you finally stop your body really does stop..... Though my mind struggles to and I still wake every 2 hours or so thinking which way are we going where are the other boats. I guess that is what the next 9 months have in store. It would seem when you are going to set off off and away for several months you need to get your life in order, something I am not a fan of doing. So there have been some boring days doing ...

Yes we are here. We have arrived in Alicante the starting venue of the Volvo Ocean Race.  Training time is nearly over and the race is upon us. For me the last couple weeks have been pretty big and feel more like 2 months. It was weird sailing away from the UK (I am back for one more break) but there was a little part of me that realised how fast this has all happened. In January this year I was out in Rio supporting the British Sailing Team on the road to Rio and the Olympic Games . My third trip to the venue and starting to get comfortable there. By May I had increased my offshore miles by a bizillion times and had crossed the Atlantic twice trialling out as the navigator onboard Team SCA.  On the 5th of September shortly before 1800 we were greeted in Alicante Race Village ready for the final preparations before the race begins. It is true what they say a lot can happen in a year! The trip down had some interesting moments from lobster pot catching ...

Hello all, Welcome back to my blog. Normally I blog as I travel and hopefully bring some humour to you all. This time I will kind of be traveling but it will be more about me being involved in a new venture As I am sure everyone is aware I have decided to take the opportunity to be the Navigator on the Team SCA Volvo65. I found the decision soooooooo easy to make, oh no that is a complete lie.   It has been very hard to make the decision to leave the incredible British Sailing Team role that I have and it feels like I am turning my world upside down but for something equally incredible and special and weirdly something a little bit more for me. I should thank my family and friends in their support they have given me in making this decision and hope that they will all follow me on my journey and maybe even join me. I intended to do some updates as I went through the last 2-3 months training but time has escaped me and it is only as I sit here with my penultimate time ...

I thought i would have written a lot sooner and  more often than I am going to have this time round in Rio. It is amazing how when not travelling and working one is actually busy working and as I spend a lot of my work on the computer - opening it up to fire out a blog doesn't seem as appealing as when travelling! Since I last wrote, I have had a birthday, the laser sailors have gone, the windsurfer ladies (and Dom) have arrived, it has rained at least twice,  I have been sick for a day and it is currently cooler here than in the UK. Winter in Rio is quite different to March, when 35-40 Celsius was almost unbearable and thunderstorms were awesome and a welcome relief. I should have packed my thermals especially for the 30 KT of wind we had on the water the day before yesterday. We are based out of the Late Clube do Rio de Janeiro or something like that. Which is more of a social club than sailing club. It use to be a club for planes that land on water (the real ...

Some of you lucky folk will automatically receive this as an email and others will hunt it out (not sure who!) but welcome back or should I be welcoming myself? Don't panic I haven't snuck off without telling you that I am off travelling again. I have a fortunate job that takes me to fairly exotic places and was responsible for my first visit here a little under 5 months ago. It is only as I landed in Rio and was going through the airport racking my brain of the last time I was here that I thought I would blog again 1.It would be useful to put down somewhere the useful things to remember/tips rather than reworking them out 2. It will keep me slightly more sane writing about my time out here and may prove useful 3. I am sure you are all missing me that much, that my blog will be the highlight you look forward and finally 4. Just because I can! So, as usual, about 3 days before I left that overwhelming sense of dread begins to build inside me.....I have no idea why and i...

Last day in Rio today and then I head back at some ungodly hour on a really roundabout journey that will eventually get me home for 0630 on the Friday 8 th March…….6 o’clock club anyone? It is fairly smokin’ hot here between 35-40 Celsus  over the last few days but a bit cooler today. I still would have found my bikini the best attire for the day but I  don’t want  everyone to feel embarrassed about themselves when they see me strutting my gorgeous brown body (because all my freckles have joined together )  down the beach. So thoughtfully for them I remained clothed. Today I headed up Sugar Loaf – but more importantly I caught the right bus (may have got off a little early) both to and from the cable car. Super proud of myself. That will however also be the last  public bus in Rio I have to catch….I hope work are paying attention. My bus flagging down skills have greatly improved after two buses went straight past me and the lady stood next to me laug...

I am afraid Rio is struggling to rise up my list of cool places to go, but then I have never been a city person or a massive party goer. Yes it is fairly stunning but I think I have spoilt myself before this with my travels and therefore  it doesn’t rise to the top there either! I am not sure I really get Rio- even the guide Patricia I was with today said everything is breaking down and happens very slowly in Rio The people are clearly very passionate and the samba and music is all pretty cool When the sun came out yesterday people appeared on the famous Copacabana  beach. The different Poste as they call them are all quite amusing and a stroll along the beach can be quite enlightening. Having got over my initial disappointment in Rio I set about seeing a fair bit of it yesterday and today. First up I may have had another 12 hours sleep through the joys of ear plugs and a blind fold. Seems to be fairly dangerous for me as I sometimes think I could just stay a...