Heather Fell is competing in Race 14 from New York to Londonderry of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race as part of Team Jamaica Get Alright. She will be blogging from onboard and keeping us up to date with her progress over the coming weeks.

THE Caribbean weather and spirit is now but a distant memory. I had started to worry as after each day of mirror flat sea came another beautiful sunrise with more perfect cruising conditions. The longer this lasted the more shocking the contrast was going to be and sure enough, it was too good to be true. After four days of topping up my tan, reading my book and being cooked for there was a dramatic change — reality hit. Along came the Atlantic I had heard about — the temperatures suddenly dropped overnight as the wind and sea state began to build. This was what I was expecting and had signed up for; it is supposed to be a race after all. With the change in conditions came a change in pace. Suddenly there was work to be done and I had a chance to make myself useful. Unfortunately my body had other ideas and pulled a pretty good 'get out of work card' in the form of seasickness. I was determined not to be defeated but I had a fight on my hands. After any small amount of exertion, whether that was helping to change a sail or even just putting on my wet weather gear, I had to hang my head over the side. Sadly I did not always make it and have to admit I succeeded in decorating the deck a couple of times. During my time hugging the toilet basin something occurred to me. I had always wondered why the 'bathroom' on a boat was known as 'the heads' — my personal conclusion is down to the fact that your head is likely to spend as much time there as any other part of your body when at sea – I am open to any other suggestions.