"Hey Guys, We Need To Gybe!"

It's 4am and the call comes from the watch crew like an alarm going off at the fire station. "Hey guys, we need to gybe". The four of us on the off-watch jump(kinda) from our warm bunks and start getting dressed. Light jackets, hats and the all important harnesses on, we emerge from the cabin to find our weary team mates preparing to put Sauvage on a new course.
The spinnaker is up and drawing hard as the boat makes 7.5 to 10 knots in an attempt to put some time on our opponents. The watch has been dealing with squalls all morning and the wind has shifted, making this course change necessary.
We scatter to our positions, Brian- helm, Jim- keyboard, John- mainsheet. Craig, Andy and Jeff- sheets and guys and me to the other end of the boat to deal with the pole.
It's blowing 20 knots and the full moon is mostly obstructed by clouds as I clip my tether to the jack line and head for the bow. I grab the trip line and the "lazy" afterguy and find my seat out over the water. Looking aft, I see my companions gathering themselves as Sauvage rides a foamy trough across the black sea. She has a bone in her teeth and this view gives me goose bumps.
With the wind and the sound of the boat's wake, it's very loud and Brian and I struggle to communicate across the distance between us, roughly 35 feet. Brian, "Chris, ready?". Me, "Ready here". He then checks with the boys in the cockpit. Brian, "OK, I'm turning down...............TRIP!".

To execute a gybe(jibe) the boat, traveling down wind, will turn approximately 60 degrees and the mainsail and spinnaker will swap sides allowing the boat to sail efficiently in another direction. "TRIP!" is my signal to pull the trip line, causing the outboard end of the spinnaker pole to be released. As the loose end of the pole travels towards me at the bow, Lord Jim lowers the "topper" allowing me to reach the pole end and put the guy in the jaws. Jim's job done perfectly(and i'm not just brown nosin'), I yell "MADE" and the crew complete the gybe by setting the pole, sheets and guys into their new positions. Done well it's a thing of beauty, not so well and it will cost time, money, a finger or more.

Just a brief moment in a string of moments that has been this Transpac race.
Chris