The Hatch

Final Preparations Underway!

15 September 2007

The crews aboard the boats in Liverpool’s Albert Dock look incredibly calm. People are quietly getting on with jobs, there are always jobs to be done on a boat, and completing their final preparations before they set out on their great adventure on Sunday. Sails are being checked and folded, food is being stowed, fuel loaded and weather for the next days being watched. Then there are the personal things, from clothing, to toothpaste and razor blades for those who shave. I have watched cartons of WC paper being put aboard. How many rolls do you need for a crew of 18 on a 21 day voyage? It may not seem important but can become a big issue if you run out! There are no shops in mid ocean so if anything has been forgotten it will have to be done without, or borrowed from a generous fellow crew member who has remembered. I had to grow a beard in my circumnavigation in 1968/69 because a friend forgot to put razor blades aboard before I sailed, something I did not notice for the first three weeks anyway.

The sea is a dangerous place and always should be treated with respect, something the Clipper training is designed to emphasise. For crew members new to sailing the first ocean crossing is always a major challenge, so as we get closer to the start some apprehension is to be expected, its normal and healthy. But once at sea people will settle down, get used to the rhythm of watch-keeping and sail changes. Meals will become an important part of life, something which is looked forward to as a break in the routine.  On the Clipper yachts everyone takes their turn at cooking in what we call the ‘Mother Watch’. This is where one crew member from each watch is taken out of the deck routine and spends the day cooking, washing up and cleaning out below. Their reward is a night’s uninterrupted sleep.  Housework at sea is known as ‘peggying’. In the crowded confines of a yacht infection or disease can spread quickly, so cleaning the cabins, decks, and ‘heads’ (the nautical term for the lavatory) is not just about being tidy, it is vital.

But right now the crews are getting ready for Sunday. If they have butterflies in their stomachs, it is to be expected. Letting go from the pontoon, motoring out through the lock gates and then the pre race manoeuvring before the start gun will make the challenge ahead all the more real. This is when all the pre race work is worthwhile and they can get on with what they came for, beating the other 9 boats in a race around the world.