Crew Blog

Necessity is the mother of invention

07 March 2008

This race is turning into the Southern Ocean big downwind sailing leg we didn’t have at 40 degrees south. The strongest winds of the trip so far, combined with large swells, are putting strain on the boat and the crew.

Inevitably this has led to breakages - luckily Durban 2010 and Beyond is blessed with a number of Mr Fixits (led by Jan, Keith and Neil, ably or not so ably assisted by the rest of us) who come up with ingenious solutions to hold the boat together. One of the most unusual looking is the two table knives lashed to the boom. These form part of a repair to the vang, which was coming away from the boom. This follows a tradition of using galley implements to repair deck gear, as chopping boards have been converted into guy doughnuts in the past. Another unusual modification is our backup method of keeping the headsail attached to the stay. We have gone for toggles, fashioned out of a broomstick handle and string, so that Durban 2010 and Beyond now bears a passing resemblance to Paddington Bear’s duffle coat. Unfortunately this means the remaining broomstick is only suitable for use by the shorter members of the crew, but we all have to make sacrifices.

One repair that so far remains beyond the abilities of our brilliant improvisers is the spinnaker pole that broke in two. However, as we have two poles this is not a complete disaster, although the remaining pole is being treated with extreme care now - with 2,500 miles of potentially downwind sailing, to be without a spinnaker or poled out headsail would be a major handicap, to say the least. On the domestic side, the dustpan that went to a watery grave whilst being used as a snow shovel earlier in the race has been replaced by a Blue Peter effort (aptly created by Peter) out of a couple of “now wash your hands” laminated signs. Never let it be said that Durban 2010 and Beyond is without style.

It is now becoming a minor triumph to be able to come off watch without having broken anything. Colin was so determined to break his watch’s cycle of bad luck he made a rash promise involving a naked headsail change (slightly different from a bareheaded headsail change) if they broke anything last night. Luckily for all of us the watch passed, not exactly without incident, but without breakages (the string that broke on Neil’s bunk as he went to bed and deposited him on top of Hagen is not being counted as he was technically off watch at the time). Today is a new day, the sun is shining, and nothing has gone “ping” yet, so maybe our fortunes are changing.

The night after writing this blog we were told that westernaustralia2011.com have been dismasted, which makes all our problems pale into insignificance. We wish the crew of WA all the best and look forward to welcoming them safely into Hawaii.

Claire