Crew Blog

No more bets please…

15 April 2008

With less than 500 miles to go, talk has already turned to the finish. The jobs list has been rubbed off the white board and replaced with ‘The Santa Cruz Arrival Sweepstake’. A serious business and, with a $5 entry fee and a possible 15 players taking part, a reasonable prize at stake. (Although the rules of entry do state ‘winner buys the first round’.)

There was a long debate this morning as to which time zone we would be working in. There is boat time, Santa Cruz time and UTC. Boat time went forward an hour last night but we are still an hour behind Santa Cruz time. The skipper hasn’t decided yet whether to move on another hour before or after reaching the finish. So boat time, we decided, was too ambiguous. UTC was just too complicated, so Santa Cruz time got the final vote of approval. That brought on a sudden rush to change the predictions already made in boat time. There’s still bound to be someone at the finish who claims ignorance to the decision.

With the northerly boats still pulling away, we’re having our own little battle with Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Liverpool 08 at the moment. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with Liverpool 08 we seem (somehow) to have overtaken them and held them off for a few schedules now. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper are ever allusive, and just as we seemed to have narrowed the gap, Hannah decided to go up a gear and has pulled a few more miles ahead. They’re not that far away, though. Still within catching distance.

The wind is so changeable. In any one watch there is such a wide variation in wind strength that it’s really quite tricky choosing a sail plan. There is a choice between being mostly ok but sometimes underpowered and slow, or mostly ok and often clinging onto the helm while frantically dumping the mainsheet to get back under control. As we heeled right over just now, someone commented that the driver had clearly picked Tuesday morning in the sweepstake…