Crew Blog

Angle of life

31 January 2008

With the whole fleet now beating upwind towards Qingdao, life on board New York has changed from a gentle spinnaker rock on race 5 to living life at 30 degrees.

Simple tasks such as getting dressed and moving around now require some careful planning. For me trying to get from the hell hole (NY name for the sleeping quarters) to the saloon means shuffling along the low side holding on to anything I can. Be it the grab rail, Tony’s arm, V’s leg. The problem comes when you meet someone coming the other way. Who has right of way, what do I grab onto now?

Cooking…now that’s a trial. Trying to check on the beans which always catch on the pan while walking up a 30 degree hill is not fun, you need a climbing harness just to keep you in place. And then there are the objects that move, every time you tack. If its not glued down it goes flying across the galley and you have to dodge the speeding dishes, forks, milk jug, hot bread tin that you have just pulled out the oven….hot, hot, hot!

Hot bunking is now a way of life. This means everyone has to sleep on the high side of the boat. Why you ask……? When on a beat the boat is heeled over and therefore produces more resistance as there is a larger surface area exposed in the water, slowing us down. By putting sleeping bodies (the dead weight) on the high side it reduces the heel and increases boat speed. So some poor person has to come into the hell hole and face the wrath of the off watch. Moaning and groaning, bitching and whining, we grab our stuff…sleeping bags, pillows, clothes and whatever else happens to be stuck to us at that time and we move onto the high side, fall into another’s bunk and pray we fall back to sleep. Once back to sleep you hope that you’ve had the piece of mind to tie the right knot in your lee cloth which keeps you safe in your bunk while the boat is put through another tack – otherwise rolling out of bed has a whole new meaning!!

Sarah Nesbitt