Crew Blog

It’s a Simple Existence. Hand to Mouth (and Bilge Pump)

03 December 2007

A few days of calm allowed the dust to settle and general maintenance to be done. With the wind back up we’re now on the attack, trying to whittle down the miles separating us from the rest of the fleet. The crew is positive and, as Gary pointed out, we’ve sailed the furthest of all the boats in the fleet in the last eight days which means that, really, we’re in the lead! Our spirits will not be broken.

As a newcomer to the boat, I am beginning to understand the day to day running of the boat. I am learning to live watch to watch or, as some may view it, sleep to sleep. This leg is supposed to be the ‘down wind’ leg (with the wind behind us) but so far we’ve been on the same tack for days with the boat heeled over on its starboard side. This requires a whole new level of agility for a range of tasks: mother watch is made excessively tiring, balancing around the galley preparing all the meals (great cornbread from Hen today!); getting into bed is achieved by rolling my body in and then hurriedly tying up my lea cloth so I don’t fall out if the boat heels over further; getting out of bed is more tricky, especially if I’m trying not to wake my bunk buddy and using the heads is a balancing act about which I won’t go into detail.  We’ve all been making requests to Duggie to change tack as we’re bored of being over on this side.

The boat is making its usual creaks and groans, while sea water finds its way in in strange places so Jen has been hot bunking to a drier bunk when necessary.  From below deck the sea state always sounds worse than it is and getting out on deck puts everything in perspective. Water in the bilges keeps some awake while others are woken when the boat slams down off a wave. Those with iPods in their ears sleep soundly throughout.

More generally, we are now only three degrees away from the Southern Ocean, for many a highlight of the entire experience. We’ve seen little wildlife, although a few squid have been washed on deck and a flying fish was found under a sail-bag. We’ve had a few albatross flying around the boat today and another bird that we think is called a skewer but we can’t check as there’s no wildlife book on board.

We are now within 300 miles of the last boat and are determined to keep closing the gap. Fremantle, we will be there on time.

Felicity McClarty