Crew Blog

Yet another bright day…

29 October 2007

Today, being yet another bright, sunny and calm day, led to a spate of washing of clothes, hair and bodies. The array of brightly coloured underwear drying on the guardrail may have given a little extra drive to Nova Scotia Clipper!

Rob provided an early and informative crew briefing (9am) on Leg 2 race strategy, weather patterns and his/our hopes and expectations for a competitive conclusion to this leg. Rob’s simple diagrams and easy to comprehend explanation (Peter and Jane level) has led most of us to dispose of our rather complex metrological books.

Mid morning saw two heads (Paul and Dave or so it seemed from the size and shape of their backsides) buried in the port head to fix the inlet/outlet pump; a horrible job well done and fully appreciated by all users.

So many different things give rise to a competitive boat and for Nova Scotia one of the main ingredients is the fact that all crew have a smile on their face whatever the conditions and circumstances. The sound of laughter coming from both above and below decks keeps everybody in fine fettle. Sue’s raucous laugh, Nick and JC’s dry wit, Paul and Lucy’s permanent smiles are all part of today’s mix.  Daily crew meetings at 5pm, today accompanied with tea and freshly baked flapjacks, also help.

So we are being forced by the weather to head west, when what we really want to be doing is heading south-west - hopefully overnight this will change.

The daily scheds of boat positions put us last, but we think this is slightly misleading.  Looking at the weather ahead we truly think that Liverpool 08, Hull and Humber, Jamaica and ourselves are in the best positions, despite being bottom of the leader board.  Only time will tell

Len and Lucy