Crew Blog

Return of the 3 legger

08 May 2008

westernaustralia2011.com's Pete Heilmann at the helm

In my capacity of a returning legger it is my honour to report to you that at 1200UTC, Thursday 8th May 2008 the crew of BBB brought her safely across the finish line for L6 R9. This follows the previous 6 weeks of trials and tribulations for crew and boat as they have responded to the challenge of re-honing their racing skills.

It has been pleasing to see, after I departed in Salvador, crew who had never sailed before now approach sailing with confidence and enthusiasm, e.g. Johnboy when previously asked to helm would run screaming toward the bow, whereas now he knows to turn instead to the blunt end of the boat as he demonstrates the skills of a seasoned helmsman. Lyn, who had no sailing experience prior to finding herself in Gosport, now runs around the deck like a gazelle, she was last seen at the end of the spinnaker pole with a spike in her hand.

One refinement to life onboard I cannot recommend highly enough to be adopted across the rest of the fleet is to have a Supermum in the galley.

As a team we are now focussed, looking forward to Race 10 from Panama to Jamaica where we aim to finish higher up the leader board as per our boat ethos of Racing to Win.

One thousand miles to go to Panama; 7340 miles to Liverpool; 50 points to race for and we’re hungry for them all.

Pete

1. Steve Sharpe, UK 10 May 2008

Great to see you back Pete, JB pointed out your handywork in the Galley before you left Liverpool, cracking pic stay safe.

Steve

2. Jadranka Lota, Panama 11 May 2008

Hey Pete, what happened to Spidy? Looking forward to you guys coming in as I am dying to get on BBB. Doing tour of Panama and will see if the jungle has better things to offer tomorrow. And yes its all about the Canal (even though they say its not true)!
J

3. Chrissy, Australia 12 May 2008

Pete, crew and cap’n of the BBB !

Pete sounds like you are keeping them all in line aboard the good ship BBB. I hope you have been able to rig up some sort of trapeze system. Here in Bathvegas its cold and I have my ugg boots on most days. The day I decided to start wearing them to uni they banned them from the labs, spoil sports. Past my first cardiac arrest assessment, the poor old dummy though looked a little worse for wear after me pounding it for 10 mins.

Hope Billy is keeping you all well fed, the box of love (aka chockie box) is full stocked and when the blue smarties come out you savour everyone of them.

Love Chrissy

4. andi, stirling 12 May 2008

Halloo BBB crew!!! So glad you finished a race; so pee’d off the wind deserted you...! Your blogs make me laugh out loud more photos please...have a ball in Panama; its about time you had a proper break with the rest of the fleet looking forward to mum tellling me ALL about you lot! take care andi xxxxxx

5. Jadranka Lota, Panama 12 May 2008

I know the race is finishe but do you really have to lag behind? Panama is killing me people. Soon I am going to run out of sun lotion and books to read! x x

6. paul barrett, melbourne 13 May 2008

Pete, good to see you are good at something. Just letting you know we got vimmy so plenty of work when you get back. In engineering we have still got plenty of pop riverts and bolts if you people need them. Have a great race

Mercy engineering

7. Monica, Melbourne, Australia 13 May 2008

Hey Pete
Love the fez! Great pic - I see you’re trying to look serious and in control. Family all well.
love Monica

8. Ylva, Melbourne, Australia 13 May 2008

hey pete, not bad work at the helm there… however where’s the handstand??? love K1,K2,K3 and Y

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