Race 3 - Day 9
Crew Diary - Race 3, Day 9
31 October

Lucia Kuffova
Lucia Kuffova
Team Dare To Lead
Back to Reports View Team Page

Anything for Dummies – How to be a Galley Goddess in 45 degrees!

The day has arrived. I was allocated the Mother duties on the stormiest day so far, and indeed this for an experience to treasure. But before I would start my day, I would need to explain what ‘the Mother duties’ are. Every day two sailors would take upon this duty for 24 hours. That include cooking three meals for all crew, cleaning heads and communal area; clean out bilges and deal with rubbish. Well, although one may say that this is not a great task, if one would imagine a moving boat usually with fully trimmed sails this would mean that you will be cooking and cleaning in 45 degrees most of the time.

If you add also adverse weather that would spice things a little bit.

So the day of my Mother duties started with strong winds with approximately 70 knots gusts. That immediately made the condition in the Galley little challenging, but still manageable. The breakfast was served, one watch off to sleep and another one on the deck; bread in the oven ready to be baked and then … one of the Mother’s became seasick and went to bed! While the second one continued her duties preparing lunch single handed with the help of a fellow hungry sailor who came to help out in the Galley to serve lunch (he was maybe worried that there may not be lunch at all!).

After cleaning, making lunch and preparing for dinner, the weather significantly deteriorated. Dinner was only possible to serve with the significant acrobatic skills (no previous experience required – Mother’s will learn on the job!) but eventually, everybody was fed and organised for the night. This shift was more exhausting than sailing the whole day.

Lessons to be learned:

1. Always take anti-seasickness medication before you start – will make your life much easier in the confining area as the Galley on Dare To Lead is;

2. Try to persuade your fellow crew to sail down the wind with spinnaker – this will make your life significantly easier, however it is wind dependent and one can’t predict this slight complication;

3. No previous experience required – Mother watch will learn on the job faster than she would like to learn;

4. There is a reason why there are usually two Mothers doing the job – if one is missing it is more difficult to complete the task;

5. Stay calm and polite in all challenging situations! You can always swear in your own language with less chance of understanding it;

6. No make-up, hair-do or fancy costumes required – the most important thing to observe is the silence when everybody eats. Should this happen – your task is done with success!