Race 5 - Day 15
Crew Diary - Race 5 - Day 15
08 January

Of bikinis & boardshorts

Ahmed Zoraeey

Watch number 81. No, I’m not keeping count, promise. Although there was a mention of etchings by a crewmate! I have not checked. I’m sure we’ll see them in deep clean. I did the maths, 81 watch changes so far. They all start about the same. A few heads pop from below deck, asking on the number of layers we need to put on. Musto salopettes or shorts? Do you need your foulie top or your team kit jacket? Is that fleece mid layer needed, or the merino base one enough? Gore Tex boots, or crocs?

Not today, not on watch number 81. It’s “what’s the bare minimum we can get by with” kinda day. There was a mention, jokingly, about a deck shower party. Who’s going to be the DJ? Skipper gave us a stern look. So no, not on watch 81! Maybe watch 83?

It’s hasn’t been this way for the previous 80 watches. The All-Australian has been a true all-rounder. Upwind, downwind, healed and flat, cold and wet, hot and dry (and busters for some!). We’ve had some deck showers too, not the kind we were hoping for, but we did get them. Sitting in the cockpit, ducked down to avoid the spray and screaming winds. But when the wall of water crashes across the beam and comes across the deck, there’s no stopping it, and there are definitely no bikinis and boardshorts worn on those nights.

This has (still is?) quite the experience. Physically, mentally, emotionally. One has to dig down deep at 11:37 pm to crawl, with all one’s strength, up an angle, out of the relative warmth of a waterproof sleeping bag, to put wet foulies on and get on deck, only to ride the 100 raging bulls that seem to be under the foredeck. That Yankee sail has to come down one way or the other. Have you tried to feed 19 hungry adults in a rocking, rolling, pitching boat as of late? The helm is heavy, and your gripping it with both your hands, trying to keep it steady on that 35 degrees wind angle, the howling wind and rain is piercing your bare face, you have to feel the wind at the helm. It’s not easy, none of it is. But this is the race of a lifetime, and it’s not meant to be easy. It’s meant to be epic.

My journey is almost over, and that leaves me bitter-sweet. The early dreamers are talking about the first Airlie beach meals, and it’s not steak. It’s ice-cream!

So here’s to bikinis and boardshorts; Airlie beach, we’re coming, hot!

PS: To the love of my life (whom I met on the race of my life!), Laura on GoToBermuda, I miss you more than the stars, and can’t wait to see you soon on the dock, with ice-cream!