Race 11 - Day 15
Crew Diary - Boobies, baths and boredom
14 May

Boobies, baths and boredom. And no, not in that order. And yes you heard me, boobies – the bird obviously.

A flock of boobies have taken up residency on our bowsprit. We have been negotiating a lease agreement which includes no pooping on the foredeck, but are having trouble enforcing this clause. There is prime real estate up there but limited availability. The thirteen of them remain sitting tenants. Keeping calm through tacks and staying cool with selfies .

On a relatively cleaner note – baths. Gone are the days of stuffing sleeping bags with hand warmers, wearing three neck warmers and five layers. The heat crept in a little too quickly as we drift (I'll explain later) down the coast of Mexico to Panama. It didn’t give me much time to mentally prepare myself or charge my fan in time. After looking forward to finally shedding the two layers of socks for the first time in two weeks, going barefoot on the deck is no longer an option. Unless you want to burn the new skin that is so desperately trying to grow back. The bilge buckets no longer needed for the bilges which are now dry remain on deck for deck dunks. This is made easy by the endless encounters with the seemingly ever-present wind holes that are keeping the boat freakishly flat.

Which leads me to my next point - boredom – The menacing wind holes that monopolise the daily weather patterns have brought the majority of the fleet to a sluggish pace, no matter where you are positioned. Just 350 nautical miles from the finish line, the race we all fought so hard to win has become a lottery. Currently cruising at 3 knots under the blistering heat, we are trying to find ways to keep team GoToBermuda occupied (and sane). It started with the entertainment of the boobies fighting on the bow – or maybe just the free reign of being able to use the word itself. If you know my dad, music trivia has made a revival (I can see you mom, rolling your eyes). We also just finished our first (and last for a few) marshmallow stuffing competition. Eight of us sat on deck trying to stuff as many jumbo marshmallows into our mouths before choking. Our medic on board, prepared to perform the heimlich with a mouth full of marshmallows, came in first place with five of them lodged in there. It may not sound like a lot, but they are larger than you think.

So – boobies, baths and boredom (not really) is where we are at. All is still well. Maybe a few cavities deep but sweaty, salty smiles all around nonetheless.

Massive shout out to Rock Dodger – we look forward to your return in the upcoming weeks.

Maddie