Race 2 - Day 7
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 7
22 September

Heather Broadbent
Heather Broadbent
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Morning all, I am currently sat in the saloon, supposedly in the middle of my long sleep, but in the heat and daylight I am struggling to catch any zzzzzzzz’s. I actually feel wide awake and lying in my bunk seems like a waste on such a lovely day. I should be tired, as last night was a long one, 3 hours on standby, cleaning and making hot drinks for the on watch, followed by 3 hours on watch. During my on deck watch we were under bombardment by flying fish. When the first one hit Callum on the back we had no idea what was going on. It was shortly followed by several more, stinky, flutterly little critters who did their best to get themselves into tricky places making it hard to flick them back overboard. It helped pass the time, laughing and giggling, as we are currently on a long straight gybe trying to get the best of the breeze. With a tropical cyclone Gerry brewing we have to time it right so we don’t hit the ITCZ aka the doldrums and back into still air. Wavy has spent hours this morning going over the GRIB files and weather trying to work out the best route.

Life on board has settled well and everyone has got into the swing of it nicely, the watch system is working great and the hot bunking seems to have fallen into a recognisable pattern. There is plenty of time to rest and chat with your watch mates and the rolling watch changes means we get to see the whole crew and all different times of day and night on deck. To be honest I was sceptical to start with but it really is a great system. Thanks Wavy :)

On a personal note I feel good today, had a bit of an emotional day yesterday, I kept bursting into tears, nothing wrong as such, just feeling the emotion and the enormity of this adventure on which I have embarked. The sight of the most wonderful pod of dolphins in the morning, jumping and playing on our bow, while I sat for 3 hours whipping the spinnaker sheets where they had chaffed, found me with tears rolling down my face. Later an email from home, threw me off balance again, a simple comment about ironing my jeans, enough to bring back the tears. It’s weird how this little boat bobbing about on the Atlantic can become all encompassing and when thoughts of the ones we have left behind creep in it hits hard. Life on board is so simple, as everyone who has done it before says, it really is Sleep, Eat, Sail, Repeat, it is sometimes hard to juggle thoughts of anything else.

On that note I really should head back to my bunk to try and get a bit more kip otherwise it will be another long night later. Love to all at home and please keep the messages coming, my tears are happy tears and I love to hear from you.

Heather xx