Race 8 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 8 Day 11: Sanya to Qingdao
15 March
Well, here I am on Mother Watch again, which means it is my turn to do the Crew Blog. Not a chance to write a blog during my last Mother Watch (see below) but today is different.
When we had 2 of our Union Watch crew each fall onto a shoulder and make it sore on the same morning, I took over Mother Watch from Phil so that he could join his depleted watch on deck. As a result of that depletion which is ongoing as sore shoulders recover, our Skipper decided that Jack Watch would take over all Mother Watch duties to try to even up the numbers on deck on each watch. Guess who was put down for the first of those the following day, and now here I am again doing my original scheduled Mother Watch - 3rd time in just over a week!
My previous Mother Watch coincided with the roughest ride of this leg, if not since leaving Liverpool. Something to do with wind in the opposite direction to a strong current apparently, or so I am told. What I did understand was that the boat bounced more than ever, the bow leapt up and down, the boat lurched really violently from side to side and in any other random direction it could find. Up on deck, my fellow crew members coped with difficult helming and evolutions whilst being regularly soaked in crashing waves and spray. Down in the galley I coped with being regularly attacked by flying objects! NOTHING would remain on the work surfaces, I had to hold on to everything as I tried to chop, stir, pour etc. The only safe place to put a saucepan full of food, a kettle full of hot water, a bowl of ration packs waiting to be prepared was on the galley floor, wedged between the 2 working surfaces of the galley. At least they could not fall off here, but they could still slide around unless firmly wedged. Such fun to step around as you tried to cook. My hips, in fact my whole pelvis, was truly battered and bruised by the end of they day as that part of me took the brunt of being hurled from side to side. Everyone was miserable so in a moment of madness I decided that we needed a food treat, something homely and comforting. An apple crumble was prepared, but not until after half the chopped apple had pinged across the galley, and the oven it was cooking in took such a violent lurch that it stuck at a steep angle wedged beyond the stopper blocks on each side of it. The surprise and delight of my fellow crew members when consuming this homely comfort made it all worthwhile.
Today's Mother Watch is under spinnaker on a more level boat, and I thought it would be lovely and smooth, all those work surfaces useable, nothing crashing around. NOOOOO – on deck they have been trying to replicate the conditions of my earlier Mother Watch for me by gybing every few minutes. Back to everything sliding from side to side again. Our food supplies are getting low, partly due to overzealous use of ingredients earlier in the week, so I found myself making another bigger apple crumble, but this time WITH CUSTARD as some custard powder has been discovered. Such things are BIG MOMENTS in the life of Team GB! When one watch was down below starting their lunch and the boat lurched more aggressively on a gybe, it was fun to see that all eyes turned to anxiously check that the apple crumble had not flipped and somersaulted its way on to the floor!!
All this gybing and sliding is due to having to avoid the Chinese fishing fleet, or more accurately, their nets right now. I would not have believed it if I had not seen this with my own eyes, on the navigation screen there are simply hundreds of AIS markers for lines of nets that stretch up to 30 miles or more, covering hundreds of square miles of ocean. All the gybes were necessary to carefully weave our way north between lines of these nets. It turned into a nightmare, since as we moved north to the edge of the net area, more lines of nets just kept appearing beyond them and we wondered if we would ever escape. Forget mazes, Rubik cubes, Sudoku, try Chinese fishing fleet and their nets for a real challenge! If you want to compare the fishing net challenge to a computer game there are even different skill levels, both of which were dealt with this afternoon. Level 1 as described above, Level 2 – the AIS system goes down for 35 minutes, Level 3 – enter an area obviously riddled with nets due to occasional marker buoys but none of the nets have AIS at all. Enjoy the sound of nets scraping along the hull occasionally, and rush to back of boat to ensure that they appear the other end (and note whether boat speed has slowed, to indicate that in this game you may have changed from racing yacht to fishing trawler). So far the GREAT Britain yacht has met the challenge of levels 1 to 3 without mishap, please let's get to Qingdao without any more levels to be played!
At night, the entire horizon, all 360 degrees of it, is just a mass of lights on hundreds of fishing vessels, a necklace of lights all around us. In the day they are still there, seemingly moving in packs, lots of grey or black shadows on the horizon. Occasionally some are anchored by day, we assume resting before the next nights work, or possibly dealing with their catches etc. Those that are nearby sometimes come close alongside to look at us, we wave and they wave, we photograph then and they photograph us – they must wonder who these crazy people are in a sailing yacht out here in the fishing areas of the Yellow Sea! We need someone permanently in the nav station monitoring the Time Zero screen (shows boats or nets that have an AIS) and the radar, keeping the helm fully informed and everyone on deck involved in look out – not all the boats or nets have AIS. Occasionally a fishing boat pretends to be a dolphin and darts close across our bow, apparently this gives them good luck. It gives our Skipper and helmer at the time something very different!
The one thing that shines through all our trials and tribulations, whether on deck or down below, is that the Team GREAT Britain spirit is alive and truly kicking, as we all pull together and do our best to get to Qingdao for showers, beers, crisp clean beds etc. Today is the 14th March, awesome to think that we will be departing on the notorious Pacific leg in just 12 days time and we haven't even arrived in Qingdao yet!
Tessa and the GREAT crew send their love and thanks to all our families, friends and supporters. You and your ongoing support mean everything to all of us.