Race 9 - Day 26
Crew Diary - Race 9 Day 26: Qingdao to Seattle
18 April
So it's Day 26 and we still have some 1,200 miles to run.
With fair winds, we would have been in Seattle by now, but we had a very slow start. It now looks as if we will arrive in 5 or 6 days time if the weather is kind to us. Disappointingly we still trail the fleet but over the last few hours have made up ground on both Liverpool 2018 and Nasdaq although we still trail them by 80 miles or so.
I have been trying to work out why we appear to be uncompetitive. I suspect there is no simple answer, but a couple of points have struck me that might be worth considering:
The first is that all of the boats in the fleet have a Skipper plus another suitably qualified individual, designated the Mate. Here on GREAT Britain, the Mates role is to run a 4 hours on/4 hours off rotation with the Skipper. On other boats in the fleet, I understand the Mate is a Watch Leader. Doubling as a Watch Leader lends an extra pair of hands and experienced ones at that.
The other is the adoption of the 3 watch system. It is attractive in that it gives each member of the crew more down time, as they only spend 8 hours on deck in every 24 plus they get an uninterrupted 8 hour sleep as part of their down time.
That said, I think it detracts from the competitive edge that I feel you get from the 2 watch system. With the 2 watch system you are necessarily more involved by being on watch every 4/6 hours and I suspect the reality is that you are more likely to carry out sail evolutions etc. when they need to be carried out as you can do it without bringing the standby watch on deck.
No doubt these and other points will come under consideration once we reach Seattle.
There is no good reason that I can see as to why we should not be competitive as we have a willing crew and some very competent sailors.
In the meanwhile we continue to push as hard as we can. We have had winds from a favourable direction since the Great Storm, although they have not been as strong as we would have liked and the forecast suggests it might stay that way. On the culinary front, we have been spoiled recently by Tessa producing apple crumble and custard and Jim some currant buns topped with sugar - small things, you might think - but great for morale.
On a personal note:
Catherine - thanks for the sleeping bag, it's my best friend out here.
Ian - the Dry Suit, although at least one size too large, has been well worth having.
Fiona and family - thinking of you all the time and looking forward to seeing you on the 28th.
John 'The Brief' Worby