Race 2 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 11: Punta del Este to Cape Town
15 October
The Island of Polly – The Chocolate Thief
Welcome back to the Island of “Polly"...our floating island that we are racing around the worlds' oceans seeking a lifetime adventure and experiencing an emotional rollercoaster ride. In our world, we are a newly formed, tight nit society, divided into two Clans: the Crimewatch Clan and the Baywatch Clan. The clans allow us to efficiently and effectively ensure we are working toward maintaining a sustainable life on our formidable island.
On board our island, it has been divided into three counties (or states or provinces depending on your domicile) - the Land of Tranquillity (helming area / rear of the island), the Land of Chaos (snake pit – where the winches & grinders are) and the Land of the Ghetto (below decks). As per any self governing island, we have a prince and princess who oversee and inspire the workers on board. Our two selected individuals are the well spoken, intelligent and popular 'Prince' Jeremy and 'Princess' Jenny. They serve the workers under the watchful eye of our Skipper [version 3.0] Andy and informally Toni “wooden spoon” Wilson, who has the job of enforcing the island's rules.
Recently on the Island of Polly, we broke our personal record of 329 nautical miles in 24 hours. To achieve this, all the islanders from both clans worked immensely hard during rough seas and high winds. As a helmer (steering the island), “Cowboy” Don, ensured he had sufficient food / chocolate to maintain high energy levels. This was done by having a secret stash of chocolate bars hidden in his Land of Tranquillity.
No stranger to chocolate, Cowboy has been known to consume a healthy portion of chocolate to ensure sufficient energy levels. He actually has the first patent (pending) on the island, that of “Sea Salt Chocolate”. This was discovered one night, after a particular rough night when four meter waves repeatedly crashed over the bow and port side of the island spraying all the islanders on deck. As he was chewing on his nightly reserve of his secret stashed chocolate, he noticed when he licked his 20 year old moustache, the salty sea water within his moustache complimented the sweet chocolate flavor... hence the invention of “Sea Salt Chocolate”... a very popular variation and now marketed world wide.
One evening, when the winds were particularly strong and the waves were pounding over the boat, hammering the people in the Land of Chaos, Skipper [version 3.0] noticed Cowboy's secret chocolate stash (hidden in a winch pocket), acknowledging his approval with a simple nod.
While helming later that night, Cowboy was summoned by the Skipper [version 3.0], who was seeking to have a taste of his chocolate in order ensure his energy levels remained high. When Cowboy's hand reached into the secret spot, he was startled to find nothing... the chocolate was stolen! Glancing upwards into the Land of Chaos., there was the formidable blonde hair, blue eyed sailor J.P. - now called “T.P.” [Aside: T.P = Toilet Paper named after an embarrassing routine dumping of used toilet paper over the side of the boat, when she misjudged the wind direction and resulted in her spending the next thirty minutes picking up toilet paper that stuck around the boat].
Knowing that Cowboy's honour was at stake in front of the Skipper [version 3.0], she exercised one of the island's values of empathy and orchestrated a deal in which she kept 50% of the chocolate to be shared with her Clan, Prince Jeremy and Princess Jenny, the skipper [version 3.0] acquired 40% and Cowboy received 10%. Knowing the chocolate was being divided and the Clan was being re-energized to fight another formidable storm, Cowboy was content with the deal and island life moved on.
Cowboy, learning his lesson, even managed to take food sharing to the next level as later while his Clan was sleeping below in the Ghetto, he decided to share some of his secret stash of peanuts with J.P. [T.P.] to ensure she would have sufficient energy to fight another storm. He mischievously filled her sailing gloves with the peanuts...
Cowboy
[a.k.a. Don Peterson]