Race 2 - Day 6
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 6
21 September

We left Portimão last Sunday, the day I turned 62. The whole crew sang 'happy birthday' and I received a few cards from home and the Clipper Race put on a Parade of Sail. At exactly 4pm local time eleven Clipper Race 70's crossed the start line and after approximately 30 minutes of succeeding without hitting each other, we all rounded a little orange buoy and turned Southwards, each boat according to their own cunning plan. Some boats put in a few extra gybes while trying to decide between plan A or plan B, but eventually, we slowly watched each other slowly disappear over the horizon.

So far everything is going very well. I am happy to report that we have had NO seasickness on board so far on this race. A small number of crew (three or four) did suffer for a few days with flu symptoms, but we are now fully recovered. We are a happy lot, well fed and watered. Perhaps we are all a little tired, which is a bit difficult to understand considering we get to go to bed three times a day/night. The downside of this is, of course, is that we have to get up three times a day, and nobody enjoys that. Waking up the oncoming watch is an activity fraught with danger. During the 2am to 6am watch it is especially a struggle to keep the eyes open. Apparently dolphins can sleep one half of a brain at a time. How do they do it? I did try first closing just one eye and pretending to be awake, but the other eye closed off on its own accord and I got caught out. Now to find a way to sleep with my eyes open.

Yesterday Josh and Hugo put a cunning plan to 'change time zone' into action. I am not sure if our competitors were confused, but we certainly were. One crew member comparing it to time travel. In the end, we just turned our wrist watches back an hour and got on with it, Baywatch did six and a half hours on deck instead of six whilst Crimewatch had to sleep for six and half hours. Sounds fair to me. It did mean that we did end up working a 25 hour day, but as we are paying for this it could be seen as a discount!!

We passed Lanzarote in the night, at least that's what we were told. We have 99% faith in our Skipper and Mate, so it probably was. No one is perfect hence the missing 1%. Josh and Hugo are great trainers (and Skippers) slowly turning 19 amateurs into hardened Ocean Racers. I haven't seen any wet notes (cheat sheets) since we left London, which would be a good indication of our progress.

So we mostly just see the sea in its many moods and colours, while the sun, the moon, and the stars slowly pass across the sky. We have had a few visits from dolphins and the odd sea bird has come close for a flyby. The weather couldn't be more pleasant although, it is starting to get difficult to sleep as the temperature rises. Sunblock is going on litres at a time, hats and sunglasses are needed on deck and nobody is without their water bottle. The trade winds are blowing like trade winds should. Around 20 knots, so we are all clipped on upstairs. We are always clipped on, on deck when the wind is 15 knots and above, at night or up on the foredeck.

I am writing this downstairs in the saloon and as I look up through the companionway I can see Haz shaving Harpo's head. They are supposed to be helping race the yacht :). The two main racing activities on deck at the moment are helming and trimming. Helming is hanging on to one of the steering wheels hoping that the boat knows where it is going and trying to look good for the photos! We have two steering wheels as some of us look better when viewed from the left and others from the right :) We are not allowed to talk to the helmsman (helmswoman) in case we distract him other from their important task. Trimming is even more complicated as we have 1 trimmer and 1 or 2 grinders. The trimmer gets to sit on the bean bag and shout 'ease', 'grind' or 'hold' at the grinders. The grinders turn the coffee grinder handles and curse the trimmer for making them work so hard. After 20 minutes or so, everyone changes position and the good guy becomes the baddie and vice versa. We are hoping to find out what these words mean by the time we get to Punta del Este, but nobody dares ask Josh or Hugo. We will probably google them as soon as we get our SIM cards back.

Ian (Wangy) can rest assured that he is no longer the chosen one, first on the list to be eaten when the steak runs out. Each crew member will now be asked to donate one body part. Most have miserly offered a toe or a finger, but another offered up a whole cheek. We are still not sure how the vegetarians are going to react. We will approach them before dinner, when they are suitably peckish.

PS. Jacqueline Kavanaugh would like to say hello to the whole world but especially her family. I think this would apply for all of us here, missing friends and family. Rest assured our boat is solid and so is our support for each other on board, and not forgetting the support from our team members ashore.

@Hanneke Ik houd van je en denk elke dag aan je. Het gaat fantastisch en ik ben niet zeeziek geweest.

Thanks everyone

Bye for now, Ivan