Race 3 - Day 14
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 14: Cape Town to Fremantle
14 November

Continuing Sailing

After being stuck for almost 24 hours in the well-known, notorious Southern Ocean Doldrums, we picked up sailing again yesterday afternoon at about tea time. No-one told us that the Southern Ocean can be so, well, not windy. At least we have some wind now - not that I'm complaining. Right now, we are cruising along with our Code 1 Spinnaker up, through treacherous almost 10-inch waves, making speeds between 10 and 11 knots.

On a serious note though, it feels good to be moving again. Every mile we are making right now is a mile toward the finish line. That thought alone makes you sleep sound at night (at least it does the job for me). So here we are, expertly trimming our kite, baking cakes to keep morale high, and keeping us busy with arts and crafts, all in an effort to get the ship quickly and in good shape into Fremantle. With some luck, the winds will now steadily increase and carry us through the Roaring Forties. There are still a couple of miles to go and there is a chance for more Southern Ocean Doldrums.

Staying for an extended period of time at sea does slowly take a toll on the discipline of the crew. In an effort to keep us on our toes, new measures have been introduced to get everyone up on time for watch change. In other words, whoever makes it late for watch makes up for it by exercising their vocal chords and singing to the whole crew. So far, everyone has made it on time. Some even say, that some crew who are especially fond of singing tunes have been spotted up to half an hour before watch change on deck. Effective to say the least.