Race 3 - Day 16
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 16: Cape Town to Fremantle
16 November

Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Team PSP Logistics
Back to Reports View Team Page

Ben's Wash Bag.

As Watch Leaders, Ben and I share a bunk at the back of the boat (aft) on the port side. He is watch Leader for Port Watch and I for Starboard watch (Starboard is the better watch - except when it comes to sail changes...although that is improving). When I say share a bunk, I don't mean we sleep in it together at the same time... we 'hot bunk' which means when he is on watch I sleep in the bunk and when I an on watch Ben sleeps in the bunk. We each have a mattress cover, mine on one side with a 'C' written on it an the other side with a 'B' on it and we turn it over each watch change.

We also share the storage cuddy holes alongside the bunk and in these we keep our personnel items, all bagged to keep out the water that drips from everywhere. I have bags marked 'nicks and sox' and 'gloves, hats' etc' with my other clothes in resealable plastic bags. I say my other clothes but as I write, these bags are all but empty as the temperature here in the Southern Ocean at 43 degrees south is bitter and I am wearing just about every item of clothing I brought with me. If we were to go any further South towards Antarctica (only 1200 miles below us), I am not sure I would survive but luckily there is a 'virtual beach' at 45 degrees South below which we are not allowed to race (thank goodness!). I also have a blue bag that I hang on the outside of the bunk. This contains the ready use items that I may need while on watch but which I do not want to wake Ben for access to. In there, you will find 1 and a half pairs of sunglasses (I broke the first pair), a spare hat, a waterlogged waterproof head torch, sucky sweets and a camera. I have had mixed results with the camera as the Albatross has a camera sensor fitted that alerts it to cameras coming on deck and it will disappear over the horizon as soon as one appears. I would have dearly loved to get a picture of the sperm whale that we narrowly missed a few days ago when Matteo was on the helm and I was spotting (making sure the helm is on course) - but my camera was safely in its blue bag when this incident happened early one morning.

So I have about 5 bags of 'stuff'. Ben has many more bags of stuff than me. I am not sure exactly what he keeps in these bags but there are often clues left lying about the bunk. Beef jerky strips and other snacks seem to come from one bag and various hoods, gloves and mittens seem to come from more than one waterproof bag. Socks feature heavily in his personnel items and he has a number of small waterproof plastic boxes with go-pro cameras, mobile devices and associated cables and paraphernalia.

The bag of Ben's stuff that I come across most is one of his wash bags. It is a small net bag which he suspends from a plastic hook which I think he fitted himself when he 'moved in' in Cape Town. This bag swings wildly, only 35cm from my head as the boat bounces through the sea (I know its 35cm as I measured it when in bed with my feet touching the life jacket holder at the end of the bunk). I don't object to this bag being where it is, but it does seem to have a weird effect on my dreams as I lay in my state of half sleep each off watch. These dreams started on leg 2 when I thought I could see out through the storage cuddies to the sea and sky beyond. This leg I am often dreaming that my head is sticking out the back of the boat, just above the waterline, and I am peering up into the night sky where a wash bag shaped black moon is spinning and circling wildly above me. In other dreams a wash bag shaped face is looking down on me from above, grinning madly.

I am not sure exactly what Ben keeps in his wash bag but I can see small tubes of lip balm and a mobile phone as well as toothpaste (I think) and a small plastic box. Perhaps one day I will ask him......

Chris Parnell

Starboard Watch Leader

PSP Logistics