Race 3 - Day 18
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 18: Cape Town to Fremantle
18 November
Some of us maybe watched Youtube videos of the Southern Ocean and wondered where are the big rolling waves? I can tell you – they are here! We have finally what we've been looking for, big downwind waves that are bringing us closer to our destination.
Trying to make up the speed, we were flying spinnakers for a little while when conditions allowed it yesterday. We were rewarded by some good results and also by couple of rips as the winds picked up. Of course, trying to save our gear meant they went down early without pushing it. Our magical duo Andy and Bernd (our round the worlders) were putting spells over it with the help from Gloria (our on-board sewing machine) over the night to have it nice and ready for us when the conditions allow us to fly it again.
It also meant that the boys are not doing their mother duty today, they do deserve to sleep as well.The role of mothers was very kindly taken on by Lee and Helen again. We are still on overload of beans, chickpeas and lentils. Last night Nick and Guy, who were on mother duty, managed to do an alternative to the mash, beans and sausages incorporating some of the last potatoes we had on board and making a bake with melted cheese, think that was appreciated by the crew. Our dinner was chicken Red Thai curry included chickpeas and peas. Today, lentil dhal and not entirely sure what will be incorporated in the chicken noodles. Chickpeas I guess? I saw that Helen has started to do something special with garlic, so I am sure it will be good.
Jack and Al are the navigators today, doing the hourly log (very important yacht document) and making sure the bilges are empty. This is important so that we do not carry extra weight and see if there are any issues with possible leaks.
Greg and Chris are on domestic today, making sure the boat is sparkling inside. We definitely are the cleanest boat of the fleet.
We should be starting the Ocean Sprint in couple of hours. We are looking forward to it and hopefully this time round the wind and Neptune are going to be on our side. Last ocean sprint included a wind hole for Qingdao, so this time it should be our turn to get some points. The battle begins :)