Race 3 - Day 22
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 22: Cape Town to Fremantle
22 November
The end of Race 3 is nigh. We have 520-something nautical miles to sail and we have finally allowed ourselves the luxury of contemplating an arrival date… although given there is a large wind hole between us (well, actually all of us) and our destination the certainty of predicting the immediate future is not assured!
We are still racing. We are not just trying to get to the finishing line, we are determinedly trying to get there ahead of our nearest rivals despite the malingering attempts of the weather to waylay us from our purpose. But that said, today the weather has been kind. We still have following winds (of sorts) and it is a beauty, even warm, sunny day with sunlight sharp as diamond light dazzling off every little wave.
Arriving in Australia, we have food quarantine to consider. Certain food products such as some meats and some forms of honey are not permitted ashore so we have begun the process of making an inventory of what food we have left, so we know what we can binge or scoff at midnight for the next few days. Midnight snack has become a big part of the daily menu served up at Cafe Qingdao. Salami looks like it will be this week's special black magic ingredient.
I am the crew victualler. That is to say I am the person responsible for organising the menus and purchasing the required food to keep the crew fed. This role has both its up and down sides. The upside is that you can design in (or out) foods that you particularly like (or dislike). The downside is that the rest of the crew never fail to let you know what meals they consider the food of the devil! I just buy the food, I am not the sole cook – this role (known quaintly as 'mother duty') falls by rota to every member of the crew. This adds a further level of 'interest' to the food we eat since some crew are superb cooks whilst others (or so they claim) have never been near a kitchen … let alone a galley (which is another term for a kitchen rocked over at a challenging angle)!
Being crew victualler has been not so much a learning curve as an intellectual climbing wall since catering for assembled masses had not featured (ever!) as one of my lifetime experiences. But I have willingly met the challenges that have been put in my way. Given all of what has happened from corrupted order and (very) late delivery by Macro in Gosport to having to shop in Spanish (not a language I have a single word of!) in Uruguay things have not gone too absolutely wrong. I have had fantastic back-up all the way – my daughters in the UK (with their knowledge of catering and immense reservoir of humour), my good catering friends with their greater knowledge of how to put a menu together, Lorena our Uruguayan ambassador, other members of the crew who have been victuallers before me (Amancio thank you) or speak Spanish, or were simply happy to muck in and give of their time in whichever way needed (Mac, Kosie, Sarah and all the others). Basically guys – thank you.
The food has not always been that welcome. For a start we only have a 60 litre fridge/freezer so there is a limit to the amount of fresh meat that can be carried for any one journey and forgotten items stay forgotten since there is no Mr Tesco helicopter drop as an option for online shopping. But the food is part of the journey – nothing about this adventure equates to land-based life – and, like our sailing techniques, is being refined and improved on as we go and some of the meals produced by our bank of mothers have been inspirational.
The next challenge will be the coming warmer weather as we work our way round Australia and up back across the equator. Suggestions for a new, improved, ready for the warm weather menu are most welcome!