Race 3 - Day 23
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 23: Cape Town to Fremantle
23 November

Best Crew – Qingdao Leg 3

The following briefly describes, in my words, some of the characters that make up our leg 3 team. As we approach the end of leg 3, it seems appropriate to record the positive contributions these individuals have made to our efforts. In no particular order:

Best Persistence – Nick, who was badly affected by the virus that did the rounds of the boat. Nick did not let up on contributing, even on days when he looked like hell – he was there contributing.

Best Doer – Andy must have an auxiliary engine as he is always first on deck, last off deck, involved in every evolution and contributes enormous energy to everything he does.

Best Dresser – Jakes, that “other brand” of wet weather gear, the black outfit, makes the rest of us in red look inadequate and hardly stand out from the crowd on Qingdao

Best Behind the Traveller – no surprises here Thomas, your time spent behind the traveller does contribute to the good helming that is a characteristic of our success

Best Entertainer – Al who keeps us all amused with games, dressing up and a party time, enthusiastic attitude to everything

Best Experience – Amancio who, having done the circumnavigation of a prior Clipper Race, brings great experience, learnings, ideas and maturity to our efforts, as well as good food & music

Best Yank – Sarah, although British by origin, she speaks out like most yanks, particularly New Yorkers. She doesn’t hold back. It is valuable to have her point of view and thoughts injected into what we do. All good stuff

Best Conversationalist – Greg (Doctor) who always has something to say – so if you have a serious medical condition, paying by the hour for his advice might be expensive

Best Smile – Helen brightens up our days whenever we need it with her positive, happy frame of mind and fantastic smile

Best South African – Lee knows a lot about the country and its history, some interesting stories. Lee also continued to contribute to tasks around the boat after the injury to her back

Best Provider – as our victualler, Rose has contributed to the daily Mother efforts of all and satisfied the needs of each individual and the crew collectively in having us fed throughout Leg 3 – not an easy task

Best Fall – this very unfortunately has to go to Mike as his terrible fall and rib injuries jolted us all. But we are very glad to see him up and about the boat again with his cheery outlook – go easy on the drugs Mike?

Best Quiet Achiever – Jack, one of our Chinese ambassadors, has demonstrated terrific resilience throughout Leg 3, always on watch on time – not missing any through illness, always keen to trim and happy to be on deck for long periods, day and night

Best Youngster – Bernd who has demonstrated terrific sailing skills and people/watch management maturity, well beyond his modest years of age

Best Enthusiasm – Zuzanna can always be heard when at the helm, looking for optimal performance from the boat, Her enthusiasm to compete in the Race of our Lives contributes to our continued focus

Best Team Player - although Guy came to our boat keen to helm as much as possible, he immediately made it known that he would not want to helm if it had a detrimental effect to the performance of the boat. Always willing to get any job done which needs doing or to fit into any extra role

Best Bosun – of course this is me, Q or Chris – not blowing my own trumpet as I am the only one on board

Last but by no means least...

Best Skipper – Chris who brings the team together and works with us both individually and collectively to teach and manage us to sail the boat to our optimal performance

THANKS ALL FOR YOUR BEST CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR LEG 3 SUCCESS