Race 2 - Day 3
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 2
17 September

Scott Draper

Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Google+ Reddit StumbleUpon

I still remember the second day of Race 1, where all the crew were so blue, we deeply doubted the decision of why we choose to take part in the Clipper Race. This was no doubt the only day in my life, that I did not enjoy sailing. However, today is so perfect; the weather, the ocean conditions, everything is just so perfect. The temperature is 28 degrees, and the wind is 8-15 knots. In three words, today is perfect holiday weather.

In the past two days, we have sailed down the south coast of Portugal, which has now left us near the west coast of Morocco, and west to us is the Sahara Desert. We are now the yacht that is closest to the land. The other yachts have chosen to sail west first, but we can see from the map they are too slow and are sailing with less than half of our speed. A perfect new race just beginning.

It is now 22:00, the only light is the moonlight on the deck, and we are surrounded by darkness. I’m wearing short pants and T-shirts, and a cool wind is blowing. The only sound is the water flowing past the yacht. We are sitting here heading forward steadily, and everyone feels at ease and comfortable.

Although I said it is currently 22:00, that doesn’t mean my diary starts from that time, the reason for this is my daily schedule on the yacht is like an animal who only goes out at night. As it is dark, I wake up before the watch system and when it is dawn, I’m going to go to bed.

My fixed daily schedule is as follows:

19:15 Get up and have some food (dinner)

20:00-00:00 When it’s dark, get up on the deck for watch duty.

00:00-03:30 Work under the deck（Make fresh yoghurt, fresh bread and a pot of congee, fill out the ship’s log book and clean the washroom）

03:30-04:30 Serve breakfast for crew

04:30-07:15 Finish the media crew duties.

08:00-12:00 Goup onto the deck and begin my watch again.

12:00-13:00 Have meal (Lunch)

13:00-19:15 Sleeping

That is my schedule, but it is possible that I can be woken up at any time and be rushed up to the deck to help with something, like take the heavy sail up to the deck, lift the sails, put down the kites and turn the sails, etc. some complicated and dangerous work.

Today has been as follows: 16th-17th September

19:15 Get up and made some fresh yoghurt

20:00 Go on Night Watch duty; and I have changed the front sail to the Code 1 kites.

20:15 As soon as the Code 1 kites are up, we get out the net and start to rise it. But we just found out that the net is a mess! We spent three hours trying to make it clear and lift the net at night. My lesson from tonight is that courage is important for sailing, but at the same time, patience is just as important.

23:30 Turn the sail and start heading south

00:00 Work below deck, make two pieces of bread, fill out the ship’s log every hour, clean washroom and bake bread

03:15 Wake up other crew

03:30 Prepare the breakfast and coffee for other teammates, who will be on watch duty

04:00 Serve the fresh breakfast for the crewmates who just finished their watch duty on the deck.

04:30 Copy all photos onto the media laptop and wait for the Media crew to work

07:15 Wear my waterproof suit, use some sunblock.

08:00 Start working up on the deck

12:00 Have lunch and finish my sailor dairy

13:00 Send my diary and go to bed

Last but not least, we are currently, by our reckoning, the leader of the fleet.

Okay, I’m going to go to bed, and wish you have a good afternoon, and have a good night.