Race 1 - Day 7
Crew Diary - Race 1, Day 7
08 September
Ahoy there, me hearty landlubbers!! Greetings and Happy Sunday from Ben’s Buccaneers!
What a difference a day makes. After yesterday’s exhilarating downwind speedfest around Cap Finisterre and the Northern Portuguese coast, we completed our Ocean Sprint in the early hours of this morning. Given that we had a few issues with one or two of our sails, such that they’ll need a little “TLC” once in port, and therefore didn’t have the ideal sail combination, we are very happy with our performance and I can report that the crew are all in good spirits.
As the sun rose this morning in another spectacular parade of orange and pinks, the wind started to drop which gave me the opportunity to put my surgical suturing skills to some use and assist Dawn, circumnavigator, sail repair queen, perform minor surgery on our mainsail – after all we have to make sure Lady Seattle is looking her best for our arrival in Portimão.
Speaking of looking their best, the opening session of our ‘Seattle Spa’ was a great success with the ladies of the crew taking advantage of the calm warm conditions to catch up on a spot of hair hygiene and even Oceana, our octopus mascot had a full “tenta-cure”.
The team are continuing to work wonders in the galley. Today’s good mood was undoubtedly helped by a Sunday breakfast of warm freshly baked bread from the overnight baking team of myself, Arvin and Carsten, had pancakes ‘Toronto” style – at least that’s what Brian called them! The proof I always say is in the eating, so with requests for seconds and none left to feed the dolphins and porpoises who continue to intermittently come to play, I think they were a definite success.
With light winds all afternoon, we are making steady but gently progress. We’re working hard to maximise our boat speed and keep in touch with the boats ahead, fuelled by the prospect of cheesy mac with lardons followed by meringues and fruit on this evening’s menu.
You can’t beat a team built on good food and good company and we are undoubtedly a team that are really working well together, both on deck and below. With Ben and Lyndsey leading us, we know our best is yet to come.
Until next time …….. TTFN