Race 5 - Day 19
Crew Diary - Race 5 - Day 19
10 January

Seattle Blog

Written by Jane Lever

The galley, (that's the kitchen for you landlubbers) has the ability to involve fear or creative expression. Everyone rotates through Mother duties (one Mother from each watch partake), which involves preparing and presenting breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole crew. This is no easy task. The galley is U shaped, as you walk in there is a double sink on the port with foot pumps for water that like to bite at your ankles, one salt one fresh, (you only get them mixed up once!). Next to the sink a bench approx 60cm long, then along the bottom of the U is a gimbal stove (does a leaning thing when the boat is on a lean). Then there's a bench on the opposite side 1.5m long with a timber trim on the edges 6cm high allegedly to stop stuff sliding off, not a big area for preparing food. The gap between the benches is about 90cm put two Mummies in there and it's close quarters. So now you have a rough idea of the work space.

Now add the sailing factor of an average heel of 25 degrees plus. You have the choice of preparing food on the high side where the food will slide towards you. Any liquid is guaranteed to slide towards you and slop out of its contents over you unless your inner ninja kicks in stops the side in its tracks. If you choose the low side the opposite happens, you're constantly retrieving food. Now the 6cm edge is there to stop stuff flying off the bench, this is a myth. The container is often stopped, but the inertia of it's contents follows through and all that carefully chopped food is now on the floor! The Skipper announces there's 20 minute rule, nobody seems to mind apparently what happens on the Clipper Race stays on the Clipper Race.

Bread is made daily and every now and then a cake is baked. It's always entertaining to see how they come out of the oven due to the heel factor even with a gimbal stove, the cakes are often a wedge shape and the bread looks like a chefs hat that has flopped to one side.

There are two galley items that make life a little easier, the rice cooker. This contraption is marvellous, it cooks porridge, couscous, hot dogs and rice to name a few. The other item is an onion chopper upper. It looks like something you see on TV and they say ''don't send any money you also get a set of steak knives”. You simply peel the onion cut it into quarters whack it into the gadget pull the handle a few times and it chops the onion no mess no more tears. The boys love it, they treat it like starting a chainsaw.

What has been the most creative meal? We have a lot of bacon on board, it has almost been a staple source of protein on Seattle. Our creative / experimental Mummies decided they would make bacon not taste like bacon, they definitely succeeded, they certainly gave Colonel Sanders and his 11 secret spices a run for his money. I believe Tim and Alec are planning on patenting the recipe.